Books of travel are eagerly read by most classes of Chinese who have been educated up to the requisite standard, and long journeys have often been undertaken to distant parts of the Empire, not so much from a thirst for knowledge or love of a vagrant life, as from a desire to be enrolled among the numerous contributors to the deathless literature of the Middle Kingdom. Such travellers start with a full knowledge of the tastes of their public, and a firm conviction that unless they can provide sufficiently marvellous stories out of what they have seen and heard, the fame they covet is not likely to be accorded. No European reader who occupies himself with these works can fail to discover that in every single one of them invention is brought more or less into play; and that when fact is not forthcoming, the exigencies of the book are supplemented from the convenient resources of fiction. Of course this makes the accounts of Chinese travellers almost worthless, and often ridiculous; though strange to say, amongst the Chinese themselves, even to the grossest absurdities and most palpable falsehoods, there hardly attaches a breath of that suspicion which has cast a halo round the name of Bruce.
We have lately come across a book of travels, in six thin quarto volumes, written by no less a personage than the father of Ch'ung-hou. It is a very handsome work, being well printed and on good paper, besides being provided with numerous woodcuts of the scenes and scenery described in the text. The author, whose name was Lin-ch'ing, was employed in various important posts; and while rising from the position of Prefect to that of Acting Governor-General of the two Kiang, travelled about a good deal, and was somewhat justified in committing his experiences to paper. We doubt, however, if his literary efforts are likely to secure him a fraction of the notoriety which the Tientsin Massacre has conferred upon his son. He never saw the moon shining upon the water, but away he went and wrote an ode to the celestial luminary, always introducing a few pathetic lines on the hardships of travel and the miseries of exile. One chapter is devoted to the description of a curious rock called theLoom Rock. It is situated in the Luhsi district of the Chang-chou prefecture in Hunan, and is perfectly inaccessible to man, as it well might be, to judge from the drawing of it by a native artist. From a little distance, however, caves are discernible hollowed out in the cliff, and in these the eye can detect various articles used in housekeeping, such as a teapot, &c.; and amongst others aloom. On a ledge of smooth rock a boat may be seen, as it were hauled up out of the water. How these got there, and what is the secret of the place, nobody appears to know, but our author declares that he saw them with his own eyes. We have given the above particulars as to the whereabouts of the rock, in the hope that any European meditating a trip into Hunan may take the trouble to make some inquiries about this wonderful sight. The late Mr Margary must have passed close to it in his boat, probably without being aware of its existence—if indeed it does exist at all.
We cannot refrain from translating verbatim one passage which has reference to the English, and of which we fancy Ch'ung-hou himself would be rather ashamed since his visit to the Outside Nations. Here it is:—
"When the English barbarians first began to give trouble to theInner Nation, they relied on the strength of their ships and theexcellence of their guns. It was therefore proposed to build largeships and cast heavy cannon in order to oppose them. Irepresented, however, that vessels are not built in a day, andpointed out the difficulties in the way of naval warfare. I showedthat the power of a cannon depends upon the strength of thepowder, and the strength of the powder upon the sulphur andsaltpetre; the latter determining the explosive force forwards andbackwards, and the former, the same force towards either side.Therefore to ensure powder being powerful, there should be sevenparts saltpetre out of ten. The English barbarians have got rattanash which they can use instead of sulphur, but saltpetre is aproduct of China alone. Accordingly, I memorialised His Majesty toprohibit the export of saltpetre, and caused some thirty-seventhousand pounds to be seized by my subordinates."
Theoretically, the Chinese are fatalists in the fullest sense of the word. Love of life and a desire to enjoy the precious boon as long as possible, prevent them from any such extended application of the principle as would be prejudicial to the welfare of the nation; yet each man believes that his destiny is pre-ordained, and that the whole course of his life is mapped out for him with unerring exactitude. Happily, when the occasion presents itself, his thoughts are generally too much occupied with the crisis before him, to be able to indulge in any dangerous speculations on predestination and free-will; his practice, therefore, is not invariably in harmony with his theory.
