Sound: A Course of Eight Lectures

...consider it to be what it was intended to be—a serious attempt to improve public scientific knowledge. It is especially gratifying to me to be assured that the book has met a public need not only in England, but also in that learned land where I received my scientific education original: "that learned land"; Tyndall studied at the University of Marburg in Germany, where he earned his doctorate..

On the other hand, I have before me two volumes of foolscap original: "foolscap"; a traditional size of paper, approximately 8.5 by 13.5 inches size, bound in a curious stitched manner and printed in characters whose meaning I am unable to understand. Here and there, however, I notice the familiar illustrations from the previous editions of Sound. I am indebted for these volumes to Mr. John Fryer of Shanghai, who also sent me a letter a few weeks ago, from which the following is an extract:

"One day," writes Mr. Fryer, "shortly after the first copy of your work on Sound reached Shanghai, I was reading it in my study. An intelligent official named Hsii-chung-hu Hsü Chung-hu is a transliteration of Xu Shou (1818–1884), a pioneering Chinese scientist and engineer who was instrumental in translating Western scientific works during the late Qing dynasty. noticed some of the engravings and asked me to explain them to him. He became so deeply interested in the subject of acoustics that nothing would satisfy him but to make a translation. Since, however, engineering and other works were then considered to be of more practical importance by the higher authorities, we agreed to translate your work in our leisure time every evening and publish it ourselves separately. However, when our translation was completed and shown to the higher officials, it interested and pleased them so much that they immediately ordered it to be published at the government's expense and sold at cost price. The price is four hundred and eighty copper cash original: "copper cash"; a type of low-value Chinese currency, often minted with a square hole in the center for stringing together. per copy, or about one shilling and eightpence. This will give you an idea of how inexpensive local printing is."