Kagakushi kenkyu. [Journal of the history of science, Japan最新文献

The Imperial College of Engineering (ICE or Kobu-Daigakko) in Tokyo, founded in 1873 under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Works, was one of the most prominent modern institutions of engineering education in early Meiji Japan. Previous studies have revealed that the ICE offered large scale practical training programs at enterprises of the Ministry, which sometimes lasted several months, and praised their ideal combination of theory and practice. In reality, it has been difficult to evaluate the quality of education at the ICE mainly because of scarcity of sources. ICE students published a collection of memoirs for alumni members, commemorating the fiftieth-year of the history of the Tokyo Imperial University. Drawing on the previously neglected collection of students' memoires, this paper appraises the education of civil engineering offered by the ICE. The paper also compares this collection with other official records of the college, and confirms it as a reliable source, even though it contains some minor errors. The author particularly uses the memoirs by Ayahiko Ishibashi, one of the first graduates from its civil engineering course, who left sufficient reminiscences on education that he received. This paper, as a result, illustrates that the main practical training for the students of civil engineering was limited to designing process, including surveying. Furthermore, practical training that Ishibashi received at those enterprises often lacked a plan, and its effectiveness was questionable.

The Seki Teisyo (see text for symbol), a manuscript compiled by Seki Takakazu (see text for symbol)) in 1686, is known to consist of 15 treatises which Seki extracted from an early Qing astronomical and astrological corpus, the Tianwen Dacheng Guankui Jiyao (see text for symbol). Containing a detailed account of the Shoushi Li (see text for symbol) as well as a comparative study of Chinese and Islamic calendrical systems, these treatises have drawn the attention not only of Seki but of modern historians. In this paper, I show that 14 of the 15 treatises Seki selected had been composed by a late Ming scholar, Zhou Shuxue (see text for symbol), who discussed issues with Tang Shunzhi (see text for symbol). Their time predates the era in which the mathematical basis of the Shoushi Li was scrutinized and a new Chinese calendrical system was invented incorporating Western astronomical knowledge. I also mention some earlier works that Tang and Zhou could have consulted. Although Seki never knew the author of the treatises nor their background, his concern centered on themes that seem to have derived from one of those earlier works: the Liyuan(see text for symbol).

This paper depicts the historical evolution of ultraviolet devices in Japan during the interwar period. The outbreak of the First World War spurred the development of the glass industry in Japan, being triggered by the military demand on optical instruments in particular. Meanwhile, physicists needed special glass which could cut off ultraviolet radiation to protect the eyes during spectroscopic experiments. Furthermore, as the effects of the invisible rays on human health came to intrigue the medical and lay audience introduced by the works of Niels Ryberg Finsen, artificial sun lamps for actinotherapy were devised. In Japan, Tokyo Electric (a forerunner of Toshiba) together with the physicist, Nagaoka Hantaro, promoted the development of anti-ultraviolet glass. A national institute based in Osaka chased the project. Eventually, with the advent of knowledge regarding the glass which was practically transparent to ultraviolet rays, the electric company launched a commodity for lay consumers in 1930. The electric device manufacturer produced ultraviolet radiators as a "load builder," during the times when the supply of electricity in Japan exceeded its demand. Ultraviolet radiators, used as tools for hygiene and public welfare as well as for medical treatment, thus trickled onto Japanese soil by the next World War.

This paper reveals the dosages of decoctions in Shanghanlun in relation of pills and powder formulations, and obtains following results. At the first examination of the system of weight, while Taohongjing shows three kinds of system of weight; [(1)1liang is equivalent to 14 g. (2) 1liang = 7 g (3) 1liang = 1.4 g], he describes the necessity of the corrective system of weight among the decoctions, the pills and the powder formulations. After Song dynasty, Zhusanfa, which is the method of preparing the decoction by placing powder ingredients of prescriptions in water and simmer, have been mainly adopted. In the term of Zhusanfa, although the whole quantities of prescriptions are written with the ancient weight unit, the notation of the dosage is indicated by the current weight unit, Qian. In Shanghanlun, since the dosage form seems to have been changed from the pills or the powders into the decoction, some of decoctions contain impractical dose for decoction.

