festations, (_b_) The Seasons, (_c_) Astronomy and Mathematics and
(_d_) Natural Phenomena. Under these classes come the individual
items; and here it is that the foreign student is often at a loss. For
instance, class _a_ includes Earth, in its cosmogonic sense, as the
mother of mankind; Heaven, in its original sense of God; the Dual
Principle in nature; the Sun, Moon and Stars; Wind; Clouds; Rainbow;
Thunder and Lightning; Rain; Fire, &c. But Earth is itself a
geographical category; and all strange phenomena relating to many of
the items under class _a_ are recorded under class _d_. Category No.
6, marked as Political Science, contains such classes as Ceremonial,
Music and Administration of Justice, alongside of Handicrafts, making
it essential to study the arrangement carefully before it is possible
to consult the work with ease. Such preliminary trouble is, however,
well repaid, the amount of information given on any particular subject
being practically coextensive with what is known about that subject.
The method of presenting such information, with variations to suit the
nature of the topics handled, is to begin with historical excerpts,
chronologically arranged. These are usually followed by sometimes
lengthy essays dealing with the subject as a theme, taken from the
writings of qualified authors, and like all the other entries, also
chronologically arranged. Then come elegant extracts in prose and
verse, in all of which the subject may be simply mentioned and not
treated as in the essays. After these follow minor notices of
incidents, historical and otherwise, and all kinds of anecdotes,
derived from a great variety of sources. Occasionally, single poetical
lines are brought together, each contributing, some thought or
statement germane to the subject, expressed in elegant or forcible
terms; and also, wherever practicable, biographies of men and women
are inserted.

Chronological and other tables are supplied where necessary, as well
as a very large number of illustrations, many of these being
reproductions of woodcuts from earlier works. It is said that the _T'u
Shu Chi Ch'eng_ was printed from movable copper type cast by the
Jesuit Fathers employed by the emperor K'ang Hsi at Peking; also that
only a hundred copies were struck off, the type being then destroyed.
An 8vo edition of the whole encyclopaedia was issued at Shanghai in
1889; this