AT THE PHYSICO-TECHNICAL INSTITUTE 393 



lower animals, be confined to instinct, and to his own individual 

 experiences. It is obvious that the development of language 

 was the first and most necessary task of the adolescent peoples, 

 just as now the finest possible development of its significance 

 and its proper application is and must be the cardinal requisite 

 in the education of each individual. 



' Historically, the culture of the modern nations of Europe is 

 especially connected with the study of classical literature, and 

 thereby immediately with linguistics. And linguistic studies 

 are in relation with the study of forms of thought which lan- 

 guage expresses. Logic and grammar that is, according to the 

 original meaning of the words, the art of speaking and the art 

 of writing, taking both in the highest sense have thus hitherto 

 formed the natural corner-stones of intellectual culture. 



' Granted, however, that language is the means of transmitting 

 and preserving the truth when it is once known, we must not 

 forget that its study is no guide to the discovery of new truths. 

 Logic, for instance, teaches us how to draw conclusions from 

 the universal proposition which forms the major premise of 

 a syllogism, but tells us nothing as to the derivation of such 

 a proposition. Any one wishing to convince himself indepen- 

 dently of its validity must on the contrary begin with the 

 particular cases comprised under the law, which, later, when 

 it has been established, may no doubt be regarded as its con- 

 sequences. It is only when the knowledge of the law has been 

 handed down that it actually precedes the cognition of the 

 premises, and it is in such cases that the prescriptions of the 

 old formal logic acquire their indubitable practical significance. 



1 All these studies, accordingly, fail to lead us to the true source 

 of knowledge, nor do they bring us face to face with the reality 

 which we seek to know. 



1 They even contain an undeniable danger, inasmuch as that 

 knowledge is transmitted by preference to the individual, of 

 the origin of which he has no right conception. Comparative 

 mythology and the criticism of metaphysical systems can tell 

 us much as to the way in which metaphorical expressions 

 have subsequently acquired a literal significance, causing 

 them to be cherished as the tradition of a mysterious and 

 primaeval wisdom. 



'Thus, while fully recognizing the high significance to the 



