22 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



as it is not comprised in the profession of the individual, and which is 

 visible not only when men are observed as they come together in soci- 

 ety, but also in their domestic lives. These things present an unpleas- 

 ing aspect, and incite us to search for their cause and to devise means 

 of correcting them. How much the school question is already occupy- 

 ing the attention of thinking men is shown by the multitude of pam- 

 phlets which yearly flood the book-market." 



After a hasty glance at the history of the German classical-school, 

 this writer presents his indictment of the study of Latin and Greek, 

 and supports his view by a host of citations from "German authorities, 

 some of which we give in the present article. He says : 



" The learning of Latin has no more cultivating influence than 

 the learning of any modern cultivated language, while other consid- 

 erations strongly urge the introduction of French and English into 

 the course of study of the secondary schools in place of Latin. The 

 acquaintance with Latin which the learned require could be obtained 

 during the last three years, in voluntary classes, and in a different way 

 from the one in vogue. 



" It is, indeed, undeniable that acquaintance with the ancient civil- 

 ization is an important force in modern civilization, but a view of the 

 classic world of the Greeks and Romans may be had without acquir- 

 ing the ancient languages. 



" When the number of hours devoted to the ancient languages in 

 nine school-years is impartially set beside the results which are ob- 

 tained, this expenditure of time must be accounted unjustifiable. 



" Knowledge of classical antiquity and its authors is in a steady de- 

 cline among the learned, and for this sad state of affairs modern classi- 

 cal philology is to be held accountable." 



The claim that the reading of ancient authors is the only adequate 

 means of becoming acquainted with the ancient civilization is not 

 supported by the results. As President Eliot says, " It is a very rare 

 scholar who has not learned much more about the Jews, the Greeks, 

 or the Romans, through English than through Hebrew, Greek, or 

 Latin." The obviously proper procedure is for the student to learn 

 the broad traits of a people and their civilization through his own 

 language, and then to glean by means of the ancient language what- 

 ever has so far escaped him. The experience of our pamphleteer in 

 resjDect to this is very instructive : 



" It was a source of continual wonder to me in my school-days, 

 that some of my fellows, who attended the common school {Bilrger- 

 schule), actually knew more about the times of Pericles and Augustus 

 than we, the learned Latinists and Greekists. The reason was, that in 

 the common school there taught the author of a well-known history, 

 who knew how to combine intimately the study of history, of litera- 

 ture, and of manners and customs, so that the boys obtained a lively 

 introduction to ancient times, while we had to give our attention to 



