it off for examination.  The form of the body will be transferred to the table and the wounds will be distinct and clear in every particular.

“If the place is wild and some time has elapsed since the deed was done, so that the very murderer does not remember the exact spot, inquire carefully in what direction it was with regard to such and such a village or temple, and about how far off.  If all agree on this point, proceed in person to the place, and bid your assistants go round about searching for any spots where the grass is taller and stronger than usual, marking such with a mark.  For where a body has been burnt the grass will be darker in hue, more luxuriant, and taller than that surrounding it, and will not lose these characteristics for a long time, the fat and grease of the body sinking down to the roots of the grass and causing the above results.  If the spot is on a hill, or in a wild place where the vegetation is very luxuriant, then you must look for a growth about the height of a man.  If the burning took place on stony ground, 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 of post mortem examinations—­can be equally gulled with the gaping crowd around them, we may safely leave our readers to decide for themselves.

INQUESTS, NO.  II

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 though already cold, a recovery may still be effected.  Stop up the patient’s mouth tightly with your hand, and in a little over four hours respiration will be restored. Or, Take equal parts of finely-powdered soap-bean and anemone hepatica, and blow a quantity of this—­about as much as a bean—­into the patient’s nostrils.

“In all cases where men or women have been hanged, a recovery may be effected even if the body has become stiff.  You must not cut the body down, but, supporting it, untie the rope and lay it down in some smooth place on its back with the head propped up.  Bend the arms and legs gently, and let some one sitting behind pull the patient’s hair tightly.  Straighten the arms, let there be a free passage through the wind-pipe, and let two persons blow incessantly into the ears through a bamboo tube or reed, rubbing the chest