《中國(guó)人的性格》是美國(guó)傳教士阿瑟·史密斯（明恩溥）基于1872年赴華傳教期間的社會(huì)觀察撰寫(xiě)的著作，首版英文名《Chinese Characteristics》于19世紀(jì)末問(wèn)世，。作者在華生活逾五十年，書(shū)中融合人類學(xué)視角與傳教士立場(chǎng)，記錄了晚清民眾的性格特征與文化形態(tài)。

全書(shū)以27個(gè)主題章節(jié)剖析中國(guó)人行為模式，包含“保全面子”“省吃儉用”等生活哲學(xué)，以及“漠視精確”“因循守舊”等社會(huì)現(xiàn)象。通過(guò)對(duì)比西方工業(yè)文明，著重探討東方特有的生存韌性，如環(huán)境適應(yīng)力與疼痛耐受性。書(shū)中案例多源自山東鄉(xiāng)村生活經(jīng)歷，涉及衣食住行、孝悌觀念等主題，部分結(jié)論因宗教立場(chǎng)存在視角爭(zhēng)議。該著作開(kāi)創(chuàng)西方研究中國(guó)國(guó)民性先河，被譯成多國(guó)文字，成為近代中西文化互鑒的重要文本。

第十章　理性混沌

我們把“理性混沌”說(shuō)成是中國(guó)人的一種性格加以討論，可我們并不希望讓人們產(chǎn)生這樣的理解，即只有中國(guó)人才有這種情況，或者說(shuō)，所有中國(guó)人都是這樣。作為整個(gè)中華民族，他們完全有能力自立于世界民族之林，他們的智力當(dāng)然并不低下，而且沒(méi)有任何衰退的跡象。與此同時(shí)，我們又必須意識(shí)到，在中國(guó)，教育并不普及，那些沒(méi)有受過(guò)完整教育或根本就沒(méi)受過(guò)教育的人，他們?cè)谶\(yùn)用中國(guó)語(yǔ)言時(shí)，造成了思緒含混，有可能犯了律師所說(shuō)的“事前從犯”的罪行。它導(dǎo)致了典型的理性混沌，可能會(huì)是那些教育程度不高的人犯下罪行。

正如今天不少人已經(jīng)知道的那樣，漢語(yǔ)的名詞是沒(méi)有詞形變化的，它們既完全沒(méi)有“數(shù)”，也完全沒(méi)有“格”。漢語(yǔ)的形容詞沒(méi)有比較級(jí)。漢語(yǔ)的動(dòng)詞也不受任何“語(yǔ)態(tài)”、“語(yǔ)氣”、“時(shí)態(tài)”、“單復(fù)數(shù)”和“人稱”的限制。在名詞、形容詞和動(dòng)詞之間沒(méi)有明顯的區(qū)別，因?yàn)槿魏我粋€(gè)漢字只要能用的，都可以通用為每一種詞類（或者說(shuō)是非詞類），也不會(huì)有什么問(wèn)題。我們并不是抱怨，說(shuō)中國(guó)語(yǔ)言不能用來(lái)交流人的思想，也不是要說(shuō)中國(guó)語(yǔ)言很難或不能把人類的各種思想都表達(dá)清楚（盡管有時(shí)候的確如此），而只是認(rèn)為，有這樣一種結(jié)構(gòu)的語(yǔ)言，正像夏天的酷熱自然要引起人昏昏欲睡一樣，容易招致“智力含混”。

與一個(gè)沒(méi)受過(guò)教育的中國(guó)人交談，最常見(jiàn)的一個(gè)感受就是，要弄清楚他所說(shuō)的是什么意思，那是很困難的。有時(shí)，他的話好像全都是謂語(yǔ)，這些謂語(yǔ)以一種復(fù)雜方式組合在一起，整個(gè)就像是穆罕默德的天棺，懸在半空之中，莫名其妙，不著邊際。說(shuō)話人卡在那里，省卻主語(yǔ)并沒(méi)有多大的關(guān)系。他是清楚自己在說(shuō)什么，但決不會(huì)想到，聽(tīng)眾根本無(wú)法根據(jù)直覺(jué)去理解他所說(shuō)的這一大堆內(nèi)容。主語(yǔ)，這個(gè)傳達(dá)信息的主要部分，究竟是什么。顯然，他們已經(jīng)被培養(yǎng)成很有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的專業(yè)猜測(cè)家，多數(shù)中國(guó)人講的話，自己能補(bǔ)上所缺少的主語(yǔ)或謂語(yǔ)，就能領(lǐng)悟其核心的意思了。常常還會(huì)出現(xiàn)這樣的情況，往往整句話中最重要的詞丟失了，也找不到任何能引申出這個(gè)詞的頭緒。