On the first page of a Chinese almanack for the current year, we have a curious woodcut representing a fly, a spider, a bird, a sportsman, a tiger, and a well. Underneath this strange medley is a legend couched in the following terms:—"Predestination in all things!" The letterpress accompanying the picture explains that the spider had just secured a fat fly, and was on the point of making a meal of him, when he was espied by a hungry bird which swooped down on both. As the bird was making off to its nest with this delicious mouthful, a sportsman who happened to be casting round for a supper, brought it down with his gun, and was stooping to pick it up, when a tiger, also with an empty stomach, sprang from behind upon the man, and would there and then have put an end to the drama, but for an ugly well, on the brink of which the bird had dropped, and into which the tiger, carried on by the impetus of his spring, tumbled headlong, taking with him man, bird, spider, and fly in one fell career to the bottom. This fable embodies popular ideas in China with regard to predestination, by virtue of which calamity from time to time overtakes doomed victims, as a punishment for sins committed in their present or a past state of existence. Coupled with this belief are many curious sayings and customs, the latter of which often express in stronger terms than language the feelings of the people. For instance, at the largest centre of population in the Eighteen Provinces, there is a regulation with regard to the porterage by coolies of wine and oil, which admirably exemplifies the subject under consideration. If on a wet and stormy day, or when the ground is covered with snow, a coolie laden with either of the above articles slips and falls, he is held responsible for any damage that may be done; whereas, if he tumbles down on a fine day when the streets are dry, and there is no apparent cause for such an accident, the owner of the goods bears whatever loss may occur. The idea is that on a wet and slippery day mere exercise of human caution would be sufficient to avert the disaster, but happening in bright, dry weather, it becomes indubitably a manifestation of the will of Heaven. In the same way, an endless run of bad luck or some fearful and overwhelming calamity, against which no mortal foresight could guard, is likened to the burning of anice-house, which, from its very nature, would almost require the interposition of Divine power to set it in a blaze. In such a case, he who could doubt the reality of predestination would be ranked, in Chinese eyes, as little better than a fool. And yet when these emergencies arise we do not find the Chinese standing still with their hands in their sleeves (for want of pockets), but working away to stop whatever mischief is going on, as if after the all the will of Heaven may be made amenable to human energy. It is only when an inveterate gambler or votary of the opium-pipe has seen his last chance of solace in this life cut away from under him, and feels himself utterly unable any longer to stem the current, that he weakly yields to the force of his destiny, and borrows a stout rope from a neighbour, or wanders out at night to the brink of some deep pool never to return again.
There is a charming episode in the second chapter of the "Dream of the Red Chamber," where the father of Pao-yu is anxious to read the probable destiny of his infant son. He spreads before the little boy, then just one year old, all kinds of different things, and declares that from whichever of these the baby first seizes, he will draw an omen as to his future career in life. We can imagine how he longed for his boy to grasp the manlybow, in the use of which he might some day rival the immortal archer Pu:—thesword, and live to be enrolled a fifth among the four great generals of China:—thepen, and under the favouring auspices of the god of literature, rise to assist the Son of Heaven with his counsels, or write a commentary upon the Book of Rites. Alas for human hopes! The naughty baby, regardless alike of his father's wishes and the filial code, passed over all these glittering instruments of wealth and power, and devoted his attention exclusively to some hair-pins, pearl-powder, rouge, and a lot of women's head-ornaments.
Were any wealthy philanthropist to consult us as to the disposal of his millions with a view to ensure the greatest possible advantages to the greatest possible number, we should unhesitatingly recommend him to undertake the publication of a Chinese newspaper, to be sold at a merely nominal figure per copy. Under skilled foreign guidance, and with the total exclusion of religious topics, more would be effected in a few years for the real happiness of China and its ultimate conversion to western civilisation, than the most hopeful enthusiast could venture to predict. TheShun-pao, edited in Shanghai by Mr Ernest Major, is doing an incredible amount of good in so far as its influence extends; but the daily issue of this widely-circulated paper amounts only to about four thousand copies, or one to every hundred thousand natives! Missionary publications are absolutely useless, as they have a very limited sale beyond the circle of converts to the faith; but acolporteurof religious books informed us the other day that he was continually being asked for theShun-pao. Now theShun-paoowes its success so far to the fact that it is a pure money speculation, and therefore an undertaking intelligible enough to all Chinamen. Not only are its columns closed to anything like proselytising articles, but they are open from time to time to such tit-bits of the miraculous as are calculated to tickle the native palate, and swell the number of its subscribers. Therefore, to avert suspicion, it would be necessary to make a charge, however small, while at the same time such bogy paragraphs as occasionally appear in the columns of theShun-paomight be altogether omitted.
