ich the dictionaries furnish no explanation. Meanwhile M. Hervey has
published some of the results of his studies in a work called
_Investigations on Agriculture and Gardening among the Chinese_. He
mentions several varieties of fruits, vegetables, and trees, which might
advantageously be introduced into France and Algiers; he also analyzes the
Cyclopedia, and shows what are the difficulties in translating it.

A remarkable contribution to our knowledge of China, is M. BIOT's recent
translation of the book called _Tscheu-li_. It seems that in the twelfth
century before Christ, the second dynasty that had ruled the country, that
of _Thang_, fell by its own vices, and the empire passed into the hands of
Wu-wang, the head of the princely family of _Tscheu-li_. Wu-wang was a
great soldier and statesman; he confided to his brother Tscheu-Kong, a man
evidently of extraordinary political genius, the moral and administrative
reformation of the empire. He first laid the foundation of a reform in
moral ideas by an addition to the Y-King or sacred book, which the Chinese
revere and incessantly study, but which still remains an unintelligible
mystery for Europeans. Of his administrative reforms a complete record is
preserved in the _Tscheu-li_, and nothing could be easier to understand.

When the Tscheus thus came into power, they found in existence a powerful
feudal aristocracy, from which they themselves proceeded, and which they
must tolerate. Accordingly, they recognized within the imperial dominions
sixty-three federal jurisdictions, which were hereditary, but whose rulers
were obliged to administer according to the laws and methods of the
empire. Having made this concession, they abolished all other hereditary
offices, and established instead, a vast system of centralization, such as
the world has never seen equalled elsewhere. The administration, according
to the _Tscheu-li_, is divided among six ministries, which were also
divided into sections, and the executive functions descend regularly and
systematically to the lowest official, and include the entire movement of
society. The emperor and the feudal princes are restrained by formalities
and usage, as well as by the expression of disapprobation; and the
officials of every grade by their hierarchical dependency, and by a system
of incessant oversight; and finally, the people by proscription, and the
education, industrial, as well as mental and moral, which the State