Kyoto Imperial University Research Articles

Nishida Kitaro and Japans Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

No one shaped modern Japanese philosophy as significantly as did Nishida Kitaro, a prominent scholar at Kyoto Imperial University and the author of An Inquiry into the Good. He pioneered the Kyoto School of Japanese philosophy, which combined Western and Eastern thoughts, traditions, and religions to reach a new understanding of the world. Not usually seen as a political figure, Nishida penned a controversial essay in 1943, two years before his death, titled The Principle of the New World Order. The essay was intended for Prime Minister Tojo Hideki's use at the 1943 Greater East Asia Conference in Tokyo, where leaders from East and Southeast Asian countries under the rule of Japanese imperialism discussed future visions for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Japan's ostensible war cause. Nishida opposed the militarist government and its oppressive policies at home and abroad, but he hoped to influence its policy through his philosophical writing as Japan's defeat loomed larger than ever. The tense political atmosphere in wartime Japan and Nishida's vision of the world, which was characterized by the harmonious coexistence of the individual and the collective, turned The Principle of the New World Order into a text full of contradictionsthe greatest among them being his uncritical use of Hakko Ichiu (Eight Corners of the World under One Roof), a politico-religious jargon to justify the supreme rule of the Japanese emperor. After WWII, Nishida was posthumously criticized for cooperating with the military government by writing that essay, but a close examination of the text, its historical context, and other works by Nishida reveal that the lone Japanese philosopher was trying to steer Japan's Pan-Asian policy from within, an attempt that was doomed to fail when the government was mobilizing intellectuals for its imperial goals. By focusing on the case of Nishida, this article uncovers the complex dynamic between the Japanese empire and Japanese intellectuals who tried to voice their views different than the government's.

Appearance of the Kyoto Imperial University’s M.D. Ph.D.(s) from Severance Medical College and their medical researches in the 1930s and 1940s

Appearance of the Kyoto Imperial University’s M.D. Ph.D.(s) from Severance Medical College and their medical researches in the 1930s and 1940s

Yun Il-sun's Studies in Japan and Medical Research during the Colonial Period.

In this article, I looked at the life of Yun Il-sun, a representative medical scientist of modern Korea, and examined the following problems. First, I took note of the position of the Korean people in the academic system of the Japanese colonial empire and restored the life of Yun Il-sun as specifically as possible. Yun was educated among Japanese people from elementary school to university. Although he received the best education at Old System High School and Imperial University and grew to be a prominent medical scientist, he could not overcome his identity as a colonized. Yun Il-sun, who moved from Keijo Imperial University to Severance Union Medical College, involved in activities founding of the Korean Medical Association and the Korean Medical Journal. Second, I the meaning of 'culture' to the intellectuals in the periphery. Old System High School and Imperial University where Yun Il-sun was educated were the hotbed of 'culturalism.' Yun's college days were the heyday of Taisho Democracy, and students were attracted to Marxism, Christian poverty movement, Buddhist cultivation movement and so on. Yun sought to overcome the ideological of young people through the acquisition of 'culture.' The 'culture' emphasized by Yun had an enlightenment characteristic that emphasized education, but it also functioned as a'identity culture of educated elites.' Third, I used the concept of 'colonial academism' and examined the aspects and characteristics of the colonial-periphery academic field, focusing on medicine. Yun Il-sun was a Korean professor at the Keijo Imperial University. He founded an academic society and published an academic journal for Koreans. He attempted to reproduce scholarship by doctoral dissertations. At the same time, several facts show that he was also in the affected area of 'colonial academism': the fact that he was kicked out of the Keijo Imperial University, the fact that the Korean Medical Association and the Korean Medical Journal were banned by Governor General, the fact that his students asked for doctoral degrees from Kyoto Imperial University where he studied. Yun Il-sun crossed the limits of 'colonial academism' and acted as the agent of empire. This was made possible by the characteristics of the academic discipline of medicine, the environment of the Severance Union Medical College, and personal traits of superior ability and indifference to politics. I the postcolonial evolution of the 'colonial academism' and 'culturalism.' The mix of continuity and discontinuity from 'colonial academism' and the hybrid of Japanese academism and American academism, the Korean characteristics of 'postcolonial academism.' Yun tried to harmonize the American academism with the Japanese academism and the purity of academism. This effort was revealed as an emphasis on basic medicine and natural sciences. As combined with culturalism and indifference to politics, he was recognized as the symbol of ivory tower and academism.