Our attention was called to this matter by a charming description in theShun-paoof a late balloon ascent from Calais, which was so nearly attended with fatal results. Written in a singularly easy style, and going quite enough into detail on the subject of balloons generally to give an instructive flavour to its remarks, this article struck us as being the identical kind of "light science for leisure hours" so much needed by the Chinese; and it compared most favourably with a somewhat heavy disquisition on aeronautic topics which appeared some time back in thePeking Magazine, albeit the latter was accompanied by an elaborate woodcut of a balloon under way. There is so much that is wonderful in the healthy regions of fact which might with mutual advantage be imparted to a reading people like the Chinese, that it is quite unnecessary to descend to the gross, and too often indecent, absurdities of fiction. Much indeed that is not actually marvellous might be put into language which would rivet the attention of Chinese readers. The most elementary knowledge, according to our standard, is almost always new, even to the profoundest scholar in native literature: the ignorance of the educated classes is something appalling. On the other hand, all who have read theirShun-paowith regularity, even for a few months, are comparatively enlightened. We heard the other day of a Tao-t'ai who was always meeting the phrase "International Law" in the above paper, and his curiosity at length prompted him to make inquiries, and finally to purchase a copy of Dr Martin's translation of "Wheaton." He subsequently complained bitterly that much of it was utterly unintelligible; and judging from our own limited experience of the translation, we think His Excellency's objection not altogether groundless.
Of the domestic life of foreigners, the Chinese, with the exception of a few servants, know absolutely nothing; and equally little of foreign manners, customs, or etiquette. We were acquainted with one healthy Briton who was popularly supposed by the natives with whom he was thrown in contact to eat a whole leg of mutton every day for dinner; and a high native functionary, complaining one day of some tipsy sailors who had been rioting on shore, observed that "he knew foreigners always got drunk on Sundays, and had the offence been committed on that day he would have taken no notice of it; but," &c., &c. They have vague notions that filial piety is not considered a virtue in the West, and look upon our system of contracting marriages as objectionable in the extreme. They think foreigners carry whips and sticks only for purposes of assault, and we met a man the other day who had been wearing a watch for years, but was in the habit of never winding it up till it had run down. This we afterwards found out to be quite a common custom among the Chinese, it being generally believed that a watch cannot be wound up whilst going; consequently, many Chinamen keep two always in use, and it is worth noticing that watches in China are almost invariably sold in pairs. The term "foreign devil" is less frequently heard than formerly, and sometimes only for the want of a better phrase. Mr Alabaster, in one of his journeys in the interior, was politely addressed by the villagers asHis Excellency the Devil. The Chinese settlers in Formosa call themselves "foreign men," but they call us "foreign things;" for, they argue, if we called you foreign men, what should we call ourselves? TheShun-paodeserves much credit for its unvarying use ofwesterninstead ofoutsidenations when speaking of foreign powers, but the belief is still very prevalent that we all come from a number of small islands scattered round the coast of one great centre, the Middle Kingdom.
And so we might go on multiplyingad nauseaminstances of Chinese ignorance in trivial matters which an ably-conducted journal has it in its power to dispel. We are so dissimilar from the Chinese in our ways of life, and so unlike them in dress and facial appearance, that it is only many years of commercial intercourse on the present familiar footing which will cause them to regard us as anything but the barbarians they call us. Red hair and blue eyes may make up what Baron Hubner would euphemistically describe as the "beau type d'un gentleman anglais," but when worn with a funny-shaped hat, a short coat, tight trousers, and a Penang lawyer, the picture produced on the retina of a Chinese mind is unmistakably that of a "foreign devil."
Of all their cherished ceremonies, there are none the Chinese observe with more scrupulous exactness than those connected with death and mourning. We have just heard of the Governor of Kiangsu going into retirement because of the decease of his mother; and so he will remain, ineligible to any office, for the space of three years. He will not shave his head for one hundred days. For forty-nine nights he will sleep in a hempen garment, with his head resting on a brick and stretched on the hard ground, by the side of the coffin which holds the remains of the parent who gave him birth. He will go down upon his knees and humbly kotow to each friend and relative at their first meeting after the sad event—a tacit acknowledgment that it was but his own want of filial piety which brought his beloved mother prematurely to the grave. To the coolies who bear the coffin to its resting-place on the slope of some wooded hill, or beneath the shade of a clump of dark-leaved cypress trees, he will make the same obeisance. Their lives and properties are at his disposal day and night; but he now has a favour to ask which no violence could secure, and pleads that his mother's body may be carried gently, without jar or concussion of any kind. He will have her laid by the side of his father, in a coffin which cost perhaps 100 pounds, and repair thither periodically to appease her departed spirit with votive offerings of fruit, vegetables, and pork.
