January 8, 1886.] 



SCIENCE, 



43 



accuracy of his information surprise us at every 

 page. It must be confessed that it required a good 

 degree of enterprise and assurance to have secured 

 some of his sketches. The Japanese are a most 

 amiable and polite people ; but they must have 

 been amazed, and perhaps amused, at the per- 

 sistency with which the artist went about peering 

 behind their screens, under their mats, and into 

 their closets. We, however, have no reason to 

 complain; for he has seen for us far more than we 

 could have seen for ourselves, and has brought to 

 us such a budget of facts, and such a portfolio of 

 illustrations, as we could not have gathered for 

 ourselves in a lifetime. 



In any country a dwelling-house is the product 

 of complicated causes. Climate, the prevalence 

 of destructive agencies, the character of the mate- 

 rial available, the skill of the mechanics, the 

 wealth of the people, the growth of artificial 

 physical wants, the development of a taste for 

 the beautiful and refined in life, — all these are 

 potential causes in determining the character of 

 the dwelling. These causes account for most of 

 the peculiarities of the Japanese house, as com- 

 pared with our own. From time immemorial, 

 Japan has been visited by earthquakes and 

 typhoons. These will explain why the Japanese 

 builds his house as., low as possible, and prefers 

 wood to stone. The climate is mild, and does not 

 demand the formidable provision against the cold 

 with which we are familiar. This may account 

 for the absence of chimneys and stoves. It puz- 

 zles us, however, to understand why the Japanese, 

 who has shown such cleverness in the develop- 

 ment of many of the arts of civilized life, has 

 made so little progress in others. In 1542 the 

 Portuguese landed on the southern islands of 

 Japan, and left there, among other traces of their 

 visit, a number of the matchlock guns which were 

 in common use in Europe at that time. After the 

 lapse of more than three hundred years, you can 

 see the hunter of to-day out on the hills with a 

 gun which is of the identical pattern which the 

 Portuguese brought thither. The Japanese gun- 

 smith has found out how to make the matchlock 

 a far more ornamental weapon than it was in the 

 hands of the Portuguese. He has decorated the 

 stock, and inlaid the barrel with gold and silver, 

 and provided it with exquisite fittings ; but still 

 it is the same old matchlock, without a single 

 effective part changed or improved. Such absence 

 of progress is surprising ; but it does not surprise 

 us half so much as their marked superiority in 

 other and more difficult arts. In the modelling 

 and decoration of pottery ; in ornamental metal- 

 work ; in weaving and embroidery ; in painting, 

 carving, and enamelling ; in the exquisite work- 



manship of then* lacquer wares, — their achieve- 

 ments put them in the very first rank. 



In all these departments of industry the Japanese 

 now have an acknowledged position. It has not 

 been so well known that in many of the humbler 

 departments their work is scarcely less to be ad- 

 mired. Professor Morse has given us, in this 

 volume, sufficient evidence of the excellence of 

 their carpentry and joinery, of their skill in gar- 

 dening, and of their cleverness in making both 

 house and garden contribute not only to the 

 physical comfort, but to the intellectual pleasure 

 of the occupants. We are specially indebted to 

 the author for exhibiting to us so clearly the in- 

 ternal arrangements of a Japanese dwelling-house, 

 and the domestic routine which goes on in it, and 

 the evidences of comfort and refinement which 

 are everywhere seen. The beautiful products of 

 their ornamental arts have become familiar to us, 

 and are almost as much at home in our houses as 

 in theirs. But the implements of common life 

 are still strange to us; and we are thankful to Pro- 

 fessor Morse, who, in this book, has given us so 

 much information about them. I need only men- 

 tion such illustrations as those of a carpenter's 

 tools, of a thatched roof, of the interiors of 

 dwelling-houses, of a kitchen range, of their 

 bath-tubs and lavatories, of their candlesticks 

 and lamps, of then wells and water-buckets, of 

 their gardens and garden-lamps, to show how 

 varied and interesting are the contents. We are 

 sure that Professor Morse's portfolio is not yet ex- 

 hausted ; and it only remains for us to express the 

 wish that in due time he may open for us another 

 instalment of his delightful wares. 



PHYSICAL EXPRESSION. 



In the term 'physical expression,' Dr. Warner 

 includes all those changes of form and feature 

 occurring in the body which may be interpreted 

 as evidences of mental action. Such changes are 

 taking place constantly, and in response to all 

 kinds of mental impressions. The majority of 

 them are involuntary, and, so far, trustworthy, it 

 being the height of art to simulate a feeling suc- 

 cessfully. At first thought, it would seem that 

 facial expression is the most important of these 

 outward signs of inner processes ; but a little 

 observation will convince one that the posture 

 assumed by the body, — the poise of the head and 

 the position of the hands, — as well as the many 

 alternations of color and of general nutrition, are 

 just as striking evidences of the course of thought. 

 And such changes may be permanent as well as 



Physical expression : its modes and principles. By 

 Francis Warner, M.D. (International scientific series.) 

 New York, Appleton, 1885. 12°. 



