THE CHINESE ELECTIVE.

ON last Wednesday, the day appointed for the beginning of Chinese instruction at Harvard, no applicants made their appearance, and the first recitation was indefinitely postponed. This is owing to the fact that the language which our new professor is sent here to teach is the Mandarin, the language of Chinese nobles and officials, and the vehicle of the literature of the country. Mandarin is of no use to the few Harvard students who wish to study Chinese, since they would come in contact only with the Cantonese, who speak a language so different from the Mandarin that our professor himself cannot understand them. Mandarin is, however, valuable for those who wish to enter the Chinese consular service of American and European governments, or the customs service of China itself. When any such students present themselves instruction will begin at the professor's house. Five hours' work a day - two with the instructor, and three outside - will be required, and the method of teaching is the same as that used by Professor Sauveur in teaching French. The instructor writes a character upon the blackboard, and the student pronounces it after him until it is firmly fixed. Great delicacy of ear and eye is required, and much mechanical drudgery must be endured. Patience is the first requisite. No interpreter is needed until some advance has been made, and even then Sir Thomas Wade's Progressive Course in Colloquial and Documentary Chinese will go far towards supplying his place. A knowledge of Chinese sufficient for business purposes may be acquired in two, or at most, three years; and one of the subscribers to our professorship acquired it in six months. To obtain a mastery of the language a long time would be required. A student might spend the four years of his college course entirely upon Chinese, and yet have all his time occupied.