Immediately after the decease of a parent, the children and other near relatives communicate the news to friends living farther off, by what is called an "announcement of death," which merely states that the father or mother, as the case may be, has died, and that they, the survivors, are entirely to blame. With this is sent a "sad report," or in other words a detailed account of deceased's last illness, how it originated, what medicine was prescribed and taken, and sundry other interesting particulars. Their friends reply by sending a present of money to help defray funeral expenses, a present of food or joss-stick, or even a detachment of priests to read the prescribed liturgies over the dead. Sometimes a large scroll is written and forwarded, inscribed with a few such appropriate words as—"A hero has gone!" When all these have been received, the members of the bereaved family issue a printed form of thanks, one copy being left at the house of each contributor and worded thus:—"This is to express the thanks of . . . the orphaned son who weeps tears of blood and bows his head: of . . . the mourning brother who weeps and bows his head: of . . . the mourning nephew who wipes away his tears and bows his head."
It is well known that all old and even middle-aged people in China like to have their coffins prepared ready for use. A dutiful son will see that his parents are thus provided, sometimes many years before their death, and the old people will invite relatives or friends to examine and admire both the materials and workmanship, as if it were some beautiful picture or statue of which they had just cause to be proud. Upon the coffin is carved an inscription with the name and titles of its occupant; if a woman, the name of her husband. At the foot of the coffin are buried two stone tablets face to face; one bears the name and title of the deceased, and the other a short account of his life, what year he was born in, what were his achievements as a scholar, and how many children were born to him. Periods of mourning are regulated by the degrees of relationship to the dead. A son wears his white clothes for three years—actually for twenty-eight months; and a wife mourns her husband for the same period. The death of a wife, however, calls for only a single year of grief; for, as the Sacred Edict points out, if your wife dies you can marry another. The same suffices for brother, sister, or child. Marriages contracted during these days of mourning are not only invalid, but the offending parties are punished with a greater or lesser number of blows according to the gravity of the offence. Innumerable other petty restrictions are imposed by national or local custom, which are observed with a certain amount of fidelity, though instances are not wanting where the whole thing is shirked as inconvenient and a bore.
Cremation, once the prevailing fashion in China, is now reserved for the priest of Buddha alone,—that self-made outcast from society, whose parting soul relies on no fond breast, who has no kith or kin to shed "those pious drops the closing eye requires;" but who, seated in an iron chair beneath the miniature pagoda erected in most large temples for that purpose, passes away in fire and smoke from this vale of tears and sin to be absorbed in the blissful nothingness of an eternal Nirvana.
Inquests in China serve, unfortunately, but to illustrate one more phase of the folly and ignorance which hopelessly overshadow the vast area of its Empire. For although the Chinese justly regard such investigations as matters of paramount importance, and the office of coroner devolves upon a high functionary—the district magistrate—yet the backward state of science on the one hand, and the necessity the ruling classes have been under of supplying this deficiency on the other, have combined to produce at once the most deplorable and the most laughable results. Two good-sized volumes of "Instructions to Coroners," beautifully printed on white paper and altogether handsomely got up, are published under the authority of the Government, and copies of this book are to be found in the offices of every magistrate throughout the Empire. It is carefully studied even by the underlings who play only subordinate parts on such occasions, and the coroner himself generally carries his private copy with him in his sedan-chair to the very scene of the inquest. From this work the following sketch has been compiled, for though it has been our fate to be present at more than one of the lamentable exhibitions thus dignified by the name of inquest, and to have had ocular demonstration of the absurdities there perpetrated, it will be more satisfactory to stick closely to the text of an officially-recognised book, the translation of which helped to while away many a leisure hour.
The first chapter opens as follows:—
"There is nothing more sacred than human life: there is nopunishment greater than death. A murderer gives life for life: thelaw shows no mercy. But to obviate any regrets which might beoccasioned by a wrong infliction of such punishment, the validityof any confession and the sentence passed are made to depend on asatisfactory examination of the wounds. If these are of abonafidenature [i.e., not counterfeit], and the confession of theaccused tallies therewith, then life may be given for life, thatthose who know the laws may fear them, that crime may become lessfrequent among the people, and due weight be attached to thesanctity of human existence. If an inquest is not properlyconducted, the wrong of the murdered man is not redressed, and newwrongs are raised up amongst the living; other lives may besacrificed, and both sides roused to vengeance of which no man canforesee the end."