Umeko Tsuda (1864-1929), a pioneering educator for Japanese women and the founder of Tsuda College, was a scientist. As an English teacher at the Peeresses School in Tokyo, the young Tsuda was granted a leave of absence by the government to study "teaching method" at Bryn Mawr College, a women's college near Philadelphia. During her stay in Bryn Mawr(1889-1892), however, she majored not in pedagogy but in biology, despite the fact that the Peeresses School officially banned science education for noble women. Following the vision of the feminist Dean Carrey Thomas, Bryn Mawr College offered full-fledged professional education in science comparable to that of Johns Hopkins University. Bryn Mawr's Biology Department was growing; there, Tsuda took courses from such notable biologists as Edmund B. Wilson, Jacques Loeb, and the future Nobel Laureate Thomas H. Morgan. In her third year, under Morgan, she carried out experimental research on the development of the frog's egg, which was published in a British scientific journal as their joint paper two years later. Tsuda was considered one of the best students in the department, and Bryn Mawr offered her opportunities for further study. However, after much consideration, she chose to return to Japan. Although Tsuda gave up a possibly great career as a biologist in American academe, she knew that it was almost impossible for a woman to pursue a scientific career in Meiji Japan and wanted to develop her dream of establishing an English school for women. Her experience of "forbidden" scientific study at Bryn Mawr seems to have given her great confidence in realizing her feminist ideal of enlightening Japanese women at the women's school she founded in 1900, the forerunner of Tsuda College.

Minamata disease occurred because inhabitants consumed the polluted seafood. The official confirmation of Minamata disease was in 1956. However, the material cause of that disease was uncertain at that time. The Minamata Food Poisoning Sub-committee, under authority of the Food Hygiene Investigation Committee of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, determined the material cause of Minamata disease to be a certain kind of organic mercury in 1959. The sub-committee was dissolved after their report. The discussion about the investigation of the cause was performed in a conference initiated by the Economic Planning Agency, which was titled "Minamata Disease General Investigation and Research Liaison Council". The Participants were eight scientists; four fishery scientists, two chemists, and only two medical scientists, which implied that only examination of the organic mercury was to be discussion. The conference was held four times from 1960 to 1961. In the first and second conferences, the organic mercury research from a medical perspective progressed in cooperation with fishery sciences. In the third conference, it was reported that UCHIDA Makio, professor of Kumamoto University, had found organic mercury crystal in the shellfish found in Minamata-bay. Authorities of biochemistry and medicine in the third conference criticized UCHIDA's research. At the fourth conference, reports contradicting his research were presented. Although those anti-UCHIDA reports were not verified, AKAHORI Shiro, the highest authority of biochemistry, not only accepted them, but also expressed doubt in the organic mercury causal theory. Therefore, this theory was recognized as uncertain.

Chii, the Japanese term for 'lichen', is widely used in contemporary East Asia. However, precisely when and by whom this term was first used to refer to lichen is not known. In addition, Japanese botanists from the 1880s to the 1950s had doubts regarding whether Chii was an accurate translation of lichen, given that Chii originally referred to moss that grows on the ground, whereas most species of lichens grow on barks of trees or on rocks. In this paper, the author shows that Li Shanlan and A. Williamson et al., in the late Qing dynasty of China, first used the term Chii to refer to lichen in Zhiwuxue, published in 1858. In Japan, Tanaka Yoshio, who was influenced by Zhiwuxue, first used the term Chii in 1872. However, further investigations led to the discovery that ITO Keisuke translated lichen as Risen in 1829. In 1836, UDAGAWA Yoan also translated lichen as Risen by using a different kanji (Chinese character) to represent sen. In 1888, in his article, MIYOSHI Manabu suggested a new equivalent term, Kisoukin, to refer to lichen (algae-parasitized fungi). In the article, he proposed the term Kyosei as the Japanese translation of symbiosis. Ever since the late 1880s, Kyosei has been used as the Japanese biological term for symbiosis.