在日常的對(duì)話中，常常發(fā)生這樣的情況，說(shuō)話人的方式，說(shuō)話人的聲調(diào)，以及談話的環(huán)境都發(fā)生改變了。話題的主語(yǔ)悄悄發(fā)生改變時(shí)，說(shuō)話人往往沒(méi)有在態(tài)度、音調(diào)以及相關(guān)的細(xì)節(jié)上予以暗示，因此，你會(huì)突然發(fā)現(xiàn)，他已經(jīng)不是像剛才那樣在說(shuō)他自己，而是在說(shuō)道光年間他的祖父。他怎么會(huì)說(shuō)到那里，又怎么再說(shuō)回來(lái)，往往是一個(gè)難解的謎，但我們每天都可以看到這種技藝的表演。對(duì)中國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)這沒(méi)有任何可以詫異的：沒(méi)有預(yù)先的提示，而突然莫名其妙地從一個(gè)主題、一個(gè)人、一個(gè)世紀(jì)跳到另一個(gè)主題、另一個(gè)人、另一個(gè)世紀(jì)，是再平常不過(guò)的事了，就像一個(gè)人在看窗上的小蟲(chóng)，與此同時(shí)，還不斷轉(zhuǎn)移視線，能夠看到同一視線上遠(yuǎn)處山岡上的牛群一樣。

漢語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞沒(méi)有時(shí)態(tài)，也沒(méi)有說(shuō)明時(shí)間，地點(diǎn)變化的標(biāo)記，這些都是事實(shí)，并無(wú)助于把一個(gè)人的理性梳理得清晰，他們的思緒經(jīng)常處于含混狀態(tài)。在這種情況下，可憐的外國(guó)人若能有興趣并希望能追得上一連串稍縱即逝的想法，最好的方法就是開(kāi)始提出一系列問(wèn)答式的詢問(wèn)，就像一位邊遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)的獵人用斧子在無(wú)路的森林中砍出“記號(hào)”來(lái)?！澳悻F(xiàn)在說(shuō)的這個(gè)人是誰(shuí)？”這個(gè)問(wèn)題搞清楚后，還可以接著問(wèn)，“你說(shuō)的這是什么地方？”“什么時(shí)候？”“這個(gè)人做的是什么？”“他們?yōu)槭裁匆@樣？”“后來(lái)又發(fā)生了什么事情呢”每問(wèn)一個(gè)問(wèn)題，你的中國(guó)朋友都會(huì)帶著一種困惑、或許是一種懇求的眼神望著你，似乎在懷疑你的五官感覺(jué)是不是分崩離析了。但是，沿著這樣的線索堅(jiān)持不斷地追問(wèn)下去，就會(huì)找到那個(gè)引導(dǎo)人們從無(wú)望迷宮里走出的阿里阿德涅線團(tuán)。