On this it is only necessary to remark that the "validity" of a confession is an important point in China, since substitutes are easily procurable at as low a rate as from 20 to 50 pounds a life.
The duties of a Chinese coroner are by no means limited topost mortemexaminations; he visits and examines any one who has been dangerously wounded, and fixes a date within which the accused is held responsible for the life of his victim.
"Murders are rarely the result of premeditation, but can betraced, in the majority of cases, to a brawl. The statute whichtreats of wounding in a brawl attaches great weight to the 'death-limit,' which means that the wounded man be handed over to theaccused to be taken care of and provided with medical aid, andthat a limit of time be fixed, on the expiration of whichpunishment be awarded according to circumstances. Now therelatives of a wounded man, unless their ties be of the closest,generally desire his death that they may extort money from hisslayer; but the accused wishes him to live that he himself mayescape death, and therefore he leaves no means untried to restorehis victim to health. This institution of the 'death-limit' is amerciful endeavour to save the lives of both."
One whole chapter is devoted to a division of the body into vital and non-vital parts. Of the former there are twenty-two altogether, sixteen before and six behind; of the latter fifty-six, thirty-six before and twenty behind. Every coroner provides himself with a form, drawn up according to these divisions, and on this he enters the various wounds he finds on the body at the inquest.
"Do not," say the Instructions, "deterred by the smell of thecorpse, sit at a distance, your view intercepted by the smoke offumigation, letting the assistants call out the wounds and enterthem on the form, perhaps to garble what is of importance and togive prominence to what is not."
The instructions for the examination of the body from the head downwards are very explicit, and among them is one sentence by virtue of which a Chinese judge would have disposed of the Tichborne case without either hesitation or delay.
"Examine the cheeks to see whether they have been tattooed or not,or whether the marks have been obliterated. In the latter case,cut a slip of bamboo and tap the parts; the tattooing will thenre-appear."
In cases where the wounds are not distinctly visible, the following directions are given:—
"Spread a poultice of grain, and sprinkle some vinegar upon thecorpse in the open air. Take a piece of new oiled silk, or atransparent oil-cloth umbrella, and hold it between the sun andthe parts you want to examine. The wounds will then appear. If theday is dark or rainy, use live charcoal [instead of the sun].Suppose there is no result, then spread over the parts poundedwhite prunes with more grains and vinegar, and examine closely. Ifthe result is still imperfect, then take the flesh only of theprune, adding cayenne pepper, onions, salt, and grains, and mix itup into a cake. Make this very hot, and having first interposed asheet of paper, lay it on the parts. The wound will then appear."
Hot vinegar and grains are always used previous to an examination of the body to soften it and cause the wounds to appear more distinctly.
"But in winter, when the corpse is frozen hard, and no amount ofgrains and vinegar, however hot, or clothes piled up, howeverthick, will relax its rigidity, dig a hole in the ground of thelength and breadth of the body and three feet in depth. Lay in ita quantity of fuel and make a roaring fire. Then dash over itvinegar, which will create dense volumes of steam, in the middleof which place the body with all its dressings right in the hole;cover it over with clothes and pour on more hot vinegar all overit. At a distance of two or three feet from the hole on eitherside of it light fires, and when you think the heat has thoroughlypenetrated, take away the fire and remove the body forexamination."
It is always a great point with the coroner to secure as soon as possible the fatal weapon. If a long time has elapsed between the murder and the inquest, and no traces of blood are visible on the knife or sword which may have been used, "heat it red hot in a charcoal fire, and pour over it a quantity of first-rate vinegar. The stains of blood will at once appear."
