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ARCHDEACON MOULE ON THE REFORM MOVEMENT.
AN INTERESTING COMPARISON OF THE NEW WITH THE OLD.
The Ven. Archdeacon Moule of Mid-China commenced a paper which he read at the Church congress last month with the following interest. ing observations:-
I presume that it is chiefly of new China that I am expected to speak to-day. But the old must be known and appreciated at its true value in order to estimate aright the real character and nature of the new. I have known the old, and I know much of the new, and I venture, with all diffidence, to apply to myself the opening words of the Lambeth Encyclical : The links which bind me to the past are not fetters upon the free and enterprising spirit of sympathy and interest in the new, which is essential to progress."
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
THE INVENTION OF PAPER AND PRINTING.
But
The Chinese have been far ahead of us in many so-called modern inventions. In the Asiatic Quarterly Mr. A. H. Parker discusses the development of paper and printing in China. The first mediura upon which words were written seems to have been strips of bamboo tied to- gether, then slabs of wood. First varnish and then ink was used to mark the characters. from the most ancient times it was an occasional practice to write with the varnished stick upon fine silken materials. But the applica- tion of the hair pencil and the formation of a kind of silk shoddy ont of waste products of silk supplied The W
materials, which in the two centura» preceding Christ had begun to replace bamboo for writing purposes. Ink came to be used rather than varnish. Then-
In the year A.D. 105 however, a certain Ta'ni Lun, anticipating, in a way, the discovery of the late Lord Masham. couceived the idea of utilis-
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the "heads of hemp, old fishing-nets and cloth rags for the purpose of turning out a much cheaper material than the silk paper hitherto in use, and from that day to this, paper, including in the modern forms mulberry paper, bamboo paper, and many other coarser kinds, has slowly but surely supersided all other materials used for writing upon.
Paper, hair brush and ink slab having arrived, the manufacture of writing ink out of varnish, soot, fir charcoal and other ingredients became a fine art in the third century for Christ :-
This
The next step towards printing was taken uuch sooner than is commonly supposed. It had long been the practice of literary men to take paper rubbings of ancient inscriptions and calligraphic specimens cut into stone. process, of course, left the characters it was desired to copy white, whilst the body of the paper pressed or rubbed on to the inked surface of the stone was black. The converse plan of cutting away the "Hinterland" of a stone block and allowing the body of an inscription to
stand out in a raised form is known to have
I began my life in China in the year 1861. the year of the first Church Congress in England, when China was convulsed from ending the waste products of the silk manufacture, to end by the T'aiping Rebellion. It was an essentially native movement, and Western nations took little part in its 20 years of conflict, except erentually to suppress it and help the Imperial power in its desperate state. Yet in the short period of the zenith of Hung- sentsuen's career at Nankin-instigated by his ablest and noblest lieutenant--a programme of reform for China was promulgated in no way behind the present programme of the sober reform party in the Young China of to-day The country was to be thrown open to trade with all nations-fair if not free, and unrestrained by vexatious limitations: whilst the inner water- were to be open to steam navigations. Railways and telegraphs were to cross and recross the land: higher and modern education was proposed. while conserving the old; and the Bible was to be the chief text-book in schools. Westerners were no longer to be insulted and called after with opprobrious epithets, and the position of women was not only proposed to be raised. this practical reform was actually begun. Then China, after the two or three years of yet seething waters after the storm went down, fell pretty soundly asleep again, and the party of reaction held sway. But for the wide awaking. never to sleep again, of Japan at her side, and the uplifting of the apparently inevitable incubus of Russian ambition and aggression, and the more close and vivid influence of the outside world, I should myself not be surprised to see China go to sleep again. The desire for extended and high education rises, so we fancy, not from thirst for knowledge in itself and its beneficial influence on mind and character, but from the ex- aggeration of the truth that knowledge is power. The very uprising of Emperor and people against the trade in opium, and against its culture and vicious use, is not, we imagine. wholly moral, but again, stimulated by Japanese example, from the idea that to be bereft of opium means to be clothed with fighting powers. But yet that very desire, permeating all classes now (independent of the old provincial sovereign state likes and dislikes, prejudices or adoptions). the desire for the country's power, the moving and stirring of such patriotism as we knew very little of 50 years ago, is a sign that something broader and sounder and more lasting than the fixed and artificial reform acts of the Taipings is moving China; and she too, cannot go to sleep again.
THE JAPANESE NAVY.
Before the end of this year there will be two additions to the Japanese Navy, namely, the cruiser Mogami (1,350 tons) and the destroyer Isonami (381 tons). These two constitute an addition of 1,731 tons to the Navy's displacement, but, on the other hand the following vessels are to be struck off the effective list-the ancient ironclad Fuso (3,718 tons); the gunboats Chokai (750 tons) and Miya (950 tons); the cruiser Matsushima (4,210 tons), which was the flagship of Admiral Ito in the War with China; and eight torpedo. boats. These 12 discarded vessels represent a total displacement of 12,095 tons, and if from this aggregate we subtract the figures of the two new vessels mentioned above, the result is that the tonnage reduced amounts to 10,364. -Japan Mail.
