404 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



man. These newer languages are not only of practical value, being 

 spoken and written by millions of our fellow-beings to-day, but they 

 have also many direct beax-ings upon all modern life. The sciences 

 cannot be well studied without them ; they open up the widest fields 

 of recent tliought ; they bring us into closer harmony with the spirit 

 of our own times. We can get along better without a knowledge of 

 antiquity than without a knowledge of the days in which we live. The 

 history of the siege of Troy has less interest for us than the history of 

 the great social and economic problems which are being worked out 

 in such deadly earnest in our own country and in Europe to-day. The 

 ancient languages have their uses, unquestionably ; so also have the 

 Russian and the Chinese ; but are those uses of sufficient importance 

 to warrant universal study? Remembering the aims of education, we 

 must also remember that every student has but a limited number of 

 years to spend at college. In those few years he must acquire that 

 learning which will best fit him to go forth and grapple with active 

 duties. If he has both the taste and the leisure, then he can learn the 

 dead languages after graduation. It is nothing to urge that Latin and 

 Greek facilitate the acquisition of French and German, since the latter 

 can be studied directly as well as the former. Few people can afford 

 the time to study four languages in order to use but two. 



If we consider the languages in their bearings upon other studies, 

 French and German again take the lead. For advanced study in 

 philosophy or in science these tongues are absolutely necessary, while 

 the dead languages are not. True, many scientific terms are derived 

 from the Latin or the Greek; but the derivation is commonly lost in 

 new technical meanings. Moreover, the derivation, if desired, can 

 readily be learned and sufficiently understood without much knowl- 

 edge of Latin grammar or much familiarity with Greek verbs. The 

 philological facts may be valuable, but they are no more so than a 

 host of other facts which must, for want of time, be omitted from every 

 general course of study. As far as concerns the Latin, needed for the 

 comprehension of nomenclature in the natural sciences, it is safe to say 

 that any intelligent student can learn enough of the language in three 

 months, if, indeed, he cares to study it regularly at all. 



In the direction of literary pursuits, the modern languages, again, 

 have the advantage. Undoubtedly', the literatures of the past are rich 

 in grand poetry, in great thoughts, and in the history of noble deeds. 

 But poetry as grand, thoughts as great, the history of deeds as noble, 

 can be found in the literatures of to-day. Every thing of permanent 

 value which the old contained has been translated into the new. 

 Plato and Virgil may be read in English, French, or German ; but 

 Goethe, Racine, and Shakespeare, are not to be found in Greek. These 

 modern literatures are certainly of as great value in any system of real 

 culture as those of older times. No student can master all literatures, 

 and therefore much must be rejected. First, a scholar should study 



