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no unfavourable fpecimen of Chinefe tragedy; and the Pleafing Hif. tory, of which an English tranflation, under the care of a learned and ingenious prelate, was published feveral years ago, is an inftance of Chinefe novel writing, that is interefting and fimple; and for ferious readers, the zeal of chriftianity had induced the miffionaries to procure the publication of feveral works in the Chinefe tongue, in proof of the tenets which they preached.

"Notwithstanding the vigilant, police of the Chinese magiftrates, books difapproved by them are privately printed and diffeminated in China. It is not eafy to prevent, or even always to detect, the operations of a trade which, befide paper and ink, require little more than fome pieces of board, and a knife to cut out characters upon them. The books thus published furtively, are chiefly thofe which are offenfive to decency, and inflame the imagination of young minds. It is not faid that any are levelled againft the government. The mandarines afferted, however, that a fect had for ages fubfifted in the country, whofe chief principles were founded upon an antipathy to monarchy; and who nourished hopes of, at laft, fubverting it. Their meetings were held in the utmoft fecrecy, and no man avowed any knowledge of them; but a fort of inquifition was faid to be eftablished in order to find them out. They who were suspected of fuch fentiments, were cut off, or hunted out of fociety; fomewhat like those who were accufed formerly of Judaism in fome Roman catholic kingdoms.

"The political, moral, and hiftorical works of the Chinese contain no abftract ideas of liberty,

which might lead them to the af fertion of independence. It is said, that in the French zeal for propagating principles of democracy, their declaration of the Rights of Man had been tranflated into one of the languages of India, and diftributed there. It is not, indeed, likely to caufe any fermentation in the tranquil, fubmiffive, and refigned minds, with the weak and delicate conftitutions, of the Hindoos; but it might be otherwife among the Chinese people, who are more fufceptible of fuch impreffions, their difpofition being more confonant to enterprize."

"The ftate of phyfic is extremely low in China. There are no public fchools or teachers of it. A young man, who wishes to become a phyfician, has no other way of acquiring medical knowledge, than by engaging himself to feme practitioner, as an apprentice. He has thus the opportunity of feeing his mafter's practice, of vifiting his patients with him, and of learning fuch parts of his knowledge and fecrets as the other chooses to comThe emolumunicate to him. ments of the profeffion feldom exceed the kill of the practitioner. As many copper coin as fcarcely are equal to fix-pence fterling, is faid to be the ufual fee among the people; and perhaps quadruple among the mandarines. The latter of high rank have phyficians in their houfehold, who refide conftantly with them, and accompany them when they travel. The em peror's phyficians, as well as most of his domeftic attendants, are chiefly eunuchs. Medicine is not divided in China into diftinét branches, as in moft parts of Europe. The fame perfon acts as phyfician, furgeon, and apothecary. The furgical part of the profeflion

ftill more backward than the others. Amputation, in cafes of compound fracture and gangrene, is utterly unknown. Death is the speedy confequence of fuch accidents. Deformed perfons, no doubt, there are in China; but they must be very few in number, or live much retired; for no fuch happened to fall in the way of the embaffy, through the whole of its route, from the northern to the fouthern extremity of China.

is not impoffible, that it may be owing partly to the infertion of the variolous matter fo near the feat of the optic nerve, to which the inflammation, it occafions, may ex

"No male phyfician is allowed to attend a pregnant woman, and fill lefs to practife midwifery; in the indelicacy of which, both fexes feem to agree in China. There are books written on that art for the use of female practitioners, with drawings of the ftate and pofition of the infant at different periods of geftation; together with a variety of directions and prefcriptions for every fuppofed cafe that may take place: the whole mixed with a number of fuperftitious obfervances.

"The mortality of the fmall pox, when of the confluent kind, joined to the obfervation that it attacked, once only, the fame perfon, induced the Chinese to expofe young perfons to its infection, when it happened to be mild. The fuccefs of this method, led at length to the practice of inocula-"Many practitioners of phyfic tion amongst them. The annals of take the advantage, as elsewhere, China first mention it, at a time of the obfcurity in which that art anfwering to the beginning of the is involved, and of the ignorance tenth century of the Chriftian era. and credulity of the people, to The general method of Chinefe gain money by the fale of noftrums inoculation, is the following: and fecrets of their own. They when the difeafe breaks out in diftribute hand bills, fetting forth any diftrict, the phyficians of the the efficacy of their medicines, place carefully collect a quantity with attefted cures annexed to of ripe matter from puftules of the them. But it was referved for the proper fort; which being dried, fect of Taotle, or difciples of Laoand pulverized, is closely thut up koun, already mentioned, to arroin a porcelain jar, fo as to exclude gate boldly to themfelves, the pof from it the atmoipheric air; and feffion of a medical fecret, not to in this manner it will retain its properties for many years. When the patient has been duly prepared by medicines, generally of an aperient kind, and strictly dieted for a 1hort time, a lucky day is chofen to fprinkle a little of the variolous powder upon a imall piece of fine cotton wool, and to infert it into the noftrils of the patient. If blindness, or fore eyes, be more frequent in China than elsewhere, which the gentlemen of the embatly were not able to afcertain, it

