ing flexibility. As they promised to perform the experiment in my presence,
I oonld not do otherwise than suspend my judgment, lest I should condemn,
as an absurd fiction, a fact which, indeed, surpasses our conceptions, but may
yet be susceptible of a plausible explanation, especially by galvanism, the
recently discovered effects of which also appeared at first to exceed the
bounds of credulity. The experiment accordingly took place in the month
of October, 1783, when the cold was pretty severe. A young Dutchman
having died in our factory at Dezima, I directed the physician to cause the
body to be washed and left all night exposed to the air, on a table placed
near an open window, in order that it might become completely stiff. Next
morning, several Japanese, some of the officers of our factory, and myself,
went to examine the corpse, which was as hard as a piece of wood. One of
the interpreters, named Zenby, drew from his bosom a santock, or pocket-
book, and took out of it an oblong paper, filled with a coarse powder resembling
sand. This was the famous Dosia powder. He put a pinch into the
ears, another pinch into the nostrils, and a third into the mouth ; and presently,
whether from the effect of this drug, or of some trick which I could
not detect, the arms, which had before been crossed over the breast, dropped
of themselves, and in less than twenty minutes by the watch, the body recovered
all its flexibility.
“ I attributed this phenomenon to the action of some subtle poison, but
was assured that the Dosia powder, so far from being poisonous, was a most
excellent medicine in child-bearing, for diseases of the eyes, and for other
maladies. An infusion of this powder, taken even in pefect health, is said
to have virtues which cause it to be in great request among the Japanese of
all classes. I t cheers the spirits and refreshes the body. It is carefully
tied up in a white cloth and dried, after being used, as it will serve a
great number of times before losing its virtues.
“ The same infusion is given to people of quality when at the point of
death ; if it does not prolong life, it prevents rigidity of the limbs; and the
body is not exposed to the rude handling of professional persons, a circumstance
of some consequence in a country where respect for the dead is carried
to excess. I had the curiosity to procure some of this powder, for which I
was obliged to send to Kidjo, or the nine provinces, to the temples of the
Sintoos, which enjoy the exclusive sale of it, because they practice the doctrine
of Kobou-Daysi, its inventor. The quantity obtained in consequence
of my first application was very small, and even this was a special favor of
the priests, who otherwise never part with more than a single pinch at a
time.”
Titsingh, however, obtained a considerable quantity afterward, which he
carried home with him in 1784. I t has the appearance of sand, and when
it is fully perfected for use is as white as snow. I t is obtained on the mountain
of Kongosen or Kinbensen in the province of Yamatto, where there are
many mines of gold and silver. The process by which it is prepared is the
secret of the priests. Their knowledge is doubtless the result of accidental
experience; for their acquaintance with chemistry is so slight that we may
safely conclude they do not understand the rationale of its preparation.
Astronomy.—In this science they have made very considerable proficiency.
They understand the use of European instruments, and have
caused many of them to be very successfully imitated by native workmen.
Meylan says he saw good telescopes, chronometers, thermometers, and
barometers, made by Japanese mechanics. They calculate eclipses accurately,
and yearly almanacs are prepared in the Jeddo and Dairi colleges.
Lalande’s treatises and other astronomical works have been translated from
Dutch into Japanese, and are studied with great ardor. They have in their
division of time a cycle of sixty years, calculated out of their zodiac, which,
like ours, has twelve signs, differing from ours in their names only. But
this is not . the place to consider minutely their astronomical system. We
cannot leave it, however, without the remark that, on a comparison of it with
that of the Muiscas, an ancient, semi-civilized, and now extinct race, that
once inhabited the plains of Bogota, in New Granada, the resemblances were
so striking that they produced on our mind a conviction that the astronomical
systems of the two people were substantially the same.
S E C T I O N VI I .
LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS.
P a p e r was made by the Japanese as early as the beginning of the seventh
century, and printing from blocks, after the Chinese fashion, was introduced
in the year 1206 of our era. The city of the Mikado appears to be the
great metropolis of literature in Japan. A great many books are there made,
and a great many reside there whose occupation is that of letters. Seminaries
of learning of different grades have existed in the country ever since
Europeans knew anything about it. Xavier says that in his day there were
four “ academies ” in or near Miako, each having between three and four
thousand pupils; and he adds that much larger numbers were taught at an
institution near the city of Bandone, and that such seminaries were universal
throughout the Empire. Beside the colleges or higher institutions at the
city of Miako, we know of similar ones at Jeddo, and of one at Nagasaki.
How many there may be in the Kingdom we cannot say; but education,
such as it is, is by no means neglected in Japan. There would seem to be
something like a common school system, for Meylan states that children of