4H 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



courage the lona fide study of Greek, 

 it ought to do. There is no study so 

 cultivating ; there are few studies so 

 humanizing ; there are not very many 

 studies so ennobling. But just for this 

 reason we think but little of it as a 

 mere whetstone for the understanding 

 of boys ; and think a very great deal, 

 on the other hand, of the vast impor- 

 tance of not forcing on any one the 

 necessity for a fragmentary acquisition 

 which is to form no part of his future 

 studies. Whatever else is necessary 

 nowadays, this is most necessary to 

 prevent that dispersion of the mind 

 over a hundred unconnected morsels of 

 half-knowledge, to which the enormous 

 multiplication of intellectual interests 

 too much tends." 



With this demand for thoroughness 

 of study we entirely agree ; and it fa- 

 vors the conclusion that of the multi- 

 tude of subjects undertaken some must 

 be cut off. We say, let those go that 

 are demonstrated and acknowledged 

 failures. The " Spectators " complaint 

 that Greek is superficially crammed at 

 Cambridge, is but a fresh example of 

 the lamentations of thoughtful men 

 over the same result at the universities 

 for two hundred years. It is not that 

 modern science crowds classical studies 

 so that there is not sufficient time. 

 John Milton made exactly the same 

 complaint when the dead languages and 

 their literatures were almost the exclu- 

 sive objects of university study, and 

 there was no such thing as the rivalry 

 of scientific studies. 



When we consider the force of tra- 

 dition in a conservative country like 

 England, it is not to be expected that 

 reforms in these rich old universities 

 will move very fast ; yet the majority for 

 retaining the customary Greek was not 

 large. Common sense makes headway, 

 but the surprising thing is that the old 

 extravagant claims for this study should 

 still be urged. The "Spectator" af- 

 firms Greek to be the most cultivating 

 of all studies, and among the very high- 



est for its humanizing and ennobling in- 

 fluences. The authority of the " Spec- 

 tator " is outweighed by those who 

 declare that the influence of classical 

 studies is of a very different character. 

 Dr. Whewell characterized it as " nar- 

 row and enfeebling " ; Macaulay says 

 they have " a tendency to contract the 

 views and deaden the sensibility"; and 

 Sydney Smith speaks of the effect of 

 classical learning as an " elegant imbe- 

 cility." Certainly that can not be an 

 eminently "cultivating" study which 

 leaves whole important tracts of our 

 mental nature uncultivated ; nor can 

 that be the most " humanizing " of 

 studies which puts an ancient fraction 

 of the human race, to be approached 

 only through a dead language, in place 

 of living humanity itself. And are we 

 to regard that study as especially " en- 

 nobling " which knows nothing of the 

 conquests, aspirations, and encourage- 

 ments of the knowledge and life of the 

 present time ? 



THE STUDY OF SEWERAGE IN LONDON. 



The current standards of study and 

 valuations of knowledge are factitious 

 and false. Greek is not so ennobling a 

 study as that of sfewerage. To trace 

 out the obscure laws of our own and 

 of surrounding nature, so as to get com- 

 mand of natural agencies for beneficent 

 ends, is the noblest object of study. 

 If life be greater than any of its acci- 

 dents, what study is so exalted as that 

 which teaches how to save it, to im- 

 prove it, and to perfect it? When diph- 

 theria makes its dread appearance, and 

 the priceless lives of beloved children 

 are in mortal peril, then comes, with 

 startling emphasis, the true answer to 

 the question, " What knowledge is of 

 most worth ? " it is the knowledge 

 that leads to self-preservation. There 

 is such a thing as life-saving knowledge, 

 but it is not of the classical sort, nor 

 that which is most prized in colleges, 

 even in these later times. It is scien- 



