134 BKOOMALL : 



started each a cultural dominance that affects the world to-day 

 much more than our vanity will acknowled,i^e. The art and 

 literature of Greece and the jurisprudence and colonial admin- 

 istration of Rome have not yet taught us all they may. Per- 

 haps we are not yet able to appreciate their full significance. 

 This intellectual and esthetic power is still influencing the 

 Teutonic peoples and none of them can or should escape its 

 influence. The South-Kuropean words in the English vocab- 

 ulary bear witness to cultural influence upon its speakers in 

 philosophy, science, art, literature and law. Beneath this, the 

 essential motives, the homely virtues and the blunt sense of the 

 people are expressed in Teutonic words and grammatic form. 



The missionary and the teacher are incited l:)y the same 

 spirit of dominance that impels the conqueror and the imperi- 

 alist. The influence of the former is generally constructive 

 and therefore beneficent, while that of the latter is destnictive 

 and finally retrogressive — unless, indeed, it affords vminten- 

 tionally the opportunity for a cultural influence. 



The success and the extent of a foreign cultural influence 

 mainly depend upon the condition of the people to whom it 

 comes. They must be ready to receive the message. They 

 must be far enough advanced to recognize its worth. Teutonic 

 Europe was thus the pupil of Southern Europe. It has taken 

 two thousand years for the culture of the South to expend all 

 its riches upon the Teutonic foundation, linguistically and 

 otherwise. But the conflict has been only one of cultural 

 dominance. The influence has never been \-itHl. Its effects 

 are visible only in the superstructure of modern North-Euro- 

 pean civilization ; the foundation is not affected. 



From this hasty sketch we may summarize our conclusions. 

 We find that the vernacular is transmitted from the old to the 

 young generation of a community while the latter is still indi- 

 vidually within the family circle, and particularly under the 

 maternal influence, and that the vernacular can be brought 

 into actual conflict with another language only when the 

 aggression of the foreigner disrupts the family by extermina- 