京都帝国大学における寄宿舎「自治」の成立とその変化

京都帝国大学における寄宿舎「自治」の成立とその変化

The Victorian Counterarchive: Mikimoto Ryuzo, John Ruskin, and Affirmative Reading

The Victorian Counterarchive: Mikimoto Ryuzo, John Ruskin, and Affirmative Reading

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: History and Future Outlook

Dr. Hakaru Hashimoto (Figure 1), born 5 May 1881, was the third son of a prominent family who had practiced medicine for generations in Iga Ueno, Mie Prefecture, Japan. He was one of the first graduates to receive a bachelor’s degree from the Fukuoka Medical College of Kyoto Imperial University in 1907. Hakaru Hashimoto received tutelage and training from Professor Miyake of the Department of Surgery of Fukuoka Medical College. Professor Miyake also instructed Dr. Hashimoto on the technique of assessing excised thyroid glands microscopically. In 1912, at the age of 30, Hakaru Hashimoto reported a distinct new disease in ‘Archiv fur Klinische Chirurgie”, a German journal of clinical surgery. His paper, which consisted of 30 pages and 5 illustrations and centered on histological changes in thyroid tissue, discussed the results of his examination of thyroid tissue samples taken from four women. Hakaru Hashimoto further explained in his report that the new pathological characteristics he had identified, namely infiltration of lymphoid and plasma cells, formation of lymphoid follicles with germinal centers, fibrosis, degenerated thyroid epithelial cells and leukocytes in the lumen, were histologically similar to those of Mikulicz’s disease. He expressed confidence that he had discovered a new disease, which he named “struma lymphomatosa”, emphasizing the lymphoid cell infiltration and formation of lymphoid follicles with germinal centers, neither of which had previously been reported.

The first hundred years of the Tohoku Mathematical Journal

1. The beginning. According to the official record [1], the first issue of the Tohoku Mathematical Journal (henceforth referred to as TMJ, as it is commonly called) was published in July, 1911, which was even before the College of Science of Tohoku Imperial University (henceforth referred to as the University) started offering classes in September. It was Professor Tsuruichi HAYASHI who founded TMJ at his own expense as the first research journal ever in Japan dedicated solely to mathematics. Its editorial work was helped by the other faculty members of the College of Science: (in early years) Matsusaburo FUJIWARA, Tadahiko KUBOTA and Kinnosuke OGURA in mathematics as well as Jun ISHIWARA in physics. The University had been founded in September, 1907 as the third imperial university in Japan, following Tokyo Imperial University in 1877 and Kyoto Imperial University in 1897. After the preparatory period of four years during which many faculty member designates were dispatched to Europe, the College of Science was inaugurated as its first college in April, 1911, and started offering classes on September 11, 1911. Professor Matsusaburo FUJIWARA describes the state of mathematics at that time in Japan in his “Obituary Note. TSURUICHI HAYASHI (1873–1935)” (TMJ, First Series, 41 (1935/36), 265–289) as follows:

STUDY ON THE ROLES OF CIVIL ENGINEERING GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN URBAN REFORM PROJECTS IN THE MEIJI ERA

This paper clarifies the roles played by government officials specialized in civil engineering in urban reform during the Meiji era in Japan. This clarification was made by studying the process until the initiation of the urban reform projects titled the Three Major Projects in Kyoto city, which were completed in 1912, as a case example for analysis. In the process of analysis, I clarified the emergence of two types of engineers according to differences in the roles they played. One is the engineer who developed the mayor's urban reform concept into a specific design plan. Not having studied modern technology, the engineer made a mistake in the design of civil engineering projects that required advanced technology, and the person was held responsible for the mistake in the city council. This incidence led to the appearance of another type of engineer. This engineer graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering of Kyoto Imperial University and mastered modern civil engineering. He then attempted to take initiative in council reform using his advanced knowledge.