對(duì)一個(gè)沒(méi)有接受過(guò)教育的中國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)，任何一個(gè)想法都會(huì)令他驚訝，因?yàn)樗麑?duì)任何一個(gè)想法都肯定沒(méi)有心理準(zhǔn)備。他之所以搞不懂，因?yàn)樗矎牟幌胫ジ愣?。他需要花上一定的時(shí)間來(lái)啟動(dòng)一下思維能力，因?yàn)樗€完全處于慣常的狀態(tài)中。中國(guó)人的頭腦就像一門舊滑膛炮，炮身已銹跡斑斑，架在一個(gè)不堪重負(fù)的腐朽炮架上。在瞄準(zhǔn)一個(gè)目標(biāo)之前，需要先調(diào)整方向好半天，而最后肯定還是打不響。因此，當(dāng)你向一個(gè)人問(wèn)他一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單問(wèn)題，比如：“你多大年紀(jì)了？”他會(huì)十分茫然地盯著問(wèn)話人，并反問(wèn)道：“您是在問(wèn)我嗎？”你回答：“是的，是問(wèn)你?！边@時(shí)，他振作起精神，又問(wèn)：“是問(wèn)我多大歲數(shù)嗎？”“是，是問(wèn)多大歲數(shù)?！彼僖淮握{(diào)整他的注意點(diǎn)，問(wèn)道：“是問(wèn)我多大歲數(shù)了嗎？”“是的?！蹦阏f(shuō)道，“是問(wèn)你多大歲數(shù)了?！薄拔迨藲q了啊?！彼卮鹫f(shuō)，這回，他的腦袋才運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)正常，炮口對(duì)準(zhǔn)了目標(biāo)。

理性混沌的一個(gè)突出事例是，中國(guó)人習(xí)慣于用事實(shí)本身來(lái)解釋事實(shí)的原因。你問(wèn)一位中國(guó)廚師：“你們做饅頭時(shí)為什么不在里面放些鹽？”得到的解釋是，“我們就是都不在饅頭里放鹽。”“你們城里有這么多、這么好的冰，為什么不在冬天儲(chǔ)存一些起來(lái)呢？”“是的，我們這個(gè)城市不在冬天儲(chǔ)存冰塊。”一位拉丁詩(shī)人說(shuō)過(guò)：“能夠知道萬(wàn)事之因的人是快樂(lè)的?！钡绻钤谥袊?guó)，他就會(huì)把他的格言修改為：“試圖找到萬(wàn)事緣由的人是自尋煩惱?！?/p>

理性混沌的另一個(gè)標(biāo)志就是，一個(gè)普通人無(wú)法將別人的一個(gè)想法原原本本地轉(zhuǎn)告給另一個(gè)人。要A把某事轉(zhuǎn)告于B，再原原本本轉(zhuǎn)告于C，這在中國(guó)是最愚蠢的做法。要么因?yàn)橛捎谟嘘P(guān)的人不了解該事的重要性，而根本就沒(méi)有把該信息傳下去。要么是信息傳到C時(shí)已是面目全非，C完全不知所云了。要想讓這樣一臺(tái)復(fù)雜機(jī)器中的三個(gè)齒輪能互相配合，運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)正常，那簡(jiǎn)直就是異想天開(kāi)。即使是那些有相當(dāng)理解力的人，他們也覺(jué)得轉(zhuǎn)達(dá)一個(gè)想法而不有所增減，這是非常困難的。這正如一根直棍插入清水中，折射出來(lái)的肯定是像折斷了一般。

一個(gè)善于觀察的外國(guó)人隨時(shí)隨地會(huì)碰到這樣一些奇特的例證。你會(huì)針對(duì)一些人的某種反常行為問(wèn)道：“他為什么要這樣去做啊？”“是的?！蹦闼玫降幕卮鹁褪沁@么簡(jiǎn)明扼要。在這種含混不清的回答中，一般幾個(gè)令人惱火的常用詞作為附屬物。既有表示疑問(wèn)的“幾個(gè)”，又有表示肯定的“好幾個(gè)”。你問(wèn)：“你在這里住幾天了？”回答是：“是的，我在這里已經(jīng)住了幾天了?！?/p>

在中國(guó)人的言語(yǔ)中，也許最含混不清的詞是人稱（或非人稱）代詞——“ta”，這個(gè)字既可以表示“他”、“她”，也可以表示“它”。有時(shí)，說(shuō)話人為了表明他所說(shuō)的人指的是誰(shuí)，就用拇指含混地朝這個(gè)人的家的方向指一指，或者指向這個(gè)人目前所處的地點(diǎn)。但是，這單音節(jié)詞的“ta”無(wú)所不能，更經(jīng)常被看做是一個(gè)關(guān)系代詞、一個(gè)指示代詞和一個(gè)指定形容詞。在這些情況下，一個(gè)中國(guó)人描述一場(chǎng)斗毆，就像英國(guó)法庭上的證人作證，他以下列的語(yǔ)句表述道：“他拿著一根棍子，他也拿著一根棍子，他打了他，他也打了他，如果他像他打他那樣狠地打他，他就會(huì)打死他，而不是他打死他?！?/p>

