为中国设计电码:美国传教士玛高温的《博物通书》

Designing A Telegraph Code for China: D.J.Macgowan and His Philosophical Almanac

学者们早就认为,美国来华传教士玛高温于1851年在宁波出版的《博物通书》,是最早介绍西方电报知识的著作。但在中国,一直没有找到这部著作。近来,我们在宁波天一阁博物馆中发现了玛高温的《博物通书》。在《博物通书》的序言中,玛高温通过引述儒家典籍,论证了中国"儒者"必须了解西方的科技成就。玛高温在这部著作中除了介绍电磁学及电报知识外,还专门设计出了一套中文电码系统,这也是世界历史上第一套汉字电码方案。

Although it is widely known that D. J. Macgowan＇s Philosophical Almanac published in Ningbo in 1851 was the first book in Chinese about telegraph, scholars were not sure if any copy of this book still exists in China. Fortunately, we have found one Philosophical Almanac in Tianyi Museum in Ningbo recently. In its prefaces, D. J. Macgowan, by quoting the Confucian Classics, expressed the necessity for Chinese scholars to know about Western sciences and technologies. In the following chapters, he not only discussed electromagnetism and telegraph, but also designed a set of telegraph code for Chinese characters.