Collaboration within Collaboration: Zhou Fohai's Relations with the Chongqing Government, 1942-1945

Collaboration within Collaboration:Zhou Fohai's Relations with the Chongqing Government, 1942-1945 Brian G. Martin, Visiting Fellow (bio) Until recently, the study of collaboration in China has been relatively neglected, and it has taken more than twenty years for historians to follow up the pioneering studies of John H. Boyle and Gerald E. Bunker.1 This situation stands in marked contrast to the plethora of studies of collaboration in Wartime Europe over the same period, especially the case of Vichy France. A major reason for this tardiness is that the relative dearth of documentary materials on this period is only now being addressed as Chinese archives progressively open their holdings to scholarly enquiry. If there are few studies of China's collaborationist regimes, there are almost none of individual leading collaborators. Although there are numerous works on the Vichy leaders, Philippe Pétain (1856-1951) and Pierre Laval (1883-1945), there is not yet any detailed monographic study of the career of the leading Chinese collaborator Wang Jingwei (汪精衛 1883-1944), let alone of important secondary figures such as Zhou Fohai (周佛海 1897-1948). The only study of Zhou's collaboration is now almost thirty years old.2 The present article analyzes Zhou's cooperation with Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石 1887-1975)'s Chongqing Government as it developed between 1943 and 1945. After a brief discussion of Zhou's pre-war political career and his role as a collaborator in the Wang Jingwei Nanjing Government, the article focuses on his decision to return to his allegiance to Chongqing, his relations with Dai Li (戴笠 1895-1946), the head of Chiang's military intelligence (軍統 Juntong), and his provision of political and military intelligence for Chongqing in the latter part of the war. It discusses Zhou's part in the assassination of Li Shiqun (李士群 1905-1943), the head of Wang's security service-an event that was a turning point in the political history of the Wang regime. The article also discusses the role [End Page 55] that the Chongqing Government assigned to Zhou in the preparations for its proposed counteroffensive in East China in 1944 to 1945, and the important role Zhou played in helping to stabilize a highly volatile situation in the weeks immediately following Japan's unconditional surrender. The most important sources for the present study are the documents relating to Zhou Fohai's trial in September 1946. These were compiled, together with those relating to the trials of other prominent collaborators, by the Nanjing Municipal Archives (南京市檔案館 Nanjingshi dang'anguan) and published in 1991. Some of these were designed to show Zhou's actions in the best possible light, such as Zhou's own deposition and the affidavits of Guomindang (國民黨 [GMD]) politicians and military figures that dealt with Zhou and were collected on his behalf by his defense lawyers. Others, however, were more critical or neutral in their approach, notably the interrogations of Zhou by the public prosecutor, the reports by Dai Li's Juntong (some of whose reports Zhou's defense lawyers had difficulty in obtaining), the telegrams between Zhou Fohai, Dai Li, and the commander of the Nationalist Army's Third War Zone, Gu Zhutong (顧祝同 1893-1987), and the report prepared on the occasion of its winding-up by the organization created by Zhou to maintain order in Shanghai and its environs in the wake of Japan's surrender. Other sources used include the memoirs of leading collaborators associated with Zhou and of Juntong agents involved in managing Zhou's case. Zhou Fohai's Political Background A secondary figure in the political history of the Republican period, Zhou Fohai's career spanned the political spectrum from left to right. Indeed, his career reflected the fluidity of political alignments in early twentieth-century China.3 The product of an impecunious Hunanese gentry family, Zhou scraped together funds to complete his education in Japan, where he graduated from Kyoto Imperial University. In Japan, Zhou became involved in radical Marxist socialist politics among the Chinese students, whom he represented at the inaugural congress of the Chinese Communist Party (共產黨 [CCP]) in Shanghai and Hangzhou in July and August 1921. Acting as secretary for the meeting, Zhou was elected vice-chairman of the CCP.4...