你質(zhì)問(wèn)一個(gè)玩忽職守的仆人：“叫你，為什么不來(lái)？”他坦率地回答道：“不為什么。”這種理性混沌的狀態(tài)，會(huì)導(dǎo)致各種往往令人感到無(wú)所適從的舉動(dòng)，使得講究條理的外國(guó)人總要為此而惱怒。廚師例行其事，用完了他手頭的某些作料，做下一頓飯時(shí)，就把他通常必要放的東西省略掉了。你問(wèn)他這是怎么搞的？他坦率地回答，“作料用完了?！薄澳悄銥槭裁床患皶r(shí)再弄一些呢？”“我沒(méi)再要一些?！边@就是他的最好解釋。你要付一筆錢給某人結(jié)賬，于是，就很費(fèi)勁地打開(kāi)了保險(xiǎn)箱，非常細(xì)心地點(diǎn)錢給他。付完錢后，他坐在那里侃侃而談“老半天”，海闊天空的什么都能聊，然后才不緊不慢地提及：“除了這筆賬，我還有一筆賬在你這里。”“那剛才我開(kāi)保險(xiǎn)箱時(shí)，你為什么不告訴我？那樣的話，我豈不是可以一次統(tǒng)統(tǒng)付清。”“噢，我只是覺(jué)得那筆賬與這筆賬之間沒(méi)有任何關(guān)系！”再比如，一位病人在診所看病，已經(jīng)隨意地耗費(fèi)掉了醫(yī)生的大量時(shí)間，然后走出了診室。門還沒(méi)有關(guān)上，但是不一會(huì)兒，他又回到候診室。醫(yī)生告訴他，他的病已經(jīng)看過(guò)了，他則爽快而簡(jiǎn)要地說(shuō)：“除了剛才看的那個(gè)病，我還有其他的病要看呢！”

在我們看來(lái)最愚蠢的例證，就是普通中國(guó)人習(xí)慣于生了病而不及時(shí)治療。也許是因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)太忙，或者是因?yàn)橹尾∫ㄥX。他們往往認(rèn)為，忍受一陣陣的間歇性發(fā)熱的反復(fù)攻擊和折磨，要比花十個(gè)銅錢——約合一美分——買一劑肯定能治好病的奎寧更便宜。我們看到無(wú)數(shù)這樣的事例，許多病人僅僅因?yàn)橄胧∫稽c(diǎn)錢，使得一些完全可以治好的病惡化到不可救藥的地步，而他們?cè)臼强梢缘玫矫赓M(fèi)治療的。

有一個(gè)人住在離外國(guó)人的醫(yī)院不足半英里路遠(yuǎn)的地方。他外出時(shí)染上了眼病，但回家后，竟然在痛苦中拖了兩個(gè)多星期才去治療。在這段時(shí)間內(nèi)，他每天都希望疼痛能夠停止，但事與愿違，最終，他的一只眼睛因角膜發(fā)炎而完全地失明了。

還有一位病人，他因脖子上的深度潰瘍而每天都要來(lái)接受治療。當(dāng)治療到十八天時(shí)，他說(shuō)他的腿疼得讓他睡不著覺(jué)。經(jīng)檢查才發(fā)現(xiàn)，他的腿上有一處像茶杯那樣大、那樣深的潰瘍！等到他的脖子治好了之后，他才想起來(lái)說(shuō)他的腿！

中國(guó)人日常生活的眾多諸如此類的現(xiàn)象，會(huì)使我們想起查爾斯·里德的一本小說(shuō)中的一段話：“人類不是缺乏理智，但是他們的理智有缺點(diǎn)——他們頭腦都混沌不清！”

