June 10, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



575 



tical in character, and adequate to express the 

 most necessary ideas. The next stage is to con- 

 sist of condensed treatises on special subjects, 

 such as history, geography, and natural science, 

 after which the learner may gradually choose his 

 texts with increasing freedom, until he is finally 

 able to read the actual literature of the language 

 itself in its original form. 



The reading of texts, however, is not the only 

 element of instruction : during this whole time 

 the systematic study of grammar, idioms, and vo- 

 cabulary is to accompany and run parallel with 

 the reading. As to the true position of grammar 

 in the study of language, there is but one mind. 

 It should be studied immediately in connection 

 with the texts, and, furthermore, inductively. 

 Sweet puts it best of all when he says that " gram- 

 mar, which is merely a commentary on the facts 

 of language, must follow, not precede, the facts 

 themselves, as presented in sentences and connected 

 texts." But neither he nor the others mean that 

 its systematic study should be deferred longer 

 than the stage when the learner is able to master 

 phonetically the sentences that are given to him. 

 Klinghardt expressly states, that, in his opinion, 

 a purely inductive method of teaching grammar 

 is only suitable at the very beginning, — a dictum 

 in which all practical teachers will concur. Later 

 on, a short grammar, to be learned systematically, 

 should be placed in the hands of the pupil. It 

 should include, however, nothing that is not 

 required for the explanation of the texts, and 

 every rule should have its example. Still later 

 the advanced student might be given a reference- 

 grammar, which should contain all rules. 



Vocabulary may be studied with regard to the 

 meanings of words either analytically or syntheti- 

 cally : that is, the word ' good,' for instance, may 

 be taken through its various meanings, — ' pleas- 

 ant to the taste,' ' useful,' ' morally good,' etc. ; 

 or else the idea, for instance, of ' morally good,' 

 may be taken, and the various words and phrases 

 by which it is expressed, like 'virtue,' 'bad,' 

 ' vice,' may be enumerated. The synthetic 

 method thus includes the whole vocabulary of a 

 language, Word-lists are on no account to be 

 studied. Connected sentences, as already stated, 

 should be the medium of instruction. A word 

 has already been said in regard to the study of 

 idioms. Only necessary idioms should at first be 

 taught. For conversational purposes, questions 

 are more necessary than answers ; the former, 

 then, should be mastered perfectly,- while the 

 latter require merely to be understood. 



In the system here elaborated no place is pro- 

 vided for the old mechanical translation method 

 or the grammar calculated to accompany it. A 



reading knowledge of a language may doubtless- 

 be obtained at the expense of a great deal of 

 labor and time by translating foreign texts. The 

 direct benefit, however, of such a process, is to 

 increase one's own native vocabulary and com- 

 mand of language, — a result, no doubt, admir- 

 able in its way, but exactly tlie reverse of the 

 end desired. A greater evil still arises from giv- 

 ing a learner the literature of a language, be it 

 modern or classical, before he knows its vocabu- 

 lary and grammar. " What," Sweet pertinently 

 inquires, "should we say of a music-master who 

 gave his pupils a sonata of Beethoven to learn the 

 notes on, instead of beginning with scales? " This, 

 very course is nevertheless pursued in our present 

 method of teaching languages. Its effect is often 

 not only to blot out absolutely the beauties of the 

 literature thus unfortunately chosen for sacrifice, 

 but to foster a disgust for literature generally. 

 It would have been a thousand times better for 

 the general culture of the pupil to have given 

 him by and by a good translation. There are 

 many persons whose only idea of foreign litera- 

 ture is an uncomfortable road beset with veritable 

 sloughs of despond,' out of which it is only pos- 

 sible to climb with the constant aid of grammar 

 and dictionary. 



It is Sayce, already quoted, who points out 

 that the grammar of a living language, like the 

 life of the community itself, is constantly in pro- 

 cess of change and development. It cannot, ac- 

 cordingly, be held in by rules that, once made, are 

 to stand forever, as unalterable as the laws of the 

 Medes and Persians. Yet, notwithstanding this 

 indisputable fact, there are still in use numerous 

 text-books whose prototype is the olderammar of 

 Donatus. Such a grammar maj^ possibly have 

 its use as a book of reference, but surely not> 

 otherwise. You may know your grammar by 

 rule and paragraph from first to last, and be able 

 to apply it in the formation of sentences, but at 

 the same time be utterly unable to form a single 

 sentence as a native would speak it. The old 

 method is really the study of the grammar by 

 means of the language, as if the former, and not 

 the latter, were the end in view. 



In the case of the dead languages the instruc- 

 tion should proceed, as far as possible, on the plan 

 laid out for the living ones ; and many recent 

 writers are agreed that the study of Greek and 

 Latin should follow rather than precede the mod- 

 ern languages. 



Against the so-called ' natui'al method,' Sweet 

 takes a decided stand. The very term, he says, 

 is a misnomer, for the learning of a foreign lan- 

 guage is as unnatural a process as can he imagined. 

 The genuine natural method, which, if any thing. 