Original film of the Okabayashi's radical hysterectomy by Okabayashi himself in 1932, and two films of the precise anatomy necessary for nerve-sparing Okabayashi's radical hysterectomy clarified by Shingo Fujii

Almost 100 years ago, radical hysterectomy was established by Ernst Wertheim as the surgical technique for the treatment of invasive cervical cancer. However, due to the complicated anatomy of the female pelvis, the method has been modified by many surgeons. Among these modifications, the method by Hidekazu Okabayashi at Kyoto Imperial University in Japan, published in 1921, was more radical and outstanding. Then, Okabayashi's method became a standard surgical procedure for invasive cervical cancer in Japan. We have discovered the historical film of radical hysterectomy performed by Okabayashi himself in 1932. In order to share the information of Okabayashi's radical hysterectomy, we decided to distribute the film through the website of IJGC. Moreover, as the direct descendant of Okabayashi, I have further modified the operation clarifying precise anatomy necessary for Okabayashl's radical hysterectomy. In addition, I also clarified the anatomy necessary for nerve sparing Okabayashi's radical hysterectomy. These two films modified by Shingo Fujii are also available on the IJGC website in the hope that these anatomical findings will be useful for young gynecologic surgeons.

Masao Abe: A Bodhisattva’s Vow

About ten years ago, enjoyed a fine Japanese lunch with my friend and teacher, late Masao Abe. gathered with him and his wife, Ikuko, in a traditional restaurant in Kyoto. Abe Sensei had been somewhat pensive and withdrawn for most of meal. Mrs. Abe and had been bantering about how late tsuyu rains had been that year and effect was having on Kyoto's hydrangea. Suddenly Sensei began to speak with an unusual tone of voice, as if saying something of great importance to no one in particular. It is enough, he said. Mrs. Abe and fell silent and attentive. He repeated himself in same voice: It is enough. knew immediately what my teacher was talking about. In his old age and after a long and distinguished career of teaching and lecturing about Zen in West, Abe Sensei was talking about a Buddhist teaching dear to his heart, the standpoint of emptiness. Out of politeness, did want to indicate that understood his meaning so directly and sat wondering what should say in response. Finally, settled on something like this: I will continue to study; Sensei, please continue to teach. spoke in most formal Japanese could muster out of respect for my teacher and friend. Sitting on tatami mats in that restaurant in Kyoto was only time that Sensei has ever said it is enough. In April 1942, four months after beginning of Pacific War, Masao Abe entered Kyoto Imperial University to study philosophy of religion. He was twenty-seven years old, buffeted by criticism for enlisting in military, and fearful of power of nihilism at work in his homeland. In Kyoto, he was much attracted by lectures of Tanabe Hajime, who was already filled with foreboding over Japan's impending defeat and looking to Pure Land Buddhism for guidance. Tanabe's comment is far from here brought Abe to weep inconsolably in realization that was he who was moving away from Amida even as Amida was moving toward him. Even still, Sensei would eventually find Pure Land path not enough for resisting forces of nihilism in world and in himself. After war, Abe joined a Zen meditation group that met at Myoshin-ji in Kyoto. The group was directed by Hisamatsu Shin'ichi, a Zen layman and lecturer on Buddhism at university. In December 1951, Abe had a violent encounter with Hisamatsu that people still talk about. Zen had begun to erode Abe's Pure Land faith and threat of nihilism had returned in force. One evening, in great agitation,