中國(guó)的教育根本無(wú)法使受教育者能夠獲得這樣的能力，即在理解和實(shí)踐的意義上掌握一個(gè)客體。西方各國(guó)有這樣一個(gè)流傳很廣的假設(shè)，某些布道者可以確切地證實(shí)，即使他們的經(jīng)書(shū)上存在著天花病毒，他們的布道也不會(huì)染上。而在中國(guó)人當(dāng)中，居然也能看到這類聲譽(yù)不佳的獨(dú)特現(xiàn)象。中國(guó)的狗追捕狼的時(shí)候會(huì)顯得很仁慈，一般它們自己不會(huì)去追捕狼。當(dāng)看到一只狗在狼的后面，若不是朝相反的方向跑，那么至少是朝相互成直角的方向跑。與此相類似，中國(guó)人在談?wù)撃骋辉掝}時(shí)，總是離話題越來(lái)越遠(yuǎn)，就像這種躲躲閃閃的追捕。他往往嗅到了該話題的氣息，時(shí)而像是要作徹底的探討，但最后還是退卻了，顯得非常疲倦，在說(shuō)話的過(guò)程中還是始終沒(méi)有接近這個(gè)話題。

中國(guó)是一個(gè)兩極分化的國(guó)家，富貴者與貧窮者、受高度教育者與愚昧無(wú)知者，都比鄰地生活在一起。成千上萬(wàn)貧困而又愚昧的人，他們的眼界狹窄，自然理性混沌。他們就像井底之蛙，看到的天空只是黑暗中的一塊。有不少這樣的人連十英里以外的地方都沒(méi)去過(guò)，除了他們終日所處的日常生活，他們并沒(méi)有想過(guò)要過(guò)上比周圍的人更好的生活。

在他們身上，甚至連任何人都具有的天生的好奇心似乎已經(jīng)滅跡了。即使他們知道，離他們家不到一里路的地方住進(jìn)了一個(gè)外國(guó)人，他們也從來(lái)不打聽(tīng)一下他從何處來(lái)，他是誰(shuí)，他要干什么。他們只知道如何為生存而斗爭(zhēng)，此外，就一無(wú)所知了。他們不知道是否像今天有些人流行的觀點(diǎn)所說(shuō)的那樣，人身上有三個(gè)靈魂，還是只有一個(gè)，還是一個(gè)都沒(méi)有。他們認(rèn)為，凡是與糧食價(jià)格無(wú)關(guān)的事，無(wú)論如何也看不出其中會(huì)有什么重要意義。他們相信來(lái)世的生活，相信來(lái)世時(shí)，壞人會(huì)變成狗和蟲(chóng)。他們也淳樸地相信，身體最后會(huì)變成泥土。至于靈魂——如果有的話——會(huì)飄向天空。

在西方，所有那些造就了“實(shí)利者”的力量，同樣也造就了他們，他們的生命由兩部分組成：肚子和錢袋。這種人也就是真正的實(shí)證主義者，因?yàn)槟銦o(wú)法讓他理解他沒(méi)見(jiàn)過(guò)或聽(tīng)過(guò)，當(dāng)然也沒(méi)有任何概念的事物。生活對(duì)于他來(lái)說(shuō)只是一連串事實(shí)，而且絕大多數(shù)是不稱心的事實(shí)。至于涉及事實(shí)以外的任何東西，他立刻就成了一個(gè)無(wú)神論者，一個(gè)多神論者和不可知論者。偶爾給他一無(wú)所知的偶像施舍一些意想不到的敬奉，或者對(duì)他不知道是誰(shuí)的對(duì)象施舍一點(diǎn)食物，就足以滿足他的依賴本性。但是，這種本能是否能獲得這種方式的表達(dá)，在很大程度上還取決于他周圍人的風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣。

在中國(guó)人看來(lái)，人的肉體只是獨(dú)自地生長(zhǎng)發(fā)育，而與心理的和精神的因素?zé)o關(guān)。要把這些人從愚昧的狀態(tài)中解救出來(lái)的唯一辦法，就是輸入一種全新的生活態(tài)度，向他們展示古代基督教創(chuàng)始人所講述的崇高真理的全部含義：“人是有精神的，上帝的感召，就在于賦于人們理解這種精神的能力?！?/p>