The note following this last sentence is still more extraordinary:—
"An inquest was held on the body of a man who had been murdered onthe high road, and at first it was thought that the murder hadbeen committed by robbers, but on examination the corpse was foundto be fully clothed and bearing the marks of some ten or morewounds from a sickle. The coroner pointed out that robbers killtheir victims for the sake of booty, which evidently was not thecase in the present instance, and declared revenge to be at thebottom of it all. He then sent for the wife of the murdered man,and asked her if her husband had lately quarrelled with anybody.She replied No, but stated that there had been some high wordsbetween her husband and another man to whom he had refused to lendmoney. The coroner at once despatched his runners to the placewhere this man lived, to bid the people of that village produceall their sickles without delay, at the same time informing themthat the concealment of a sickle would be tantamount to aconfession of guilt. The sickles were accordingly produced, innumber about eighty, and spread out upon the ground. The seasonbeing summer there were a great quantity of flies, all of whichwere attracted by one particular sickle. The coroner asked to whomthis sickle belonged, and lo! it belonged to him with whom themurdered man had quarrelled about a loan. On being arrested, hedenied his guilt; but the coroner pointed to the flies settlingupon the sickle, attracted by the smell of blood, and the murdererbent his head in silent acknowledgment of his crime."
Inquests are often held in China many years after the death of the victim. Give a Chinese coroner merely the dry and imperfect skeleton of a man known to have been murdered, and he will generally succeed in fixing the guilt on some one. To supplement thus by full and open confession of the accused is a matter of secondary difficulty in a country where torture may at any moment be brought to bear with terrible efficacy in the cause of justice and truth. Its application, however, is extremely rare.
"Man has three hundred and sixty-five bones, corresponding to thenumber of days it takes the heavens to revolve. The skull of aman, from the nape of the neck to the top of the head, consists ofeight pieces—that of a Ts'ai-chow man, of nine; women's skullsare of six pieces. Men have twelve ribs on either side; women havefourteen."
The above being sufficient to show where the Chinese are with regard to the structure of the human frame, we will now proceed to the directions for examining bones, it may be months or even years after death.
"For the examination of bones the day should be clear and bright.First take clean water and wash them, and then with string tiethem together in proper order so that a perfect skeleton isformed, and lay this on a mat. Then make a hole in the ground,five feet long, three feet broad, and two feet deep. Throw intothis plenty of firewood and charcoal, and keep it burning till theground is thoroughly hot. Clear out the fire and pour in two pintsof good spirit and five pounds of strong vinegar. Lay the bonesquickly in the steaming pit and cover well up with rushes, &c. Letthem remain there for two or three hours until the ground is cold,when the coverings may be removed, the bones taken to a convenientspot, and examined under a red oil-cloth umbrella."If the day is dark or rainy the 'boiling' method must be adopted.Take a large jar and heat in it a quantity of vinegar; then havingput in plenty of salt and white prunes, boil it altogether withthe bones, superintending the process yourself. When it is boilingfast, take out the bones, wash them in water, and hold up to thelight. The wounds will be perfectly visible, the blood havingsoaked into the wounded parts, marking them with red or dark blueor black."The above method is, however, not the only one. Take a new yellowoil-cloth umbrella from Hangchow, hold it over the bones, andevery particle of wound hidden in the bones will be clearlyvisible. In cases where the bones are old and the wounds have beenobliterated by long exposure to wind and rain or dulled byfrequent boilings, it only remains to examine them in the sununder a yellow umbrella, which will show the wounds as far aspossible."There must be no zinc boiled with the bones or they will becomedull."Bones which have passed several times through the process ofexamination become quite white and exactly like uninjured bones;in which case, take such as should show wounds and fill them withoil. Wait till the oil is oozing out all over, then wipe it offand hold the bone up to the light; where there are wounds the oilwill collect and not pass; the clear parts have not been injured."Another method is to rub some good ink thick and spread it on thebone. Let it dry, and then wash it off. Where there are wounds,and there only, it will sink into the bone. Or take some newcotton wool and pass it over the bone. Wherever there is a woundsome will be pulled out [by the jagged parts of the bone]."
A whole chapter is devoted to counterfeit wounds, the means of distinguishing them from real wounds, and the manner in which they are produced. Section 2 of the thirteenth chapter is on a cognate subject, namely, to ascertain whether wounds were inflicted before or after death:—
"If there are several dark-coloured marks on the body, take somewater and let it fall drop by drop on to them. If they are woundsthe water will remain without trickling away; if they are notwounds, the water will run off. In examining wounds, the fingermust be used to press down any livid or red spot. If it is a woundit will be hard, and on raising the finger will be found of thesame colour as before."Wounds inflicted on the bone leave a red mark and a slightappearance of saturation, and where the bone is broken there willbe at either end a halo-like trace of blood. Take a bone on whichthere are marks of a wound and hold it up to the light; if theseare of a fresh-looking red, the wound was afflicted before deathand penetrated to the bone; but if there is no trace of saturationfrom blood, although there is a wound, if was inflicted afterdeath."