die. To thofe who had all the enjoyments of this life, there remained, unaccomplished, no other with than that of remaining for ever in it. And accordingly feveral fovereigns of China have been known to cherish the idea of the pofiibility of fuch a medicine. They had put themselves, in full health, under the care of those religious empirics, and took large. draughts of the boafted beverage of immortality. The compofition did not confift of merely harmless

ingredients; but, probably, of fuch extracts and proportions of the poppy, and of other fubftances and liquors, as occafioning a temporary exaltation of the imagination, paff ed for an indication of its vivifying effects. Thus encouraged, they had recourfe to frequent repetitions of the dofe, which brought on quickly languor and debility of fpirits; and the deluded patients often became victims to deceit and folly, in the flower of their age.

"There are in China no profeffors of the fciences connected with medicine. The human body is never, unlefs privately, diffected there. Books, indeed with drawings of its internal ftructure; are fometimes publifhed'; but thefe are extremely imperfect; and confulted, perhaps, oftener to find out the name of the spirit under whofe protection each particular part is placed, than for obferting its form and fituation.

"It is a matter of doubt, whether natural hiftory, natural philofophy, or chemistry, be, as fciences; much more improved than anatomy in China. There are feveral treatifes, indeed, on particular fubjects in each. The Chinese likewife poffefs a very voluminous eneyclopedia, containing many facts and obfervations relative to them; but from the few researches which the gentlemen of the embaffy had leifure or opportunity to make,, during their fhort vifit to the country, they perceived no traces of any general fyftem or doctrine by which feparate facts or obfervations were connected and compared, or the common properties of bodies afcertained by experiment; or where kindred arts were conducted on fimilar views; or rules framed, or deductions drawn from analogy, or principles laid down to conftitute a 1797.

fcience. For fome there is not

even a name. The Chinefe books are full of the particular proceffes and methods, by which a variety of effects are produced in chemical and mechanical arts; and much might probably be gained from the perufal of them, by perfons verfed at the fame time, in the language of the defcribers, and acquainted with the fubject of the defeription. As foon as the product of any art of manufacture has appeared to anfwer the general purpofe for which it was intended, it feldom happens that the Chinese difcoverer is either impelled by his curiofity, or enabled by his opulence, to endea vour to make any further progress, either towards fuperior elegance, or ornament, or even increafed utility. The use of metals, for the common purposes of life, has made the Chinefe fearch for them in the bowels of the earth, where they have found all thofe that are deemed perfect, except platinta. Perhaps they have not the knowledge, or means of ufing the cheapeft and fhorteft method of feparating the precious metals from the fubftances amongst which they are found; nor of reducing the ore of others into their respective metals; but they perfectly fucceed in obtaining them, without alloy, whenever their object is to do fo; and in making fuch mixtures of them as produce the refults they defire. The mines which are faid to be in China, containing gold, a metal efteemed there more precious from its rarity than its ufe, are feldom permitted to be worked; but finall grains of it are collected in the province of Yunnan and Se-chuen, among the fand in the beds of the rivers and torrents which carry it down along with them as they defcend from the mountains. It is F

pale,

1

pale, foft, and ductile. A few
mandarines, and many women' of
rank, wear bracelets of this metal
round the wrift, not more for orna-
ment, than from a notion that they
preferve the wearer from a variety
of difeafes. The Chinese artifs
beat it into leaf, for gumming it
upon paper to burn in their tri-
pods, and for gilding the ftatues of
their deities. The filk and velvet
weavers use it in their tiffues and
embroideries. Trinkets are alfo
made of it at Canton, which the
Chinese do not wear; but which
are fold in Europe as Eaftern or-
naments. Befide the ufe of filver
as a medium of payment for other
goods, when it pafles according to
its weight, it is likewife drawn in-
to threads, like gold, to be used in
the filk and cotton manufactures.
For bell metal, they ufe, with cop-
per, a greater proportion of tin than
is ufually done elsewhere, by which
means their bells are more fono-
rous, but more brittle, than thofe
of Europe. Their white copper,
called in Chinefe pe-tung, has a
beautiful filver-like appearance,
and a very clofe grain. It takes
a fine polish; and many articles of
neat workmanship in imitation of
filver, are made from it. An accu-
rate analytis has determined it to
confift of copper, zine; a little fil-
ver, and, in some specimens, a few
particles of iron, and of nickel
have been found. Tu-te-nag is
properly fpeaking, zinc, extracted
from a rich ore, or calamine. The
ore is powdered and mixed with
charcoal dust, and placed in carthen
jars over a flow fire, by means of
which the metal rifes in the form
of vapour, in a common diftilling
apparatus, and afterwards is con-
denied in water. The calamine
from whence this zinc is thus ex-
tracted, contains very little iron,