Within the history of public health in Japan, Shibasaburo Kitasato is widely known for introducing bacteriology to Japan in the Meiji. This paper looks into the factors behind the success of the Institute of Infectious Diseases(IID), which Kitasato headed, focusing specifically on Kitasato's strategy, institutional rivalries in the medical world and early development in the field of bacteriology. Kitasato used IID to spread bacteriology through a bacteriology training course and the publication of a professional journal, both modeled on the German system, which Kitasato absorbed during his previous studies in Germany under Robert Koch, who was one of the founders of bacteriological science. At the time, doctors related to the university system and those related to sanitary administration competed for leadership in the medical world in Japan. The latter had pushed for IID to be established, and the outbreak of plague in 1899 gave them the opportunity to successfully lobby the Diet into passing legislation that enlarged enrollment in the bacteriology course and earmarked money specifically to IID. In the late 19th century, the application of knowledge from the nascent field of bacteriology led to major advances in the fight against infectious diseases, which led to rapid accumulation of knowledge about bacteria, in turn. Thus, Kitasato emphasized that bacteriology should be mission-oriented and based in sanitary administrations. Indeed, as sanitary administrations were on the frontline of the battle against infectious diseases and as IID laboratories were connected to the sanitary administrations, IID succeeded in dominating the field of bacteriology.

The Pangenetic theory which holds that sperm comes from all the body seems to have been one of the most remarkable doctrines in Greek biology in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, since Aristotle gives a detailed description of the theory and criticizes it severely. The main sources of information about the Pangenetic theory are several medical treatises in the Hippocratic Corpus. There are only some mentions of it in the extant fragments ascribed to Democritus. It would be probable, therefore, that the theory had the origin of its theoretical form in the tradition of Greek medical science, and then came to the focus of attention among the Presocratic philosophers. Some scholars, on the other hand, claim that Democritus had a decisive role in the formation and development of the theory, which was then taken over by the Hippocratic doctors in their attempt to give a systematic explanation for some of the important genetic issues, such as the inheritance of similarities from parents to their children. It must be kept in mind, however, that Hippocratic doctors thought of particular fluids or humours with their inherent powers (delta upsilon nu alpha mu epsilon iotas) as the essential constituents of human body. This fact leads us to have an idea that the doctors had a completely different view of matter from the corpuscular theory, although Lesky (1950) and Lonie (1981) assume them to have been almost dependent on the atomism of Democritus. We can conclude that the Pangenetic theory came originally from Greek medical science, and then developed into the most influential doctrine before Aristotle.

In this paper, I describe how public health officers in Japan in the period of the late Taisho and early Showa eras claimed their position as professionals in the sanitary administrations of central and local governments. In the background of this push for recognition, there were related international and national movements. Internationally, public health ministries were established in developed countries and the League of Nations Health Organization (LNHO) was created. LNHO wanted to improve the level of public health officials world-wide, so the organization sponsored international exchanges of officials. These activities made a strong impression on Japanese public health officials, who realized that they belonged to an internationally recognized profession and that they needed to work hard to improve the substandard Japanese public health situation. Meanwhile, at the level of domestic politics, there were several movements of technical experts in different fields of government administration that worked to fight the unfair treatment of administrative officials, a situation that had existed since Meiji Period. The public health officers collaborated with the other technical experts to improve their positions and to play key roles in society. But while the other technical experts actively pursued social leadership, public health officials wanted to remain scientists. This is because the sanitary departments in the local governments were organized within police departments. In this environment, the law was dominant and science was secondary. But public health officials insisted that the basis of public health should be science, so they emphasized their scientific expertise.