Ws published recently a Report which we are sure must have proved interest ing to all who perused it, and which we believe must have contained much new matter to the majority of our readers, We refer to the account of the department for the translation of foreign books at the Kiangnan Arsenal. Such languid interest is taken by the Present generation of Shanghai residents in matters not immediately connected with their business, that we should not be surprised if the existence of a Translation Department at the Arsenal in their neighbourhood was unknown to them, certainly the amount of valuable work done there has never we imagine boon appreciated by the general public until we published Mr. Fryer's narrative, The account of the origin of the establishment of this department is extremely interesting. It is important to know that some fifteen years ago two scholars in a city in the interior had sufficient discernment and intelligence to wax discontented with "the hollow and unsatisfying nature of the ordinary routine of Chinese studies," and to take active and strenuous steps towards guiding their countrymen into the more excellent way. The whole history is calculated to arouse the attention and gain the sympathy of all who are not blind to the signs of movement the Chinese mind, The rough and imperfect translation by Dr. Hobson of a Western work on Natural Philosophy, appears to have kindled the sparks of enthusiasm in the minds of these seekers after truth, and iti spite of repented disappointment and rebuffs Hell and Hwa persisted in their studies, Ihe illustrious Tseng-kwo-fan at last gave them the opportunity they needed. Ho found them their first employment, and it is satisfactory to think tht the oon of Tseng has still an undiminished interest in the work at the Arsenal which his father's protegees have done so much to render efficient. And the work done, considering the difficulties that had to be overcome, is roxily extraordinary. These difficulties are most modestly touched upon in Mr. Fryer's paper, but it is plain that they have been of no ordinary kind, Above all, the unwieldy language had to be straggled with and coerced to discharge tasks of which it bad never been considered capable, On this important question the observations of the man who has done the largest part of the translating work are deserving of special attention, Mr. Fryer boldly states his belief that the Chinese language is capable of growth, and asserts that the difficulty of translating Scientific works written in European languages into the tongue of the Middle Kingdom has been largely exaggerated. "A little investigation," he says, "will "show that from the time the early Jesuit Missionaries commenced their "compilations up to the present day, "no serious difficulties hare been ex-
"perienced by foreign translators." A spoken Innguage can bardly be struck to stone, and in spite of pedantic rales it must receive accessions from time to time. The licence which Horace claimed for the posts of his country, of ing by new terms things before unknown, and of inventing expressions not so much as heard of by the old-fashioned Cethegi, is claimed by most. writers, and indeed is a necessary con-ition of a language used as a medium for the exchange of thought. This should go without saying, bat so rooted is the belief in the unmanageableness and stiffness of the Chinese tongue, that this remark, which is a truism when uttered of any other language, dawns on us like a discovery when we bear it made of this peculiar speech. Mr. Fryer's remarks are in the best sense of the word encouraging and hopeful. He has had wide practical experience, and the number of works which he has himself translated into Chinese is so large that his opinion deserves to carry weight with it. We have before us a list of the books published at the Arsenal, and it strikes us with absolute wonder to see how,! much has been effected in a short time. The Kiangnan Arsenal has really been a contre light to the native population. The treatises of Herschell, De Morgan, Lyell, Geikie, Tyndall and all the foremost men of science of our day, have been trauelated into Chinese at the Arsenal, and are being sold freely amongst the natives. The circulation is slow; it has taken eight years to got rid of a thousand copies of a Treatise on Prac-ticul Geometry; it has taken seven years to get rid of seven hundred and eighty one copies of a treatise on Algebra, and nine years to dispose of eight hundred and forty copies of a book on coal 1g; while nine hundred and four copies of a work on Krupp's guns have found purchasers in eight years. It is suggestive to find that eleven hundred and fourteen issues of a volume on coast defence have been purchased ce 1871. We are surprised that a work on Photography is not a favonrite, and amused to notice that a manual of Etiquette is announced. Altogether, however, the Report. of the Translation Department is very full of interest and promise.
The next step in the forward direction which we should like to ste taken, would betheemployment of some of these works at the great Public Examinations. If once this can be done, we shall indeed have good bopes that China will make a perceptible advance. If slowly, but surely, @ school of modern learning could be introduced, and honours be given to those who displayed proficiency in Earopean Literature and Science as well as to those who had studied the national literature, we should soon see practical results. Bat, when we remember how strong and masterful is the grasp which the Classics hold over the education of British youth, and how many years were allowed to elapse before modern Janguages and modern sciences were given their due place at the grent Pablic Schools in England, we should think twice before we blame the apathy and languor of the Chinese. This succinct and modest history of the Translation Departmentat the Kiangnan Arsenal proves, 1st, that the difficulties of translating modern ideas into Chinese ave been largely exaggerated 2nd, that there have been for years scholars in obscure districts in the Middle Kingdom who have been dissatisfied with the old paths and keenly alive to the inportanee of importing Western ideas; and 3rd, that there is scarcely anything which an energetic man may not do. Though his name is kept in the background, we are well aware that in this important undertaking Mr, Fryer has borne the burden and stress of the twelve years' work which has made his department what it is.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.