英文原版：

IN speaking of "intellectual turbidity " as a Chinese characteristic, we do not wish to be understood as affinning it tobe a peculiarity of the Chinese, or that all Chinese possess it.Taken as a whole, the Chinese people seem abundantly able tohold their own with any race now extant, and they certainlyexhibit no weakness of the intellectual powers, nor any tendency to such a weakness. At the same time it must be bornein mind that education in China is restricted to a very narrowcircle, and that those who are but imperfectly educated, orwho are not educated at all, enjoy in the structure of the Chinese language what is called by the lawyers an "accessorybefore the fact " to any most flagrant intellectual turbidity ofwhich they may be disposed to be guilty.

Chinese nouns, as is by this time known to several, appearto be indeclinable. They are quite free from " gender " and"case." Chinese adjectives have no degrees of comparison.Chinese verbs are not hampered by any "voice," "mode,""tense," "number," or "person." There is no recognisabledistinction between nouns, adjectives, and verbs, for any character may be used indiscriminately in either capacity (or incapacity), and no questions asked. We are not about to complain that the Chinese language cannot be made to conveyhuman thought, nor that there are wide ranges of humanthought which it is difficult or impossible to render intelligiblein the Chinese language (though this appears to be a truth),but only to insist that such a language, so constructed, invitesto "intellectual turbidity" as the incandescent heats of summergently woo to afternoon repose.

Nothing is more common in conversation with an uneducated Chinese than to experience extreme difficulty in ascertaining what he is talking about. At times his remarks appearto consist exclusively of predicates, which are woven togetherin an intricate manner, the whole mass seeming, like Mohammed's coffin, to hang in the air, attached to nothing whatever.To the mind of the speaker, the omission of a nominative is apoint of no consequence. Ife knows what he is talking about,and it never occurs to him that this somewhat important itemof information is not conveyed to the mind of his auditor byany kind of intuition. It is remarkable what expert guesserslong practice has made most Chinese, in reading a meaninginto words which do not convey it, by the simple practice ofsupplying subjects or predicates as they happen to be lacking.It is often the most important word in the whole sentencewhich is suppressed, the clue to which may be entirely unknown. There is very frequently nothing in the form of thesentences, the manner of the speaker, his tone of voice, norin any concomitant circumstance, to indicate that the subjecthas changed, and yet one suddenly discovers that the speakeris not now speaking of himself as he was a moment ago, butof his grandfather, who lived in the days of Tao Kuang.How the speaker got there, and also how he got back again,often remains an insoluble mystery, but we see the feat accomplished every day. To a Chinese there is nothing more remarkable in a sudden, invisible leap, without previous notice,from one topic, one person, one century to another, than inthe ability of a man who is watching an insect on the windowpane to observe at the same time and without in the least deflecting his eyes, a herd of cattle situated in the same line ofvision on a distant hill.

The fact that Chinese verbs have no tenses, and that therois nothing to mark transitions of time, or indeed of place, doesnot tend to clarify one's perceptions of the inherently turbid.Under such circumstances the best the poor foreigner can do,who wishes to keep up the appearance at least of following inthe train of the vanished thought, is to begin a series of catechetical inquiries, like a frontier hunter "blazing" his waythrough a pathless forest with a hatchet. "Who was thisperson that you are talking about now?" This being ascertained, it is possible to proceed to inquire, " Where was this? ""When was it?" "What was it that this man did?" "Whatwas it that they did about it?" "What happened then?" Ateach of these questions your Chinese friend gazes at you witha bewildered and perhaps an appealing look, as if in doubtwhether you have not parted with all your five senses. But apersistent piursuit of this silken thread of categorical inquirywill make it the clue of Ariadne in delivering one from manya hopeless labyrinth.

