4o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the ancient. It also finds its place in the classification of observed 

 facts. Further than this, language offers the dry, arbitrary rules of 

 grammar as food for the intellect, while science gives grand laws and 

 generalizations already deduced or in process of deduction. The dis- 

 covery of these natural laws may be counted among the greatest 

 achievements of the human mind. To follow out the processes by 

 which they were discovered, gives the mind its most rigid training, 

 and elevates the tone of thought in many other respects. The intel- 

 lect becomes self-reliant and yet conscious of its own weak points. 

 On the other hand, grammatical reasoning binds one down to past 

 authorities, and leaves no room for original thinking. It is purely 

 conventional, nothing more. Originality, either of thought or of inves- 

 tigation, is discouraged by it. The mind may be filled, but not ex- 

 panded. But surely the intellect ought to be trained to think forward 

 as well as backward, in new regions as well as in the old, beaten paths. 

 To the scientific student the universe ajjpears full of great unsolved 

 problems, whose solution is the noblest exercise for the human mind 

 and a benefit to the race. To thoughts like these the mind of the 

 mere grammarian is closed. He sees nothing but routine, and dreads 

 all innova.tion. He fetters the intellect rather than loosens it. 



It may be said, however, that the old education did not depend 

 altogether upon the languages for intellectual training ; that the math- 

 ematics were included, with a variety of philosophical and historical 

 studies. True, but the new education also includes these branches, 

 only in a better way. Their connection with modern times is much 

 more intimate than their connection with antiquity. Modern lan- 

 guages aid in their cultivation to the highest degree. In philosophy, 

 the modern has assimilated every thing of value from the ancient ; 

 and history, in the scientific sense, is just beginning to be written. 

 As for mathematics, the old education made it a system of mental 

 gymnastics ; the new transforms it into a useful tool which the student 

 must apply to the solution of many physical problems. Both the 

 intellectual value and the utility of such studies have been vastly 

 increased. 



Turning toward aesthetic studies, we find the new education again 

 foremost. Quite obviously, the sesthetic sense must be mainly culti- 

 vated through music, works of art and literature. The world's great- 

 est music is all modern. So also are most of the famous works of art. 

 The painter lives entirely among the achievements of recent or com- 

 paratively recent times. As for sculpture, one needs no Latin nor 

 Greek in order to appreciate the Laocoon. Beauty is better under- 

 stood by direct contact with beauty, than by reading about it in an- 

 cient books. And in literary studies the languages of to-day are more 

 than on a par with those of the past. This part of the argument has 

 already been mentioned. 



In scientific pursuits, also, the aesthetic tastes find such nourish- 



