Abstract
Ethnological Society, November 9.—This society held its first meeting for the present session at the rooms in St. Martin's Place. Professor Huxley, the President, occupied the chair. After some remarks by Colonel Lane Fox, the honorary secretary, on the Megalithic Monuments of Stonehenge, Mr. Gardner, of H. M. Consular Service, China, read a paper before the Society, on the Chinese People, Government, &c. The point on which Mr. Gardner laid most stress—in fact, the leading idea of the whole paper—seemed to be the tenacity with which the Chinese ‘had preserved the usages of antiquity, and the skill with which they had adapted them to the exigencies of modem times. They retain, according to him, the patriarchal theory of government, but make it suitable for an empire of 400,000,000 human beings. And if we allow that the ideographic form of writing is the most ancient of all, then the Chinese, in this nineteenth century, preserve an older principle of expressing thought than is to be found in the most ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics extant, and yet no language in the world is more capable of finding appropriate terms for the latest discoveries in mental and physical science, and the newest inventions of art. Mr. Gardner pointed out some analogies which he fancied existed between Chinese, Egyptian, and Hebrew, leaving it to philologists to decide whether these supposed coincidences were fortuitous, or a confirmation of the theory set forward by Hunter and others, of the original unity of the Aryan and non-Aryan languages. In the Chinese religion, Mr. Gardner stated, that whatever might be the nominal creed of individuals, or even masses, ancestral worship (undoubtedly the most ancient form of religious cult) as an act of devotion is most universally practised in the present day. Underlying all religious forms and creeds, Mr. Gardner stated, was an idea, more or less vague, of one Supreme Being; but he did not express an opinion as to whether this idea is a legacy of ancient times, or one of modern development. Besides this leading idea, Mr. Gardner gave a long account of the Chinese social institutions and benevolent societies: these latter are somewhat remarkable, and though not general enough in their organisation to refute the prevailing idea that the enthusiasm of humanity is peculiar to Christianity, tend to show that the Chinese are more philanthropic than any other heathen nation. Mr. Gardner also read some notes, and gave some anecdotes of personal experience to elucidate his main theories. In conclusion, if Mr. Gardner is correct in his premises, we see no reason to doubt his conclusion, that when the theory of division of labour shall be put in practice with regard to races as well as individuals, the Chinese will play an important part in the world's history as ethical philosophers, merchants, mechanics, and labourers; but that they are unfitted for rulers, soldiers, or the higher walks of art, and will not tend to advance physical or mechanical science.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 1, 90–94 (1869). https://doi.org/10.1038/001090b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/001090b0