INTRODUCTORY. 



V 



bably " Shokiir/aka Keifen " (Elements of Botanical Science) by 

 Udagawa Yoan, 1885 ; and " Somoku Zusetsu " (Icones Piantarmi)) 

 by Iinpma Yokusai, 1832 ; — the latter being a standard work at 

 the present day. It is perhaps a circumstance interesting enough 

 to record, that a work on the use of the microscope was published 

 in 1801. 



Looked at from the modern standpoint, th^ Natural History of 

 the pre-Restoration period (before 18G8) was without doubt strongest 

 in Botany. Our science of Zoology seems to have been greatly 

 backward in its development, compared with that of the sister 

 science, and its study was probably similar in method and aim to 

 that of the Middle Ages in Europe. It seems to have concerned 

 itself mostly with making commentaries on Chinese works of 

 Natural History, like " Honzö Kömoku " or with identifying Japanese 

 objects with names given in those writings. Excepting a little 

 on birds, fishes and shells, hardly any work that can be called 

 scientific in any modern sense, seems to have been accomplished. 

 Nevertheless this school did an immense service by showing that 

 the study of natural objects was worth the best efforts of intellectual 

 men. Names like Arai Hakuseki, Inao Jakusui, Kaibara Ekken, 

 Ono Ranzan* are among the most honored in the annals of our 

 learning. 



With the Restoration of the Emperor to his full power, in 

 1868, came the wholesale reconstruction of all political institutions, 

 and the country has been, and is still, going through such a 

 social revolution as has seldom been witnessed in any part of the 

 world. Along with many other things, the old school of Natural 



# All these names are given in the Japanese fashion, with the surname first. 



