564 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
learned directly our stock of knowledge would be pitifully small. At 
the utmost, we can make an immediate inspection of the merest frag- 
ment of the immense domain of nature and life, while the entire past 
has for the most part been transmitted to us through many hands. 
If we purpose to acquire a language for itself alone there is nothing 
gained by approaching it in a roundabout way. But there is no doubt 
that if we wish to lay the foundation for studies of a similar character 
we can not do better than to begin with Latin. A person who knows 
Latin well will have far less difficulty in acquiring the Romance lan- 
guages, barring the pronunciation, than he had with the Latin. The 
great body of the vocabulary of these languages is derived more or less 
directly from the ancient tongue. Most words, however, which desig- 
nate modern objects are formed in various ways. Those words that 
have their roots in the Latin have merely been modified according to 
phonetic laws that are now well understood. On the other hand, it is 
admitted by most teachers who can speak from experience that a 
knowledge of Latin as gained in our schools is of small service in 
acquiring French, the Romance language most generally taught. With 
few exceptions the pupils fail to see the connection between the older 
and the younger vocabulary and teachers have virtually to begin at 
the beginning. It is only a small minority of learners that acquire 
French more rapidly because they have studied Latin previously. ub 
is not too much to say that nobody fully comprehends what is written 
in those languages now called dead. Part of the difficulty is due to 
variations in the manuscripts, or to their defective character, but it is 
also largely owing to the impossibility of ascertaining the meaning of 
many words. ‘To be convinced of this one needs but to examine the 
copious notes with which most authors have been provided. A few 
months ago I had occasion to read some of the later Books of the 
AMneid, a work that I had not had in hand for a number of years. As 
long as I had only the text before me I thought I understood the author 
except in a few passages. But after consulting a profusely annotated 
edition I was in doubt whether I had got the meaning of more than one 
verse in ten. So many possibilities and probabilities were suggested 
that nobody could tell who was right. There is always some difficulty 
in comprehending a profound thinker. But if we know exactly what 
he said we can usually come pretty close to an understanding of his 
meaning. If we are uncertain as to the words he wrote we encounter 
preliminary obstacles which no amount of ingenuity and intellectual 
acumen can overcome. It is doubtful whether the mind can be most 
profitably employed in seeking for something which in the nature of 
the case can not be found. On the other hand, the effort to acquire 
the facile use of a language, whether ancient or modern, is always a 
striving towards an attainable goal. We can obtain expert testimony 
as to whether we have reached it. There are hundreds of persons now 