To the uneducated Chinese any idea whatever comes as asurprise, for which it is by no means certain that he will notbe totally unprepared. He does not understand, because hedoes not expect to understand, and it takes him an appreciabletime to get such intellectual forces as he has into a positionto be used at all. His mind is like a rusty old smooth-borecannon mounted on a decrepit carriage, which requires muchhauHng about before it can be pointed at anything, and thenit is sure to miss fire. Thus when a person is asked a simplequestion, such as " How old are you? " he gazes vacantly atthe questioner, and asks in retiim, " I ? " To which you respond, " Yes, you." To this he replies with a summoning upof his mental energies for the shock, " How old ? " " Yes,how old ? " Once more adjusting the focus, he inquires," How old am I ? " "Yes," you say, "how old are you ? "" Fifty-eight," he replies, with accuracy of aim, his piece beingnow in working order.

A prominent example of intellectual turbidity is the prevalent habit of announcing as a reason for a fact, the fact itself." Why do you not put salt into bread-cakes ? " you ask of aChinese cook. " We do not put salt into bread-cakes," is theexplanation. " How is it that with so much and such beautifulice in your city none of it is stored up for winter ? " " No,we do not store up ice for winter in our city." If the Latinpoet who observed, " Happy is he who is able to know thereasons of things," had lived in China, he might have modifiedhis dictum so as to read, " Unhappy is the man who essays tofind out the reasons of things.

Another mark of intellectual torpor is the inability of anordinary mind to entertain an idea, and then pass it on toanother in its original shape. To tell A something which heis to tell B, in order that C may govern his actions thereby, isin China one of the most fatuous of undertakings. Either themessage will never be delivered at all, because the partiesconcerned did not understand that it was of importance, or itreaches C in such a shape that he cannot comprehend it, orin a form totally at variance with its original. To supposethat three cogs in so complicated a piece of machinery arecapable of playing into each other without such friction as tostop the works, is to entertain a very wild hope. Even mindsof considerable intelligence find it hard to take in and thengive out an idea without addition or diminution, just as clearwater is certain to refract the image of a straight stick as if itwere a broken one.

Illustrations of these peculiarities will meet the observantforeigner at every turn. "Why did he do so?" you inquirein regard to some preposterous act. " Yes," is the compendious reply. There is a certain niuneral word in constant use,which is an aggravating accessory to vague replies. It signifies both interrogatively, "How many?" and affirmatively,"Several." "How many days have you been here?" youask. "Yes, I have been here several days," is the reply. Ofall the ambiguous words in the Chinese language, probablythe most ambiguous is the personal (or impersonal) pronoun^'a, which signifies promiscuously " he," "she," or " it." Sometimes the speaker designates the subject of his remarks byvaguely waving his thumb in the direction of the subject'shome, or towards the point where he was last heard of. Butmore frequently the single syllable i'a is considered whollysufficient as a relative, as a demonstrative pronoun, and as aspecifying adjective. Under these circumstances, the talk ofa Chinese will be like the testimony of a witness in an Englishcourt, who described a fight in the following terms : " He'd astick, and he'd a stick, and he w'acked he, and he w'ackedhe, and if he'd a w'acked he as hard as he w'acked he, he'd akilled he, and not he he."

"Why did you not come when you were called? " youvefntiu-e to inquire of a particularly negligent servant. " Noton account of any reason," he answers, with what appears tobe frank precision. The same state of mental confusion leadsto a great variety of acts, often embarrassing, and to a wellordered Occidental intellect always irritating. The cookmakes it a matter of routine practice to use up the last ofwhatever there may be in his charge, and then serves the nextmeal minus some invariable concomitant. When asked whathe means by it, he answers ingenuously that f/iere was no more." Then why did you not ask for more in time? " " I did notask for any more," is his satisfactory explanation. The manto whom you have paid a sum of cash in settlement of hisaccount, going to the trouble of unlocking your safe andmaking change with scrupulous care, sits talking for " an oldhalf-day " on miscellaneous subjects, and then remarks with nonchalance, " I have still another account besides this one."" But why did you not tell me when I had the safe open, sothat I could do it all at once ? " " Oh, I thought that accountand this one had nothing to do with each other!" In thesame way a patient in a dispensary who has taken a Uberalallowance of the time of the physician, retires to the waitingroom, and when the door is next opened advances to re-enter.Upon being told that his case has been disposed of, he observes, with delightful simphcity, "But I have got anotherdifferent disease besides that one!"

