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THE CHINA REVIEW,
dean Charatas, it is but natural to assume that both the Pythagorean (or Chaldean) and the Chinese (more ancient) scales may have been derived from the same source, What that com- directly or indirectly,
mon source was, is at present impossible to
say.
Comparing Chinese musie with modern European music, it will be observed that our third and sixth differ from the Chinese intervals, but only by about 81/80 e. a comma, and that in the five-tone seala of the Chinese the fourth and seventh are entirely absent. This latter peonliarity ap- pears to be a characteristic of the ancient Celtic music, as still observable in old Scotch or Irish tunes, a very remarkable coincidence. Dr. Wagener states this, but omits all reference to what we believe to be a fact, viz. that there are at present in China both scales in vogue. The so-called For Southern Melodies adhere to the above described ancient (five-tone) scala, being entirely devoid of the fourth and seventh, but the so-called
or North-
eru Melodies are, as we believe, based on the twelve-tone scala, having no true semi- tones at all, but three quarter tones, the above-mentioned third and sixth being half- flattened. It is the absence of the fourth and seventh, or half-flattening of third and sixth, that gives that peonliar characteristie to Chinese music which Dr. Wagener de- scribes as "a near relation to the basis of our Minor tunes." We are very much indebted to Dr. Wagenor for the informa- tion we have gleaned from his essay.
L
The Vertebrata of the Province of Chili. With Notes on Chinese Zoological No- menclature. By 0. F. von Möllendorff, Ph.D. Shanghai, 1877.
With this essay, read in January this year before the North China Branch R. A. S., natural science in China has been very materially enriched, and it is evident that Swinhoe has found a worthy successor in Dr. 0. F. von Möllendorff. What has
hitherto been contributed, apart from Swin- hou's and, to some extent, Abbé David's labours, towards completing our knowledge of Chinese Zoology, were principally general descriptions, as those of Kirchner, Da Halde, Grosier, Murray, Dr. Williams. Useful as such general information is, it requires extensive correcting and supple- meating work which cannot reach perfection unless the Zoological peculiarities of the several provinces of China are studied, not from native works only, but by practical observations. The Zoological nomenclature of the Chinese Classics differs to some extent from that adopted in the Dictionaries and Repertories of later days, and differs widely from the popular terminology in vogue in the several parts of the Chinese Empire. Not only are the finer distinotions of the ancient writers, based on careful observation of nature, effaced in modern Repertories and Dictionaries, but one and the same name given to an animal in one province may be found, in practioal speech, to designate in other provinces many widely different species. It is therefore not sufficient, oven for specialists like Swinhoe and von Möllen- dorff, simply to observe the animals of any one province, to diagnostically describe, classify and name them according to the principles of modern Zoology, but this scien- tific nomenclature has to be applied to an elucidation and, where necessary, emenda- tion of the native nomenclature as found in the Classics, the ancient Dictionaries, modern Repertories and popular speech.
This is the aim Dr. von Möllendorff placed before himself in compiling his valuable manual of the Vertebrata of Chili. To an independent practical study of nature, he added an extensive study of the classical and modern literature as well as of the popular nomenclature. The commentator of the Chinese Classics, the lexicographer of modern Chinese vernaculars, as well as the students of natural science generally, will find here a mine of valuable information, applicable even, in many points, to other
SHORT NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
provinces or to China in general. Dr. Williams' Syllabic Dictionary receives here a series of important corrections, whilst the wolf, the elapharus and other animals, con- fusedly described in the commentaries to the Classics, are treated to special diagnostic descriptions. There is also a detailed un- count of the Nan-hai-tace, the Imperial Hunting Grounds (South of Peking), which have never before been fully described.
We were glad to observe that Dr. von Müllendorff protests against that objection- able vice, frequently indulged in by Abbé David and even by Swinhoe, of introducing native names into scientific appellations, which very often, as is especially the case in Chius, are very differently pronounced in different provinces and can only be very imperfectly represented by Roman letters. A case in point is for instance Swinhoe's Canis hoole" or David's "Canis henly," both being pronouneodhu-li in Mandarin, d- in Cantonese, fi-l in Hak- ka, and in each case designating a particular actual or fabulous species of fox and not the genus "Canis Valpes." We can only wish that the exigencies of the Consular Service required Dr. von Möllendorf's transfer to some other province where he would have opportunities to bontinue his successful ef- forts to elucidate the Zoology of China.
From Swatow to Canton, Overland. By Herbert A. Giles, of H.B.4. Consular Service. Shanghai, 1877. Tourists' journals in China, when written by a man of Mr. Gilos' knowledge of Chinese matters, keenness of observation and raci- ness of style, become very attractive reading. In the present pamphlet a vast deal of information is combined with the most amusing descriptions of the peculiar inci- dents of Chinese travels. The little book affords as pleasant reading as the best novel we know of. There are only two points we have to find fault with, and they are perhaps merely caused by the general lightness and airiness of style and expression. In the
61
Proface, Mr. Giles speaks of "Chinese and Hakkas," as if the Hakkas were not Chinese, and on page 68 he gives currency to an ab- surd exaggeration as to there being over one hundred monasteries on the Lo-fau Moun- tains. Twelve would be nearer the mark.
The Gospel of China.
Published by the Foreign Missions Committee of the Pres. byterian Church of England. No. 1, July, 1877.
This is a small quarterly periodical, esta- blished for the purpose of stimulating the missionary energy of the Presbyterian Church of England in its relation to China. The number before us contains an express renunciation of that unhealthy narrowness of spirit which characterizes so many similar publications of this class in noticing only the doing of the emissaries of the one denomination to which the supporters of the publication in question belong, as if Pro- testant Missionaries were labouring only to glorify each his own little denomination, instead of joining with all Christian work- ers, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, nay with civilization in general and even commerce in particular, in one COMMON nanse. We are not sure, however, that the Editors of the publication before us would go quite as far as we here wish. Trade and commerce are here indeed recognized as civilizing powers, and it is refreshing to see the readers of a Missionary penny magazina treated to a first class article on "Great Britain and China, their political and com- mercial relations," and to a series of Miscel- lanen embracing subjects like the following, the new Convention with China, the death of duke Kung, the Peking Gazette, the Railway, Telegraph and Omnibus in China. Bat we may have to wait in vain for a recognition of Roman Catholic Missionaries as fellow-workers in the same field, the only reference to Roman Catholic priests in the present number (p. 21-22) being a fully- deserved exposure of the pernicious system adopted by most priests of assuming official
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