Perhaps it was liked by them in that, according to its doctrine. a man puts aside the idea of reliance upon another and places himself above everything else, and it was found to have an agreeable resemblance to the spirit of self-reliance inculcated by Bushido. In the second place it repels all ideas of luxury and display and values simplicity and cleanliness, and in that respect it was found to bear an agreeable resemblance to the frugal and simple life of the bushi. Thus the Zen came to exercise its influence over the bushi, but not at all in the sense of believing in future felicity; quite to the contrary, from the very nature of that sect. This influence of Zen seems to have helped to a great extent the development of some of the characteristics of Bushido, such as imperturbability, stoicism, fortitude, and simplicity and cleanliness of thought or body. Here I may add that many traits of Bushido are no doubt to be found in the European knighthoods of former days, and therefore they are not really new to the Europeans who still remember those traditions.

The weakest point of Bushido in its earlier stages was its want of literary culture in the way of systematic ethical study, hence it easily happened that a thing one might regard as correct might not be correct in reality when examined from a higher point of view. This difficulty was especially observable when two obligations came into conflict, and one had to be preferred to the other. The bushi, in the carlier stages, knew more about their duty to their immediate master than to higher ones; hence their difficulty in discerning their duty to the supreme ruler of the land and their immediate head. Of course, they knew that the Emperor was the highest personage in the country, but they were unable to find out an ethical solution of the question, and indeed in all matters they wanted more systematic enlightenment.

These wants, however, have been supplied gradually as time went on, especially during the last three centuries. During this period almost unbroken peace reigned in the country. It ceased to have any intercourse with foreign countries except in a limited sense, but internally all branches of art and industry were encouraged and developed side by side. The study of Chinese and of native classics have been carried out in all parts of the land, and it was the bushi who chiefly devoted themselves to such culture. Bushi or samurai were retainers, as everyone knows, of their lords, and certain pensions were given by their lords to each family, according to their rank, so that they had not to work for their own living. Hence their only duty was to make themselves physically and mentally fit to fight for their lords in time of necessity, and in times of peace to make themselves as much like gentlemen as possible. In other words physical training and mental enlightenment, together with the refinement of their manners and habits, were their sole business-they had no other occupation. For, indeed, any other occupation which partook of the shape of business

conducted for profit was forbidden and was despised among them. Bushido came to be deeply imbued with the principles of Chinese and Japanese classics as they were taught.

I have shown above that in the systematic exposition of ethical ideas, Confucianism was the richest of all, and the essential part of it was taken by Bushido; as I have also shown above, there are many defects in the Chinese teaching; all the unimportant parts were cast away and the important parts were taken into the teaching of Bushido, and even these parts only in such a way as to suit our national traditions and characteristics, the essential spirit of Shintoism also being resuscitated in such a way as to give an impetus to Bushido, though in no orthodox manner. Such then is our Bushido. The bushi formed the governing class of the Japanese society, and it may be said the educated class also, or in other words the bushi may be called the gentry of the country. We can, therefore, say that Bushido was the ethics of Japanese society. In one way it may be said that Bushido, as such, was a monopoly of the military class, but in truth its spirit was not confined to this only; the literary study of Chinese, as well as of native classics, was not necessarily limited to the military class; hence the same notions which were imbued in it through these studies were also quietly extending their influence among people at large-among whom, I may add, there were many families of old bushi, or families which were quite equal in their standing to the bushi class. Moreover, the spirit of Bushido has also been making its influence felt by other people. Thus we can see that the nation has been preparing itself for centuries for the promotion of moral ideas of the same kind as those of Bushido.

The cardinal points of oriental ethics, as may be expected, are loyalty and filial piety. In China filial piety takes precedence, but in Japan loyalty stands first. There is a poem by Sanetomo, the third shogun of Kamakura and second son of the first shogun, which may be translated literally as follows:

The sea may dry up,

The mountain may burst asunder,
But no duplicity of thought

Shall I have to my sovereign.