Two Chemists in Two Koreas

Taikyue Ree (1902–92) and Seung Ki Li (1905–96) were the most famous and influential scientists in twentieth-century Korea. Trained at Kyoto Imperial University during the Japanese occupation period (1910–45), both followed parallel career paths until 1945 but after that year those paths began to diverge. In 1948 Taikyue Ree moved to the University of Utah where he ran an informal graduate programme to train Korean chemists during the 1950s and 1960s. He became a model scholar in pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. In 1950 Seung Ki Li moved to North Korea where he succeeded in industrialising a new synthetic fibre from polyvinyl alcohol. He became a popular hero who demonstrated the utility of science. His success also helped Kim Il Sung, North Korean dictator, to consolidate his political ideology of Self-Reliance. Despite their different career patterns in very different circumstances, they shared something common: apolitical views and commitment to their work. An investigation of the careers of these two chemists illustrates the interwoven scientific, ideological and economic developments of South and North Korea during the second half of the twentieth century.

Zen and Philosophy: An Intellectual Biography of Nishida Kitaro (review)

Reviewed by: Zen and Philosophy: An Intellectual Biography of Nishida Kitarō John C. Maraldo (bio) Zen and Philosophy: An Intellectual Biography of Nishida Kitarō. By Michiko Yusa. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2002. xxvi, 482 pages. $62.00, cloth; $29.95, paper. Nishida Kitarō (1870-1945) is considered the most important, and perhaps the most original, Japanese philosopher in the post-Meiji period. Indeed, he is widely regarded as the first truly Japanese philosopher, if philosophy names the traditionally Western discipline of rational inquiry that was introduced to Japan in the 1870s and if originality of thought counts as the measure of a true philosopher. Those who judge Nishida to be Japan's first and most important philosopher commonly detect his originality in his infusion of insights from Zen experience into a rational account of the world, an infusion that transformed the Western discipline by opening it to a new source. The title and tenor of Michiko Yusa's illuminating book, the first comprehensive biography of Nishida in a non-Japanese language,1 reflect this judgment while not pretending to establish it. The very first sentence in her book reads, "Nishida Kitarō defined for the Japanese what it means to philosophize" (p. xv), and is followed by introductory sections on "Meiji: A Unique Historical Juncture," "Zen and Philosophy," and "Philosophy Beyond Zen." The question of source, however, is not so simple. The copious documentation of Yusa's work makes it evident that Nishida's philosophical predecessors and contemporaries served as sources of his contributions as much as did his personal engagement with Zen Buddhism, and that as often as not a palpable tension held sway between Nishida's life experiences and his philosophical writing. The biography also exposes in great detail another layer of sources and transformations: the historical circumstances that "swept Japan into the vortex of world history" (p.4) and world war, and Nishida's involvement in and interpretation of the plan for a new world order. [End Page 223] Yusa's work is unmistakably, if implicitly, a defense of Nishida as leader of the Kyoto School against the charge of nationalism and complicity in Japanese expansionism. Indeed, this biography seems to situate Nishida's writings, a series of highly abstract philosophical investigations, between his personal Zen experience and his public life. A perusal of Yusa's quotations from Nishida's letters and diary indicates the tension Nishida himself often felt between the philosophical writing at the heart of his endeavors and the demands of private Zen practice and family life in his early career, or of politics later on. Although Nishida's political life and writings, as this biography demonstrates, developed rather late and reluctantly, we might address them first here. They are as strong a reason for his fame today as the mass of his philosophical work. Nishida was a formidable intellectual whom historians of post-Meiji Japan cannot overlook. As a professor in elite higher schools and at Kyoto Imperial University, he had students who eventually became government officials and introduced others to him; his growing reputation as Japan's premier philosopher brought them back for counsel and support. He had once wanted to live as a "totally private man" (p.216), a "total recluse" (p.221), but from the mid-1930s until the end of his life, public figures continually sought his advice concerning education and Japan's role in a new world order. Ministers of education persuaded him to serve on committees and academic advisory boards; Prime Minister Konoe Ayamaru consulted but also tried to avoid him; members of the Diet, university presidents, and naval officers summoned and listened to him, at least perfunctorily. He gave public lectures on national issues and wrote political tracts on the "Problem of Japanese Culture" (1940), the "Reason for the State's Existence" (1941), the "Principle of the New World Order" and "Tradition" (1943), and "Kokutai" (1944). He received Japan's Cultural Medal in 1940 and accepted the honor of delivering the New Year's lecture to the emperor in 1941. Most of this, if we are to believe statements in his private letters and diary, he considered a diversion or even distraction from his real...

