Bulletin Number Five 1983

seven volumes, beginning w ith mathematics and ending w ith social psychology and something like that. But when you actually came to do it, you found that it could not be done that way. Some o f the volumes have to come out in parts. So we have three parts in Volume 4, and I think we shall have ten parts in Volume 5 because there is so much material. In fact, I just finished the epic story o f gunpowder, which requires a whole part to itself (Vol. 5 part 7 )， starting from its development in the mid-9th century and going on to its transmission to Europe at the end o f the 13th and beginning o f the 14th century. What is the most exciting o f all is the fact that eventually it led to a great development, namely, the steam engine. Before the steam engine came into its hey­ day, people tried very hard w ith gunpowder engines and could not make them work. But it put them in mind o f steam, and then when steam was used, the engines did work. Another extremely interesting thing is that people could not get rid o f the idea o f the internal-combustion engine, and thought that the explosion should actually take place inside the cylinder as it does in the cannon. Eventually as late as 1830 ， an Italian spoke about the possible uses o f naphtha and petrol in the cylinder. By so doing, he set on foot the internal-combustion engine as we know it today, which has become an enormous part o f modem life . We just could not imagine what modern life would be like w ithout it But by that same token, it meant ‘Greek Fire was getting into the cylinder. Believe it or not, Greek Fire was the light fractions o f petroleum distilled by Callinicus o f Byzantium in the middle o f the 7th century and came to China in the 10th century. It was very important as a flame-thrower used in war. So Greek Fire got into the cylinder in the end, and was completely tamed by 1830 to 1840. But the tragedy I see is that mankind has to wait so long for the possible good uses o f things to be realized, whereas the evil uses are so obvious from the beginning, as was the case o f the gunpowder. Another thing is that the civil engineering use o f explosions may go back to the 11th century in China. It is certainly there by the 16th century, much earlier than Europe, as you would expect. Q. Where do you get the money to finance such a big project? A. Mainly from three Trusts, one in the United Kingdom, one in the United States o f America, and one in Hong Kong. They have been seeking money from various foundations for us. Now we w ill be building a new East Asian History o f Science lib ra ry . It is going to have a central building and two wings, w ith an Asian air about it. The existing library was gathered together by Lu Gwei-Djen ( 魯 桂 珍 ) and myself during the past fo rty years. The core o f the collection is the old block-printed Chinese books. But we do have a great number o f Western-language books and also Japanese books, and some in Vietnamese and Korean. It is in a quiet spot in Cambridge, one o f the quietest places in the city, but we want a bigger house to accommodate our collections. We have the land now and are going through the planning permission stage. We expect the piling to begin this winter and the library to be com­ pleted in one and a half years' time. We want the lib ra ry to be available to scholars from all over the world, long after SCC is finished. Q. I understand that Volume 7 wil l be the conclusion. How far have you proceeded with it? A. Well, quite a lo t. A great deal has been written but it needs revising. I have not written much o f Volume 7 myself as yet, but I am going to revise the section on the conceptions o f time in China and the Western world. A great deal o f work on the social and economic structure o f China's society in the middle ages is done by Huang Jen- Y ü ( 黃 仁 宇 ）， who was Professor o f East Asian History in the State University o f New York at New Paltz for many years Then, there is Chinese logic ， which is being done by Janusz Chmielewski in Warsaw, who is a mathematical logician as well as a sinologist. But unfortunately, he is now getting rather old and losing his sight, so he w ill not be able to finish it. But we are trying to get a Norwegian friend to do so. Thus in fact, the work is well advanced really, but not yet ready. Q. When do you expect the conclusion to be com­ pleted? A. Well, I do not think under about nine or ten years. Q. So could you give us a preview o f the conclusion ？ A. Yes, the last Volume w ill deal w ith the ideological, social and economic background o f Chinese science, technology and medicine, including a retrospective survey o f the characteristics o f Chinese science, the geographical factors, the fiscal and economic circumstances ， the intellectual and social factors and general conclusions. With this the whole work w ill be complete. 26 ACADEMIC/CULTURAL EVENTS