April 7, 19 10] 



NATURE 



161 



food-stuff to be made to the diet by its use. On the 

 other hand, soured milk is by no means a universal 

 panacea, and should not be' taken indiscriminately 

 without medical advice, as it sometimes disagrees. 



Moreover, the home preparation of soured milk can- 

 not be recommended unless it is undertaken by a 

 member of the household having some knowledge of 

 the scientific principles involved in the practice of 

 sterilisation and use of pure cultures. 



R. T. Hewlett. 



CLASSICS .4 .YD SCIEXCE IN EDUCATION. 

 nPHE recent correspondence in The Times on the 

 question of "compulsor}- Greek" at Oxford 

 chiefly refers to academic expediency and the estab- 

 lishment of a modus vivendi between the Oxford 

 tradition and the claims of scientific students. But 

 the vital and ultimate question is not this detail of 

 practical politics; it is the question of the funda- 

 mental principles of education. The recrudescence of 

 the "Greek controversy" is important, as showing 

 how social evolution is gradually forcing education 

 — however unconscious educationists may be of the 

 ^act — along the lines of progress. 

 The issue at Oxford is between the classical or 

 literar}-" test, as a guarantee of the classical or 

 "literar}" foundation (or "character," it may be 

 said) of the whole system of Oxford studies, and the 

 interests of "the large body of scientific and other 

 \yorkers to whom literar>- studies are difficult and 

 tiresome, and to whom the examination in Greek is 

 a mere 'obstacle.'" We quote the words of Prof. 

 Turner; he adds that, in his opinion, "Greek is as 

 important to a literary education as mathematics to 

 a scientific. In neither case is the particular study 

 essential, but it is of vast importance." Dr. Jackson 

 points out that "in many of the university studies 

 the highest proficiency cannot be obtained without a 

 knowledge of Greek. For the highest proficiency in 

 mathematics or any branch of science Greek is not, 

 but modern languages are, a necessity." 



In connection with this reference to proficiency, a 

 proposal was recently made that Greek should be 

 retained where it is essential for a complete mastery 

 of the subject, but that where it is not essential an 

 alternative which ensured a certain amount of 

 "literary culture" might be allowed. 



Such a test is meant to safeg^iard the Oxford prin- 

 ciple of a " literary " or humanistic foundation for 

 all its studies. With this principle is supposed to be 

 bound up " the Oxford spirit." 



If this principle is interpreted to mean that the 

 study of science, for example, should be preceded 

 or accompanied by a training in the arts of language 

 which are necessary for complete power of expression 

 and for the development of that side of the mind 

 which is built up by language, the principle is sound. 

 But if it is made to mean the educational necessity 

 of "culture," in the sense of a literary-, rhetorical, or 

 aesthetic habit of mind or refinement of "taste," one 

 must protest. The former has no general applicability 

 to education ; it is merely a result of specialising 

 upon literar\-, rhetorical, or aesthetic material. As 

 for the latter, mental refinement is as much a result 

 of scientific as of literary- or classical studies. It is 

 a manifestation of the critical, that is, of the scientific 

 habit. 



As a test of this, a general training in science 

 would be at least as effective as the study of a special 

 subject such as Greek. And, to take another point 

 of view, a study of physical phenomena and of their 

 relation to human life and history is essential to both 

 complete mental development and a liberal education. 

 To confuse these last with a " literary' " or humanistic 

 NO, 2 1 10, VOL. 83] 



tone or curriculum is to confuse general development 

 and general education with specialisation. 



Greek is essential to a study of literature or to a 

 complete literary training, but to nothing else. But 

 even supposing that it were necessary for a liberal 

 education, and therefore desirable for scientific 

 students, it is obvious that the standard of Greek 

 required for entrance at Oxford is ludicrously in- 

 adequate; it is absolutely no test of anything except 

 of a beginning in the study of a particular language. 

 It is as well to be clear on the meaning of the 

 term "literarv." As used in this controversy and 

 with reference to the " Oxford spirit," the term im- 

 plies rather that form of liberal education which 

 consists mainly in a rhetorical philosophy of politics, 

 history, law, and literature than a literary educa- 

 tion proper. Even for this form of liberal education 

 a knowledge of the Greek language, however high 

 the standard attained, would not be essential. Greek, 

 as we have said, is only essential to a literary 

 training proper. 



Again, whether used for this or for any purpose, 

 it is useless unless it reaches a high standard. To 

 reach such a standard is itself specialisation, and 

 would require so much time that a boy would be 

 unable to learn with any efficiency any other subject. 

 That is to say, he would have to devote to the study 

 as much time as those boys who enter for classical 

 scholarships. Greek, be it understood, implies Latin. 

 The abolition of Latin as well as of Greek is hardly 

 dreamt of as yet. 



Prof. Murray, who thinks that the vital point is 

 " the maintenance of both Greek and Latin — but a 

 better as well as an easier Greek and Latin," is 

 assisted by the classical reformers. These are apply- 

 ing new systems, the most important of which is 

 known as the Frankfurt scheme,' for the production 

 of better classical results in half the time. Thus, 

 whereas in the old English public-school system a 

 boy took about ten years to attain proficiency, but 

 by no means adequate proficiency, in two dead lan- 

 guages which he never learned to speak, under the 

 Frankfurt scheme, the first three years, say from 

 nine to twelve, are chiefly devoted to obtaining a 

 good grounding in French instead of in the acquisi- 

 tion of Greek and Latin grammar. Then, and not 

 until then, is Latin commenced; Greek is commenced 

 two years later. 



On these lines a great deal of experiment is being 

 made in English schools. Much ingenuity is also 

 being shown in methods for quickening and improv- 

 ing the assimilation of Greek and Latin — the oral 

 method, the heuristic, the principle of learning 

 translation from the very beginning instead of after 

 a long training in grammar, and so on. But it is 

 noteworthy that towards the end of the course the 

 classical time-table becomes excessive again. 



It does not seem to have occurred to educationists 

 that possibly the only way of learning a foreign 

 langTjage is by speaking it, and that the best results 

 are obtained by learning the vernacular first. There 

 is a further possibility awaiting realisation, namely, 

 that the study of any other language than the ver- 

 nacular is a case of specialisation. It follows that 

 the imposition of Latin or Greek or French on the 

 curriculum of young boys is at least premature. In- 

 time, lastly, we may come to realise that " no man 

 fully capable of his own language ever masters 

 another," or, at any rate, that for the purposes of a 

 general preliminary education or propaedeutic (as con- 

 trasted with specialisation), not only is the vernacular 

 sufficient if properly taught, but that the learning 

 of another language or languages while the ver- 

 nacular is in process of formation is so far from being" 