In a chapter on wounds from kicks, the following curious instructions are given regarding a "bone-method" of examination:—
"To depend on the evidence of the bone immediately below the woundwould be to let many criminals slip through the meshes of the law.Where wounds have been thus inflicted, no matter on man or woman,the wounds will be visible on the upper half of the body, and noton the lower. For instance, they will appear in a male at theroots of either the top or bottom teeth, inside; on the right handif the wound was on the left, andvice versa; in the middle ofthe wound was central. In women, the wounds will appear on thegums right or left as above."
The next extract needs no comment, except perhaps that it forms the most cherished of all beliefs in the whole range of Chinese medical jurisprudence:—
"The bones of parents may be identified by their children in thefollowing manner. Let the experimenter cut himself or herself witha knife and cause the blood to drip on to the bones; then, if therelationship is an actual fact the blood will sink into the bone,otherwise it will not. N.B. Should the bones have been washed withsalt water, even though the relationship exists, yet the bloodwill not soak in. This is a trick to be guarded againstbeforehand."It is also said that if parent and child, or husband and wife,each cut themselves and let the blood drip into a basin of waterthe two bloods will mix, whereas that of two people not thusrelated will not mix."Where two brothers who may have been separated since childhoodare desirous of establishing their identity as such, but areunable to do so by ordinary means, bid each one cut himself andlet the blood drip into a basin. If they are really brothers, thetwo bloods will congeal into one; otherwise not. But because freshblood will always congeal with the aid of a little salt orvinegar, people often smear the basin over with these to attaintheir own ends and deceive others; therefore, always wash out thebasin you are going to use or buy a new one from a shop. Thus thetrick will be defeated."The above method of dropping blood on the bones may be used evenby a grandchild, desirous of identifying the remains of hisgrandfather; but husband and wife, not being of the same flesh andblood, it is absurd to suppose that the blood of one would soakinto the bones of the other. For such a principle would apply withstill more force to the case of a child, who had been suckled by afoster-mother and had grown up, indebted to her for half itsexistence. With regard to the water method, if the basin used islarge and full of water, the bloods will be unable to mix frombeing so much diluted; and in the latter case where there is nowater, if the interval between dropping the two bloods into thebasin is too long, the first will get cold and they will not mix."
Not content with holding an inquest on the bones of a man who may have been murdered five years before, a Chinese coroner quite as often proceeds gravely to examine the wounds of a corpse which has been reduced to ashes by fire and scattered to the four winds of heaven. No mere eyewitness would dare to relate the singular process by which such a result is achieved; but directions exist in black and white, of which the following is a close translation:—
"There are some atrocious villains who, when they have murderedany one, burn the body and throw the ashes away, so that there areno bones to examine. In such cases you must carefully find out atwhat time the murder was committed and where the body was burnt.Then, when you know the place, all witnesses agreeing on thispoint, you may proceed without further delay to examine thewounds. The mode of procedure is this. Put up your shed near wherethe body was burnt, and make the accused and witnesses point outthemselves the very spot. Then cut down the grass and weedsgrowing on this spot, and burn large quantities of fuel till theplace is extremely hot, throwing on several pecks of hempseed. Byand by brush the place clean, and then, if the body was actuallyburnt in this spot, the oil from the seed will be found to havesunk into the ground in the form of a human figure, and whereverthere were wounds on the dead man, there on this figure the oilwill be found to have collected together, large or small, square,round, long, short, oblique, or straight, exactly as they wereinflicted. The parts where there were no wounds will be free fromany such appearances. But supposing you obtain the outline onlywithout the necessary detail of the wounds, then scrape away themasses of oil, light a brisk fire on the form of the body andthrow on grains mixed with water. Make the fire burn as fiercelyas possible, and sprinkle vinegar, instantly covering it over witha new well-varnished table. Leave the table on for a little whileand then take it off for examination. The form of the body will betransferred to the table and the wounds will be distinct and clearin every particular."If the place is wild and some time has elapsed since the deed wasdone, so that the very murderer does not remember the exact spot,inquire carefully in what direction it was with regard to such andsuch a village or temple, and about how far off. If all agree onthis point, proceed in person to the place, and bid yourassistants go round about searching for any spots where the grassis taller and stronger than usual, marking such with a mark. Forwhere a body has been burnt the grass will be darker in hue, moreluxuriant, and taller than that surrounding it, and will not losethese characteristics for a long time, the fat and grease of thebody sinking down to the roots of the grass and causing the aboveresults. If the spot is on a hill, or in a wild place where thevegetation is very luxuriant, then you must look for a growthabout the height of a man. If the burning took place on stonyground, the crumbly appearance of the stones must be your guide;this simplifies matters immensely."