京都帝国大学理学部瀬戸臨海研究所水槽室(水族館)の公開について

By this study, We paid our attention to an intention of the public presentation in the Marine Biological Station Aquarium attached to Kyoto Imperial University. The water tank room before an Imperial visit (1921-1929) consisted of it than an overlook type water tank, view water tank and a desk water tank. The enlargement was done after an Imperial visit (1930-1935). In addition to a large-sized view water tank, the point that the medium size water tanks which reflected taxology increased attracts attention. This constitution resembles it with it of Plymouth marine biological station. IKEDA, KOMAI, NAGASE and OKURA were active. In particular, KOMAI has clear exhibition thought, and it is thought that the thought gave institution preparation of taxology influence.

Japanese minority policy; The Eurasians on Java and the dilemma of ethnic loyalty

Shortly after the fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Japanese professor Komaki Tsunekichi of the Kyoto Imperial University made far-reaching proposals for revising the Eurocentric cartography of the West by placing Japan and Asia at the centre of the map. Both Europe and Africa were designated part of the Asian continent, while America was renamed the Eastern Asia continent and Australia the Southern Asia continent. All the great oceans were seen as one and given the single name the Great Sea of Japan (Dower 1986:273). These proposals to refashion the cartography of the West reveal that in the new Great East Asian Order the Japanese saw themselves as the centre of the world and as the nucleus of all other races. They would be the leading race of the future and would dominate all other races and peoples in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.1 This aim was made quite clear in the Japanese plan for the leadership of nationalities in Greater East Asia drawn up in August 1942. In this plan the Japanese people were the pivot of all the Great East Asia Peoples' Cooperative Body.2 It stated that they had the duty to give leadership to other people. Besides them, they included the Korean, the Manchurian, the Mongolian, and the Han people as members of this body. In what was designated the Southern Area, the so-called Nanpo, containing the present-day states of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, various national minorities were distinguished from the indigenous peoples. First to be mentioned were the Overseas Chinese followed by the Indians and the Europeans and Americans. The Overseas Chinese and Indians were seen as Asian peoples who were entitled to

Library Extension Services not Practiced at the Kyoto Imperial University Library in 1897

Library Extension Services not Practiced at the Kyoto Imperial University Library in 1897

明治中期から大正前期における学校附属病院の変遷過程と配置および平面構成について : 幕末から昭和戦前期に至る学校附属病院建築の発展過程に関する研究II

The Medical Department of Tokyo University and an affiliated hospital was founded in 1877. The hospitals affiliated with medical schools was formed at that time, but actually after the Medical School Act in 1882. The Act prescribed that medical schools had to own their affiliated hospitals. The hospitals in the early ages of the Meiji Era were under influences of the Dutch medical science and the clinic systems were for general medical practices. The hospitals affiliated with medical schools after the Medical School Act was under the obligation to employ more than three Bachelors of Medicine, who graduated from Tokyo University, so the clinic systems were for separate medical practices under influences of the Dutch medical science. The Imperial University Act prescribed the lecture systems in 1893. The Layout and Floor Planning of the hospitals affiliated with medical schools were under the lecture systems and each clinic were independent. Tokyo Imperial University Hospital in 1896 was a typical example-educational, researches, treatment and hospitalization functions were gathered under the lecture systems. Kyoto Imperial University Hospital in 1899 was another typical example-educational, researches, treatment and outpatient functions were gathered under the lecture systems. After that other hospitals affiliated with medical schools were built under the influences of these two types.