An example of what seems to us immeasurable folly, is thecommon Chinese habit of postponing the treatment of diseases because the patient happens to be busy, or because theremedy would cost something. It is often considered cheaperto undergo severe and repeated attacks of intermittent fever,than to pay ten cash—about one cent—for a dose of quinia,morally certain to cure. We have seen countless cases of thegravest diseases sometimes nourished to the point where theybecame fatal simply to save time, when they might have beencured gratuitously.

A man living about half a mile from a foreign hospital,while away from home contracted som^e eye trouble, andwaited in agony for more than two weeks after his retiuTibefore coming for treatment, hoping each day that the painwould stop, instead of which, one eye was totally destroyedby a corneal ulcer.

Another patient, who had been under daily treatment for adeeply ulcerated neck, mentioned on the eighteenth day thathis leg prevented his sleeping. Upon examination he wasfound to have there another ulcer about the size and depthof a teacup! When his neck was well he was intending tospeak about his leg!

Many such phenomena of Chinese hfe may serve to remindone of a remark in one of the novels of Charles Reade, that " Mankind are not lacking in intelligence, but they have oneintellectual defect—they are Muddleheads!"

A Chinese education by no means fits its possessors tograsp a subject in a comprehensive and practical manner. Itis popularly supposed in Western lands that there are certainpreachers of whom it can be truthfully affirmed that if theirtext had the smallpox, the sermon would not catch it. Thesame phenomenon is found among the Chinese in forms ofpeculiar flagrance. Chinese dogs do not as a rule take kindlyto the pursuit of wolves, and when a dog is seen running aftera wolf it is not unlikely that the dog and the wolf will besubject.moving, if not in opposite directions, at least at right anglesto each other. Not without resemblance to this oblique chase,is the pursuit by a Chinese speaker of a perpetually retreatingHe scents it often, and now and then he seems tobe on the point of overtaking it, but he retires at length, muchwearied, without having come across it in any part of hiscourse.

China is the land of sharp contrasts, the very rich and thewretchedly poor, the highly educated and the utterly ignorant,living side by side. Those who are both very poor and veryignorant, as is the fate of millions, have indeed so narrow ahorizon that intellectual turbidity is compulsory. Their existence is merely that of a frog in a well, to which even theheavens appear only as a strip of darkness. Ten miles fromtheir native place many such persons have never been, andthey have no conception of any conditions of life other thanthose by which they have always been surrounded. In manyof them even that instinctive curiosity common to all racesseems dormant or blighted. Many Chinese, who know thata foreigner has come to live within a mile from their homes,never thmk to inquire where he came from, who he is, or whathe wants. They know how to struggle for an existence, andthey know nothing else. They do not know whether they have three souls, as is currently supposed, or one, or none,and so long as the matter has no relation to the price of grain,they do not see that it is of any consequence whatever. Theybelieve in a future hfe in which the bad will be turned intodogs and insects, and they also believe in annihilation pureand simple, in which the body becomes dirt, and the soul—ifthere be one—fades into the air. They are the ultimate outcome of the forces which produce what is in Western landscalled a " practical man," whose hfe consists of two compartments, a stomach and a cash-bag. Such a man is the truepositivist, for he cannot be made to comprehend anythingwhich he does not see or hear, and of causes as such he hasno conception whatever. Life is to him a mere series of facts,mostly disagreeable facts, and as for anything beyond, he isat once an atheist, a polytheist, and an agnostic. An occasional prostration to he knows not what, or perhaps an offering of food to he knows not whom, suffices to satisfy theinstinct of dependence, but whether this instinct finds eventhis expression will depend largely upon what is the customof those about him. In him the physical element of the Hfeof man has alone been nourished, to the utter exclusion of thepsychical and the spiritual. The only method by which suchbeings can be rescued from their torpor is by a transfusion ofa new life, which shall reveal to them the sublime truth utteredby the ancient patriarch, " There is a spirit in man," for onlythus is it that " the inspiration of the Almighty giveth themunderstanding."