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1. Regis' Y-King, vol. ii, p 576.

2. See Kâo Yî's Hâi Yü Ȝhung Khâo, Book I, art. 3 (1790).

3. See the 'Collected Comments' on hexagram 55 in the Khang-hsî edition of the Yî (App. I). 'The traces of making and transformation' mean the ever changing phenomena of growth and decay. Our phrase 'Vestiges of Creation' might be used to translate the Chinese characters. See the remarks of the late Dr. Medhurst on the hexagrams 15 and 55 in his 'Dissertation on the Theology of the Chinese,' pp. 107-112. In hexagram 15, Canon McClatchie for kwei-shăn gives gods and demons;' in hexagram 55, the Demon-gods.'

4. = , the sun, placed over , a form of the old (= ), the moon.

5. III, i, 29 (chap. 5. 6).

6. III, i, 20 (chap. 4. 1).

7. III, i, 22.

8. III, i, 38 (chap. 8. 1).

9. Doctrine of the Mean, chap. xxii.

10. The Shû II, ii, 18.

11. The Shû V, iv, 20, 31.

12. See Williams' Syllabic Dictionary on the character .

13. Canon McClatchie (first paragraph of his Introduction) says:--'The Yî is regarded by the Chinese with peculiar veneration . . . . as containing a mine of p. 41. knowledge, which, if it were possible to fathom it thoroughly, would, in their estimation, enable the fortunate possessor to foretell all future events.' This misstatement does not surprise me so much as that Morrison, generally accurate on such points, should say (Dictionary, Part II, i, p. 1020, on the character ):--

'Of the odd and even numbers, the kwâ or lines of Fû-hsî are the visible signs; and it being assumed that these signs answer to the things signified, and from a knowledge of all the various combinations of numbers, a knowledge of all possible occurrences in nature may be previously known.' The whole article from which I take this sentence is inaccurately written. The language of the Appendix on the knowledge of the future given by the use of the Yî is often incautious, and a cursory reader may be misled; to a careful student, however, the meaning is plain. The second passage of the Shû, referred to above, treats of 'the Examination of Doubts,' and concludes thus:--'When the tortoise-shell and the stalks are both opposed to the views of men, there will be good fortune in stillness, and active operations will be unlucky.'

14. A remarkable instance is given by Lîu Kî (of the Ming dynasty, in the fifteenth century) in a story about Shâo Phing, who had been marquis of Tung-ling in the time of Ȝhin, but was degraded tinder Han. Having gone once to Sze-mâ Ki-kû, one of the most skilful diviners of the country, and wishing to know whether there would be a brighter future for him, Sze-mâ said, 'Ah! is it the way of Heaven to love any (partially)? Heaven loves only the virtuous. What intelligence is possessed by spirits? They are intelligent (only) by their connexion with men. The divining stalks are so much withered grass; the tortoise-shell is a withered bone. They are but things, and man is more intelligent than things. Why not listen to yourself instead of seeking (to learn) from things?' The whole piece is in many of the collections of Kû Wăn, or Elegant Writing.

15. These numbers are commonly derived from the River Scheme, in the outer sides of which are the corresponding marks:-- , opposite to ; ,opposite to ; opposite to ; and , opposite to . Hence the number 6 is assigned to , 7 to , 8 to , and 9 to . Hence also, in connexion with the formation of the figures by manipulation of the stalks, 9 becomes the number symbolical of the undivided line, as representing Khien and 6 of the divided line, as representing Khwăn But the late delineation of the map, as given on p. 15, renders all this uncertain, so far as the scheme is concerned. The numbers of the hsiang, however, may have been fixed, must have been fixed indeed, at an early period.

16. See the account of Pythagoras and his philosophy in Lewes' History of Philosophy, pp. 18-38 (1871).

17. See Section i, 24, 32, 35; Section ii, 28, 29, 30, 35.

18. As a specimen of what the ablest Sung scholars teach, I may give the remarks (from the I Collected Comments') of Kû Kăn (of the same century as Kû Hsî, rather earlier) on the 4th paragraph of Appendix V:--In the Yî there is the Great Extreme. When we speak of the yin and yang, we mean the air (or ether) collected in the Great Void. When we speak of the Hard and Soft, we mean that ether collected, and formed into substance. Benevolence and righteousness have their origin in the great void, are seen in the ether substantiated, and move under the influence of conscious intelligence. Looking at the one origin of all things we speak of their nature; looking at the endowments given to them, we speak of the ordinations appointed (for them). Looking at them as (divided into) heaven, earth, and men, we speak of their principle. The three are one and the same. The sages wishing that (their figures) should be in conformity with the principles underlying the natures (of men and things) and the ordinances appointed (for them), called them (now) yin and yang, (now) the hard and the soft, (now) benevolence and righteousness, in order thereby to exhibit the ways of heaven, earth, and men; it is a view of them as related together. The trigrams of the Yî contain the three Powers; and when they are doubled into hexagrams, there the three Powers unite and are one. But there are the changes and movements of their (several) ways, and therefore there are separate places for the yin and yang, and reciprocal uses of the hard and the soft.'

19. Dissertation on the Theology of the Chinese, pp. 111, 112.

20. Theology of the Chinese, p. 122.

21. Translation of the Yî King, p. 312.

22. Section i, 23, 32, 51, 58, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 73, 76, 81; Section ii, 11, 15, 33, 34, 41, 45.

23. Kung-yung xxxi, 4.

24. Section i, 34. This is the only paragraph where kwei-shăn occurs.

25. Section ii, 5.

26. This view seems to be in accordance with that of Wû Khăng (of the Yüan dynasty), as given in the 'Collected Comments' of the Khang-hsî edition. The editors express their approval of it in preference to the interpretation of Kû Hsî, who understood the whole to refer to the formation of the lineal figures, the 'application' being 'the manipulation of the stalks to find the proper line.'

27. But the Chinese term Shăng , often rendered 'produced,' must not be pressed, so as to determine the method of production, or the way in which one thing comes from another.

28. The significance of the mythological paragraph is altogether lost in Canon McClatchie's version:--'Khien is Heaven, and hence he is called Father; Khwăn is Earth, and hence she is called Mother; Kăn is the first male, and hence he is called the eldest son,' &c. &c.

29. The reader will understand the difference in the two arrangements better by a reference to the circular representations of them on Plate III.

30. E. g. 1, 23, 24:--'Observant etiam philosophi (lib. 15 Sinicae philosophiae Sing-11) principem. Wăn-wang antiquum octo symbolorum, unde aliae figurae omnes pendent, ordinem invertisse; quo ipsa imperii suis temporibus subversio graphice exprimi poterat, mutatis e naturali loco, quem genesis dederat, iis quatuor figuris, quae rerum naturalium pugnis ac dissociationibus, quas posterior labentis anni pars afferre solet, velut in antecessum, repraesentandis idoneae videbantur; v. g. si symbolum Lî, ignis, supponatur loco symboli Khân, aquae, utriusque elementi inordinatio principi visa est non minus apta ad significandas ruinas et clades reipublicae male ordinatae, quam naturales ab hieme aut imminente aut saeviente rerum generatarum corruptiones.' See also pp. 67, 68.