264 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



sen and Lepsius until he has fairly detected their 

 weak points, and he will be as little likely to sur- 

 render himself to any current delusion as the man 

 who has studied astronomy or chemistry. The 

 real difficulty is that our scheme of classical edu- 

 cation does not provide for any adequate knowl- 

 edge, even of classical subjects. Its energies are 

 entirely devoted, during eight or ten years, to the 

 imperfect acquirement of two languages which 

 ought to be very well learned in four or five; 

 and then no time is left for anything else. 



Our system of classical education has come 

 down to us from the close of the Middle Ages, 

 from a time when nearly all that was valuable in 

 literature was to be found in the writings of an- 

 cient authors. Until toward their close, the Mid- 

 dle Ages had accomplished little in literature 

 worthy to be compared with the great works of 

 Greek and Roman antiquity. And when, in the 

 fifteenth century, the expulsion of Greeks from 

 Constantinople and the invention of printing 

 brought about the rapid dissemination of ancient 

 literature among people at last socially prepared 

 to welcome it, the effect was as if a new continent 

 had been opened to view in the mental world as 

 vast and inviting as that discovered by Columbus 

 beyond the Atlantic. The exploration of the one 



