26 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



Science may take nature, and the clas- 

 sics will appropriate man, as the respect- 

 ive objects of study. Dr. Fisher says: 



Now, at the foundation of a thorough and 

 comprehensive survey of nature there lies one 

 branch of knowledge. At the foundation of 

 the thorough and comprehensive study of 

 man there lies another. Each of these two 

 fundamental studies is essential to the full 

 understanding of things that now are — of 

 nature as it is spread out before us, and of 

 humanity in its present advanced condition. 

 In other words, the present scene, in order to 

 be radically comprehended, must be looked 

 at in the light of these two fundamental 

 studies. 



Dr. Fisher then proceeds to work out 

 this view, by referring to mathematics, 

 which is a leading element in all liberal 

 education, and showing its fundamental 

 relation in the sphere of the sciences of 

 nature ; and he then makes the surpris- 

 ing affirmation that what mathematics 

 is in the study of nature that also is 

 classics in the study of man. He says, 

 "Analogous to the relations of mathe- 

 matics to the sciences of nature is the 

 relation of the Graeco-Eoman history 

 and civilization to our modern society." 

 And, after referring to the historic posi- 

 tion of the Greeks, the Romans, and the 

 Hebrews, and their providential relation 

 to modern affairs, he says, " As God has 

 made nature mathematically, so he has 

 governed the life and development of 

 mankind as here indicated." The suc- 

 ceeding steps of the argument are obvi- 

 ous. To understand man and modern 

 things we must study the ancients, and 

 "how shall this knowledge of antiquity 

 be obtained ? It can be obtained after 

 a fashion at second hand. But for a 

 * liberal ' education, for that direct and 

 penetrating view of ancient society 

 which alone satisfies the ideal of such a 

 culture, the languages of Greece and 

 Eome must be learned. In the study 

 of them the youth is put into immediate 

 intercourse with the mind of the an- 

 cients. The veil is lifted." 



Now, the first objection to this view 

 is that, as a matter of fact, the veil is 



not lifted, and the minds of college 

 youth are not " put into immediate in- 

 tercourse with the mind of the an- 

 cients." It is notorious that, after five 

 or ten years of study, " the average pu- 

 pil can not read the Greek and Latin 

 authors with any facility. Unable to 

 read them, he lays them aside forever. 

 Not unfrequently he sells the books 

 which he has laboriously conned." Dr. 

 Fisher, in referring to this objection, 

 admits that it " can not be confuted by 

 a sneer." It has so much truth that 

 he recognizes it as " a deserved rebuke 

 to methods of teaching which have 

 come into vogue, and which loudly call 

 for reform." This is a tacit confession 

 that the study of Greek and Latin, 

 which Dr. Fisher holds to be the key 

 to a great department of knowledge 

 concerning man and human society, is 

 a total failure with the great mass of 

 college students. 



But the whole argument is futile. 

 Man is not to be separated from nature 

 as an object of study. He is a part of 

 nature, and can only be understood as 

 nature is understood, and by exactly 

 the same mental procedures. Mathe- 

 matics is a fundamental condition of 

 the sciences of nature, and they can 

 not be cultivated or understood with- 

 out it. To say that the classical lan- 

 guages hold any such relation to the 

 study of man is preposterous. We have 

 man and all his activities and institu- 

 tions before us, to be directly explored 

 by observation, analysis, comparison, 

 and all the perfected intellectual pro- 

 cesses by which truth is established 

 and knowledge extended. To be sure, 

 we have not the ancients before us, but 

 to understand them we had better study 

 living men and existing society rather 

 than to waste time on dead languages 

 which, in nine cases out of ten, are 

 never sufficiently learned to be of the 

 slightest use for the purpose here con- 

 templated. When living men are first 

 studied and understood, translations will 

 quite suffice to apply that knowledge 