Such is the idea of loyalty which has been taught to the Japanese for centuries. Side by side with loyalty the idea of patriotism—a term which in Japanese is almost identical in its purport with loyalty-was also inculcated, though the development of this last idea was later than the former. Then, also, all the other ideas relating to ethics, especially on the lines indicated in Confucianism, were inculcated side by side. With the abolition of the feudal system, some thirty years ago, the structure of Japanese society was totally changed, or rather restored to the condition which preceded the

ascendency of the military class in the twelfth century. The question now arises, What is the actual state of ethics in Japan at present? There is a new element which has been introduced into Japan in recent years, and it is in the form of Christianity. The constitution. guarantees freedom of conscience, and therefore there is no hindrance to the propagation of the Christian doctrine with its moral teaching, and, as a matter of fact, there are a number of Japanese who have embraced that faith, but they are after all a very small minority compared with the number of the whole Japanese population. The essence of Japanese ethics is the same as existed prior to the new epoch, with certain modifications actuated by the new force of the altered conditions, which, after all, are only in small details. I may say, in a word, that the Japanese ideal ethics form an extension of Bushido among the people at large from the nonextinct class of Bushi with whom it originated. As to how they stand at present and how they are inculcated among the people at the present time, I must refer my audience to an article entitled " Moral teaching of Japan," which was contributed by me to the February number of The Ninteenth Century and After. The sphere of the teaching is extensive, as is necessary from the very nature of the matter, but its essence may be summed up in a comparatively small compass. For this I can not do better than quote a part of the so-called " Imperial Educational Rescript" given. to his people by the present Emperor. It is quoted in my article to which I have just referred, but I will recite it once more:

It is our desire that you, our subjects, be filial to your parents and well disposed to your brothers and sisters. Let husband and wife dwell harmoniously together; let friends be mutually trustworthy. Impose upon yourselves self-restraint and rectitude of behavior. Extend to the multitude philanthropy. Advance learning and regulate your pursuits, developing the intellectual faculties and perfecting the virtuous and useful elements. Further seek to enhance the public good and enlighten the world by deeds of social benefit. Treasure always the fundamental constitution and respect the national laws. In any emergency exert yourselves in the public service and exhibit voluntarily your bravery in the cause of order. And by every means assist and promote the prosperity of the imperial régime, which is lasting as the heavens and the earth. Thus you will not only be our loyal subjects and good citizens, but will manifest the highest and best traditions of your ancestors.

Such, then, are the essential phases of the ethics of Japan. They may be far from reaching your lofty ideals and expectations, but we are contented with their general tendency, while at the same time we do not forget to inculcate the necessary furtherance and expansion of our ideas required by the changing circumstances of the time. We are likewise mindful of the desirability of carrying them out in such a way as not to conflict with the best ideals of any other country, for our sole aspiration is to preserve harmonious relations with the whole of mankind.

PLAGUE IN INDIA."

By CHARLES CREIGHTON, M. D.

Eight years ago the subject of plague in India was brought before this society in a paper by Mr. Herbert Birdwood, which dealt with the first epidemic in Bombay city in 1896-97 (Journal, February 28, 189, vol. XLVI, p. 305). Mr. Birdwood's intimate account of the beginnings of the infection, of its rapid extension, and of the efforts made to cope with it will remain a document of importance, both by reason of the fresh impression of so novel an experience in an Indian city under British rule and also because it was the first chapter of what is likely to prove a long history. At the date of the paper a second plague season in Bombay had begun, which proved to be more disastrous than the first; the cities of Poona and Karachi were also infected severely, and there were many minor centers along the whole coast northward to Cutch, and in the transmontane districts of Satara and Sholapur to the south, as well as two small spots of plague more than a thousand miles away in the northwestone around Hurdwar and the other in villages of the Jullundur doab. By that time the government of India was naturally alarmed at a threatened invasion of the whole country, and appointed, in August, 1898, a commission of five to conduct an investigation specially defined as of a scientific character, into origins and ways of spreading, as well as into the mode of treatment by serum inoculation and the mode of prevention by inoculating a solution of dead bacteria. That commission is now ancient history, so that I am at liberty to remark that there was not a single epidemiologist upon it, and that its "scientific character" was ruined by two causes—first, because the two medical members who wrote the report put aside such evidence as did not come within their bacteriological point of view, and, secondly, because the two departmental members were

a Reprinted by permission, with author's corrections, from Journal of the Society of Arts, London, Vol. LIII, No. 2743, Friday, June 16, 1905. Read before the Indian section of the Society of Arts on May 18, 1905.

Author of a History of Epidemics in Britain.