Such, then, are a few of the absurdities which pass muster among the credulous people of China as the result of deep scientific research; but whether the educated classes—more especially those individuals who devote themselves in the course of their official duties to the theory and practice ofpost mortemexaminations—can be equally gulled with the gaping crowd around them, we may safely leave our readers to decide for themselves.
Section IV. of the valuable work which formed the basis of our preceding sketch, is devoted to the enumeration of methods for restoring human life after such casualties as drowning, hanging, poisoning, &c., some hours and even days after vitality has to all appearances ceased. We shall quote as before from our own literal translation.
"Where a man has been hanging from morning to night, even thoughalready cold, a recovery may still be effected. Stop up thepatient's mouth tightly with your hand, and in a little over fourhours respiration will be restored.Or, Take equal parts offinely-powdered soap-bean and anemone hepatica, and blow aquantity of this—about as much as a bean—into the patient'snostrils."In all cases where men or women have been hanged, a recovery maybe effected even if the body has become stiff. You must not cutthe body down, but, supporting it, untie the rope and lay it downin some smooth place on its back with the head propped up. Bendthe arms and legs gently, and let some one sitting behind pull thepatient's hair tightly. Straighten the arms, let there be a freepassage through the wind-pipe, and let two persons blowincessantly into the ears through a bamboo tube or reed, rubbingthe chest all the time with the hand. Take the blood from a livefowl's comb, and drop it into the throat and nostrils—the leftnostril of a woman, the right of a man; also using a cock's combfor a man, a hen's for a woman. Re-animation will be immediatelyeffected. If respiration has been suspended for a long time, theremust be plenty of blowing and rubbing; do not think that becausethe body is cold all is necessarily over."Where a man has been in the water a whole night, a recovery maystill be effected. Break up part of a mud wall and pound it todust; lay the patient thereon on his back, and cover him up withthe same, excepting only his mouth and eyes. Thus the water willbe absorbed by the mud, and life will be restored. This method isa very sure one, even though the body has become stiff."In cases of injury from scalding, get a large oyster and put itin a basin with its mouth upwards somewhere quite away fromanybody. Wait till its shell opens, and then shake in from a spoona little Borneo camphor, mixed and rubbed into a powder with anequal portion of genuine musk. The oyster will then close itsshell and its flesh will be melted into a liquid. Add a littlemore of the above ingredients, and with a fowl's feather brush itover the parts and round the wound, getting nearer and nearerevery time till at last you brush it into the wound; the pain willthus gradually cease. A small oyster will do if a large one is notto be had. This is a first-rate prescription."Where a man has fallen into the water in winter, and has quitelost all consciousness from cold, if there is the least warmthabout the chest, life may still be restored. Should the patientshow the slightest inclination to laugh, stop up his nose andmouth at once, or he will soon be unable to leave off, and it willbe impossible to save him. On no account bring a patient hastilyto the fire, for the sight of fire will excite him to immoderatelaughter, and his chance of life is gone."In cases of nightmare, do not at once bring a light, or goingnear call out loudly to the sleeper, but bite his heel or his bigtoe, and gently utter his name. Also spit on his face and give himginger tea to drink; he will then come round.Or, Blow into thepatient's ears through small tubes, pull out fourteen hairs fromhis head, make them into a twist and thrust into his nose. Also,give salt and water to drink. Where death has resulted from seeinggoblins, take the heart of a leek and push it up the patient'snostrils—the left for a man, the right for a woman. Look alongthe inner edge of the upper lips for blisters like grains ofIndian corn, and prick them with a needle."
The work concludes with an antidote against a certain dangerous poison known asKu, originally discovered by a Buddhist priest and successfully administered in a great number of cases. Its ingredients, which comprise two red centipedes—one live and one roasted—must be put into a mortar and pounded up together either on the 5th of the 5th moon, the 9th of the 9th moon, or the 8th of the 12th moon, in some place quite away from women, fowls, and dogs. Pills made from the paste produced are to be swallowed one by one without mastication. The preparation of this deadlyKupoison is described in the last chapter but one of Section III. in the following words:—