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been practised as early as A.D. 523, when (to use the identical Chinese words) certain "images" (probably of Buddha) and scrip- fures (it is not stated whether Chinese or Sanskrit) were ordered by the Emperor of a now and very enterprising dynasty to be “carved upon wooden slabs." During the period 618- 906 (dates are not to be procured exactly) it is certain that books of secondary importance were "printed upon paper" from and "sold in the book-shops." Curiously enough, it was a Turkish Emperor ruling in North China to whom officially belongs the honour of printing the Confucian classics for the first time in 932.
wooden blocks,"
From 954 A.D. scholars were absolved from the heavy labour of copying books out. Movable types of baked clay were mentioned during the copper period 1041 to 1049. Movable types of were in use during the period 1368 to 1643. In the light of these facts, the old dispute between Caxton and Gutenberg losos interest.”
BRITISH SHIPPING PAST AND PRESENT.
manner.
· British An interesting lecture entitled Shipping Past and Present) was delivered by Captain Brown to a good audience at the Y.M.C.A. rooms last night. The lecturer, whose life and experience made him a capable exponent of the subject, handled it in a very masterly His discourse, which was made more interesting by reason of a number of lantern views illustrating different types of vessels from the days of the Vikings up to the present, was very comprehensive though not laboured and was listened to with marked attention. Captain
rise of the Brown sketched the
British mercantile marine from its earliest beginnings | the growth of our commerce the development of In tracing the the shipbuilding industry. progress of steam navigation from the beginn ing of the last century down to the present, he remarked that at no period of the world's history had any particular century marked so stupendous a change in matters affecting the well-being of mankind as had been effected by the application of steam power to the purposes of locomotion on land and sea.
[December 12, 1908 THE LONDON SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE.
AN APPEAL TO HONGKONG.
Sir Francis Lovell, C.M.G., Dean of the London School of Tropical Medicine, is now in Hongkong for the purpose of obtaining funds for the support of this valuable institution. The School has so splendidly justified its existence, and has been the means of making contributions to medical knowledge of such Fast importance to tropical countries that it comes as a surprise to learn that the amount of support it derives from the Home, Colonial and Indian Governments, together with the income from fees, mess charges, etc., still falls short of the annual expenditure (£2,800) by £700.
When Sir Francis Lovell paid his last visit to Hongkong six years ago, he induced the Government, to make a contribution of £100 a year to the school for five years, and one of the objects of his present visit is to induce the Government to renew the grant. The applica tion, we believe, was under the consideration of the Executive Council yesterday. Though Sir Francis is making his appeal at a time when the Colonial revenue is suffering from the general depression, and is still further seriously threatened by the Home Government's policy with regard to the opium trade, yet it would be hard to deny a small contribution towards the support of the London School of Tropical Medicine whose work in the field of medical research, this Colony, in common with all other tropical colonies, has derived great material We have in mind especially the malaria gratifying improvement statistics which have followed the investigations conducted under the auspices of the School so com- pletely establishing the mosquito theory or origin Sir Patrick Manson had entertained while in practice at Hongkong. In the early days of the Colony, as the cemetery at Stanley and the old portion of the cemetery at Happy Valley silently testify, malaria was a dreadful scourge here and down to the initiation of nullah-training and other measures to get rid of the mosquito, Hongkong remained a bed of fever." Thanks primarily to the London School of Tropical Medicine, Hongkong to-day is a vastly more healthy place to live in. The hospital statistics of malarial cases in recent years have shown substantial and steady improvement.
benefit.
in
the
It is of interest to know that some of the
medical men in Hongkong have studied at the school, including Dr. Atkinson, the Principal Civil Medical Officer; Dr. Francis Clark, the Medical Officer of Health; Dr. Stedman, Dr. Belilios and possibly others. Moreover the staff of the School are always prepared to give help to workers on tropical, subjects who cannot take furlough in England. On several grounds therefore the School has claims on the Colony's sympathy and support.
Some of the firms assisted the School with donations on the occasion of the last visit paid by Sir Francis Lovell, notably the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank and Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Limited, who each gave donations cf $500. Sir Francis hopes that the Colony both officially and in a private way will continue to aid the School which has still a great work before it.
A large sum (at least £25,000), needs to be collected before the permanence of the London School of Tropical Medicine can be regarded as assured, or before those who direct it can feel themselves justified in extending the sphere of its operations, more especially in the way of establishing much needed research laboratories in London, and of despatching properly equipped research expeditions to tropical countries. The School Authorities have authorized the Dean, Sir Francis Lovell, to collect on its behalf such a sum of money as will form an adequate endowment fund, and thus place the School on a satisfactory and permanent financial basis. They trust that this appeal will be liberally responded to by those individuals, companies, communities or governments who have already benefited by, or who appreciate the work and objects of the School, and who have a special interest in combating tropical diseases.