Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-06-18

SnanRnae. Ills knowledge OF English, as
shown in the work before us. is wonderfully
comprehensive and certain. He has collected
not only English phrases, which are classified
as Idioms, Colloquialisms and Slang, but
has added collection and explanations of
English proverbs. of Chinese proverbs and
maxims, and list of the Chinese dynasties,
harmonized as to dates with Christian chro-
nology. and finally 8 sketch of Copfucius.
The worth and value of the book are attested
by many of the foremost American scholars
Presidents of universities, professors, teachers
and students come forward with their testi-
mony of admiration and approval. And in
deed the book is quite unique. 1t covers
ground which might have been thought in a
peculiar manner tabooed to foreigners, for it
requires very subtle comprehension of
idiomatic expressions. That Kwong ac-
quired this subtle comprehension is abundantly
manifested by the extraordinary felicity
and fidelity of the majority of his explana-
tions of idiomatic and even slang expressions.
And because of this feature the work is cal
culated to be of great service to all who are
learning the language, since it puts them at
once familiar footing with thousands of
the most discouraging collocations of phrase
ology, and let's them into the arcana of these
expressions. The collections, too, are re-
markably complete, and the reader is sure to
be quite startled at intervals by finding set
down phrases which have become almost
extinct, but which anyone who lived geler-
alton ago has heard at some time and in some
place How Chinaman could have mastered
the enormous difficulties of the task which
Kwong undertook, is not easily understood
but it must be admitted that he has achieved
success where even an Euglishman or Amer
ican might have failed, and the fact may per-
haps be regarded as suggestive in relation to
the possibilities of Chinese intellectual devel-
opment. Ft is certainly difficult to perceive
! wherein Chinaman like Kwong is inferior
to the most cultivated European or Ameri-
can; and if Kwong, why not an indefinite
| number OF other Cinnamon?
| THs RELIGIONS OF CHINA !: CoSFGcIAKIsM AND TAO
Ism DESCRIBED AND COMPARED WITH CHRISTIANITY.
BY James Legge. New York +: Charles Scribner's
Sons. San Francisco a. l.. Bancroft. Price, 81 So
These are lectures by james Legge, the
distinguished Orientalist, but while they are
characterized by much erudition it is siugu-
lar how vague are the impressions they leave
upon the mind. The questions What is
| Confucianisrn? and, What is Taoism? have
| been answered SO often that it might be
| thought everyone understood something Of
| the subject. But when it is reflected how
| difficult would be the task of foreigner who,
with an imperfect knowledge of English,
should come to this country and try to acquire
anapprehension an of the religion of the Ameri-
can people, it may be easier to perceive how
very hard the explication of Chinese reli-
gion really is. And, in fact we find that
Mr.. Legge with all his learning, has failed
to make either Confucianism or Taoism more
easily grssped than they were before. The
| truth is that the real character of all reli-
gions is much more dependent upon the intel
| lecsual development of those who use them
than upon the external aspect of their dog
mas and formularies. Thus Confucianism
is both rational philosophy and apolytheistic
religion, according as it is employed by cul-
| tivated or uncultivated intelligences. It con-
tains all the germs of the most advanced
philosophy, yet it may be warped and dis
torted to suit the mental needs of the veriest
savages, who believe that ancestor worship is
material necessity. and that ghosts can be
/ 7. l.
precise account of it has yet been given, and
MIR. Legge signally fails in this volume to
clear up the obscure problem. So far as can
| be gathered it would seem to be a composite
religion, the foundations of which were fan
tastic and irregular superstitious of the Fetish
kind, and the superstructure a degraded
Buddhism. Like Confucianism and all other
religions, Taoism differs radically in its in
| terpretations. 1t has its philosophic and its
barbarous sides. It also is rationalistic in one
of its aspects, and anthropomorphic in an
other In fact the universal accompania-
ments of all religious development are plainly
to be recognized in the religions of China, and
the comparison of them with Christianity
| Will WLltCi irSSO SlooCo iSCIUI CO
would be much more valuable had it been
pursued in a scientific instead Of a secta-
rian spirit. Such a comparison, however.
most readers can make for themselves, and
we presume will prefer to do SO.
AEInAb LIFE As AFFECTED By rHR NATURAL CoNDI.
| TIoNs OF EXISTENCE BY Karl Semper. New
| York D. Appleton Co. Price, 50.
The immediate purpose Of the author of
this book was to apply the principles of the
Darwinian theory, and to gather from the
phenomena of actual life confirmation of
them. Accordingly he has here examined,
with more or less minuteness. the influence of
their environment upon different creatures,
and has noted the results of these inquiries. All
of them tend in the strongest possible way to
| bear out the Darwinian hypothesis, and even
negative that theory, fuller research hasshown
| that the denial was only apparent and not
real, and that broad chain of causation
yindicated the great hypothesis of the
century. DIR. Semper has carried his investi
cations into the Influence of Food, the H.
fluence of Light, the Influence of Temper
| ature, the Influence of Stagnsnt Water, the
Influence of Still Atmosphere, the Influence
of Water in Motion, the Influence of Cur
rents, the Influence of Living Organisms on
Animals, selective and otherwise. The
facts collected in the course of this
research are full of interest. Nearly all
of them tend to show how gradu-
ally but surely all the influences of the habi-
tat operate upon living organisms, and modi-
fy and develop new capacities and adapta-
tions in them. 1t is easy to perceive how
completely many creatures have been altered
from their original form by such influences,
and it is not hard even for the beginner to
understand how the changes from the prirni-
tive forms of life have been brought.about no
matter how radical many of these changes