30 EMILE BOUTROUX 



as far as possible, by the heuristic method, 

 namely the method which a man of learning 

 uses in his researches. 



On the other hand, since the object of cul- 

 ture is the development of man as man, it is 

 evident that the study of letters has as much 

 right to be a part of it as the study of science. 

 For, if the sciences show us the effort of the 

 human mind to take possession of things, let- 

 ters show us the very life of man, made visible 

 to himself in his consciousness and expressed 

 in the language best fitted not only to analyze 

 that life acutely, but to exalt it, to beautify 

 it, to ennoble it by the charm or the grandeur 

 of the very expression of it. 



If letters are to fulfill their educational 

 function, we must not look on them as a mere 

 branch of scientific knowledge. It is true 

 that erudition, which is next door to the nat- 

 ural sciences, plays a necessary part in literary 

 studies. But erudition bears the same rela- 

 tion to literature which technique bears to art. 

 It puts us in possession of the elements and 

 the instruments: it takes no account of the 

 internal operation which from these minted 



