May 13, 1887.] 



SCIENCJE. 



477 



offered to students in Icelandic and Norwegian. 

 In 1877, H. H. Boyesen was appointed assistant 

 professor in the same department. Professor 

 Boyesen resigned in 1880, and Professor Fiske in 

 1883, and since that time the department has been 

 without a head. 



In the same year that Cornell was founded, 

 1868, the example set by Luther college was fol- 

 lowed by a Swedish colony in Illinois. The emi- 

 gration from Sweden to this country had, in 1868, 

 assumed such large proportions, that a Swedish 

 theological seminary was established in Galesburg, 

 m. Its object was the preparation of young men 

 from the Methodist Episcopal church for the 

 ministry. The seminary, which in 1882 was 

 moved to Evanston, 111., and united with the 

 North-western university, is at present in a flour- 

 ishing condition : " The course extends over three 

 years, and the Swedish language and literature 

 are studied throughout." In 1885 the Norwegian 

 and Danish theological school was founded at the 

 same university, and with similar aims. These 

 two schools, together with Luther college, though 

 quite unimportant from a philological stand-point, 

 afford us ample proof of the practical side of the 

 question as to the status of Scandinavian instruc- 

 tion in the United States. 



In 1869, R. B. Anderson was appointed instruct- 

 or in modern languages at the University of Wis- 

 consin, offering a course in Icelandic, among 

 others, — the first ever given in the United States. 

 Six years later, Mr. Anderson was promoted to the 

 position of professor of Scandinavian languages, 

 which he continued to hold till his resignation in 

 the autumn of 1883. During the remainder of 

 that school-year, J. E. Olson taught a class of ten, 

 in Icelandic. The following year, Mr. Olson was 

 appointed instructor in the Scandinavian lan- 

 guages. At present, Mr. Olson has a class of 

 thirteen members in Norse. Of the demand for 

 instruction in this department, we may judge 

 from the fact that there has been application from 

 sis students to begin a class in Icelandic. The 

 Scandinavian languages were originally offered as 

 optionals only ; but soon after the creation of a 

 separate department, Norse and Icelandic were 

 offered as optionals in freshman and sophomore 

 years, and as electives in junior, and, later still, 

 also in senior years. 



Next in order of time comes Columbia college, 

 at present the only eastern college in which the 

 Scandinavian languages can be studied. Instruc- 

 tion in Danish was first given by C. Sprague 

 Smith, professor of modern languages during the 

 winter of 1880-81, and in Swedish during the 

 winter of 1882-83. In the faU of 1883, W. H. 

 Carpenter, Ph.D., was appointed instructor in 



German, Icelandic, Danish, and Swedish, having 

 classes that year, of three each, in Icelandic and 

 Danish. During the last winter, Dr. Carpenter 

 had classes in Icelandic and Danish ; Professor 

 Boyesen, one in Swedish ; and Professor Smith 

 delivered a course of lectures on Danish and 

 Swedish literature, with reading of texts. For 

 the present year, in addition to the preceding 

 courses. Professor Boyesen offers a seminar in 

 contemporary Norwegian and Danish literature, 

 with lectures and conversation in Norwegian. 



Still another western institution, the University 

 of Nebraska, offers this year, for the first time, 

 facilities for Scandinavian work ; A. H. Edgren, 

 Ph.D., a native-born Swede, professor of Sanscrit 

 and modern languages, being the instructor. 



Such is the list, as complete as possible, of the 

 colleges in the United States which have at any 

 time offered instruction in the Scandivavian lan- 

 guages. In connection with the subject, it may 

 not be amiss to mention some courses of lectures 

 on Scandinavian literature, other than academic, 

 that have been delivered in this country. Prof. 

 E. B. Anderson has lectured at the Peabody in- 

 stitute, Baltimore, and in different cities in In- 

 diana ; Professor Boyesen, before the Lowell 

 institute, Boston, and at Columbia college, 1886. 

 In 1881-82, Y. Theo. Dippold, Ph.D., lectured on 

 the Niebelungen Lied in Boston and Cambridge : 

 and in 1882, Dr. Carpenter delivered a course of 

 twelve lectures on Old Norse literature at Johns 

 Hopkins university. 



The question as to the profit accruing from the 

 study of the Scandinavian languages naturally pre- 

 sents itself. The well-worn arguments that have 

 been used so much of late by the opponents and 

 defenders of the old-fashioned system of Latin, 

 Greek, and mathematics, may many of them be 

 used with equal force in arguing this question. If 

 the mental discipline fuijiaished by the study of 

 Icelandic be as great as that furnished by the 

 study of Latin and Greek, if the culture of the 

 old Norsemen give as profitable food for reflection 

 as does the culture of the Greeks and Romans, 

 then Icelandic wins the day, and gains a right to 

 a place in every college course. This paper is in- 

 tended mainly as an account of what has been 

 done in the past, rather than an argument for 

 what shall be done in the future, so that I shall 

 not attempt a support of my position, when I 

 make the claim that in each of these particulars 

 Icelandic equals both Greek and Latin. I say 

 nothing of the national significance of Icelandic 

 studies to all who call themselves Anglo-Saxons, 

 though, iu the opinion of many, this alone is 

 enough to offset any possible advantage the older 

 tongues may possess. But I wish to say a few 