and no lead or arfenic, fo common in the calamine of Europe; and which extraneous fubftances contribute to tarnish the compofitions made of it, and prevent them from taking fo fine a polish as the petung of the Chinese. Doctor Gillan was alfo informed at Canton, that the artifts, in making their pe-tung, reduce the copper into as thin fheets or lamina as poffible, which they make red hot, and increafe the fire to fuch a pitch, as to foften, in fome degree, the lamine, and to render them ready almoft to flow. In this ftate they are fufpended over the vapour of their pureft tu-te-nag, or zinc, placed in a fubliming veffel over a

brifk fire. The vapour thus penetrates the heated laminæ of the copper, fo as to remain fixed with it, and not to be eafily diffipated or calcined by the fucceeding fufion it has to undergo. The whole is fuffered to cool gradually, and is then found to be of a brighter colour, and of a clofer grain, than when prepared in the European way. The iron ore of the Chinese is not well managed in their fmelting furnaces; and the metal is not fo foft, malleable, or ductile, as British iron. Their smiths' work is exceedingly brittle, as well as clumfy, and not polithed. They excel, indeed, in the art of cafting iron, and form plates of it much thinner than is generally known to be done in Europe. Much of the tin imported by the Chinese, is formed into as thin a foil as pollible, in order to gum it afterwards upon iquare pieces of paper, which are burut before the images of their idols. The amalgama of tin and quickfilver is applied, by the artifts in Canton, in making fmall mirrors, with glafs blown upon the fpot from broken pieces of that material

material imported whole from Europe. The glafs beads and buttons of various fhapes and colours, worn by perfons of rank, are chiefly made at Venice; and this is among the remnants of the great and almoft exclufive trade which the Venetians formerly carried on with the Eaft. The Chinese make great ufe of fpectacles, which they tie round the head. They are formed of cryftal, which the Canton artifts cut into laminæ, with a kind of fteel faw, formed by twifting two or more fine iron wires together, and tying them like a bowftring to the extremities of a small flexible bamboo. They undo one end of this ftring in order to pafs the wire round the cryftal, where it is meant to be divided, and which is then placed between two pivots. It is thus fawed, in the manner which European watch-makers ufe in dividing fmall pieces of metal. Below the cryftal is a little trough of water, into which the filiceous

powder of the cryftal falls as it is cut by the revolution of the wire. With this mixture, the wire and the groove it forms in the crystal, are often moiftened. The powder of the cryftal, like that of the diamond, helps to cut and polifh itfelf. The workmen did not feem to underftand any principle of optics, fo as to form the eye-glaffes of fuch convexities or concavities, as to fupply the various defects of vifion; but left their customers to choose what was found to fuit them beft. The few lapidaries who cut diamonds at Canton, used for that purpose adamantine fpar, which being mixed in fmall proportions with grey granite, the mafs was imagined to contain nothing elfe, and excited a doubt, whether it could be real diamond, which pure granite could affect. The Canton artifts are uncommonly expert in imitating European works."

SKETCH of the FEMALE ECONOMY of the SERAGLIO, and of the real CONDITION of the FEMALE SEX at CONSTANTINOPLE.

[From DALLAWAY'S CONSTANTINOPLE, ANCIENT and MODERN.]

TH

HE inhabitants of the feraglio exceed fix thoufand, of which about five hundred are women. Many who are employed there during the day, have their houfes and families in the city.

"When the fultan comes to the throne the grandees prefent him with virgin flaves, who, they hope, may become their patroneffes. - From thefe principally, fix are then chofen, who are ftyled Kadinns, but the late fultan Abdul-bamid added a

feventh. The' firft of them who gives an heir to the empire becomes the favourite, and has the title of Haffeky-Sultan. There are many others in the harem, but they feldom are fuffered to infringe the exclufive privilege of producing heirs to the empire, which the ka dinns claim; for with the others the most infamous means of prevention are forcibly adopted. If the child of the firft hafleky-fultan fhould die, her precedence is loft.

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