Authors

Authors

Sapporo Agricultural College and Modern Japanese Geography, with Particular Reference to Prof. Cutter's Lecture on the Geography of Europe delivered in 1881

One of the characteristics of the history of Japanese geography in the modern period is the fact that the establishment of chairs was rather late compared with other sciences. It was not until 1907 that the chair of geography was founded at Kyoto Imperial University, the first one at any Japanese University. Before 1907, a few geographical books were written by non-specialists of geography and they received a warm welcome. Eminent among them were “Jimbun Chirigaku Kogi (Lecture on Human Geography)” (1888) and “Nihon Fukei Ron (On the Beauties of Natural Scenery of Japan and their Implications)” (1894) by S. Shiga, “Chirigaku Ko (Consideration of Geography, The Earth and Man)” (1894) by K. Uchimura, and “Jinsei Chirigaku (Geography of Life)” (1903) by T. Makiguchi.Shiga and Uchimura were graduates of Sapporo Agricultural College, predecessor of the present Hokkaido University. Makiguchi, who was not a graduate of S.A.C., was a teacher at a normal school in Sapporo at the time he wrote his book, from 1897 to 1901. In addition to the above, I. Nitobe, who was a classmate of Uchimura's at S.A.C., introduced Meitzen's concept of the morphology of rural settlements for the first time in Japan in his book “Nogyo Honron (Main Discourse on Agriculture)” (1898). He was one of the promoters of The Research Society for Study of the Native Land, which exerted a considerable influence on the rise of human geographical studies in the 1910's and 20's.We can safely say that Sapporo is one of the birthplaces of modern Japanese geography. However, Sapporo Agricultural College had no department of geography. Geography was not taught even as a separate subject, though S.A.C. had unique characteristics of a liberal art college compared with the other higher educational institutions at that time.At the Library of Hokkaido University, there are collected various notebooks of the lectures delivered by American professors and recorded by Japanese students. Among them, there is found a notebook under the title of “Lecture on the Geography of Europe by Dr. J.C. Cutter, M.D., Notes by S. Ibuki, 1881”. Dr. Cutter was invited as a professor of physiology, comparative anatomy and English literature. In the introductory part of his lecture on English literature, he taught the geography of Europe, which is considered to be one of the earliest lectures on geography delivered at a higher educational institution in modern Japan.In the present article, the Japanese translation of Prof. Cutter's lecture is made with explanatory remarks of the author. The lecture is composed of two parts, chapters 1 to 8, and 9 to 16. The former part contains physical geography of Europe, with an introduction entitled “Physical geography in relation to social conditions and pursuits” in the first chapter. The second part deals with the appearence and diffusion of races and languages in the Eurasian Continent with special reference to Aryan problems.His lecture is highly characterized by the Euro-centric viewpoint which was prevalent in the 19th century. For example, he taught: “Semitic and Aryan languages were for a long time confined to the continent of Asia in which they occupied only small parts. They are now universally distributed. This group of languages have attained the highest degree of perfection. These types of languages are spoken by majority of the white type of the human species. They were introduced into Europe from India by the Aryan invasions or infiltration. From the Aryan mother tongue have sprung all the European languages. They are now used by peoples occupying about 3/15th of the earth's surface. It is the people using these languages who have been the leaders in civilization in historic periods”. This quoted opinion is typical of Europeans in the mid-19th century. It was accepted by some students at S.A.C., and rejected by others.

Chemistry Prize to Fukui and Hoffmann

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 1981 Nobel prize in chemistry jointly to Kenichi Fukui of Kyoto Imperial University and Roald Hoffmann of Cornell. The two theoretical chemists are cited by the Academy “for their theories, developed independently, concerning the course of chemical reactions.” Both men have used similar perturbation-theoretic approaches to the quantum theory of molecular bonding to develop useful techniques for the understanding and prediction of reaction rates and geometrical configurations in molecular reactions. Their ideas stress the conservation of spatial symmetries of electron wavefunctions as bonds are altered in the process of molecular rearrangement.