The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-12-04
0heGttsLtiaenrer

The leading article is from the pen o
Prof. F. W. WOODS, Of the West Virginil
University, and is "a Plea for the study
Oi Languages" As the article is to b,
continued In another issue Of the Non1Ill
it is hardly fair to speak of 1t critically
but we cannot help remarkiDg that thu
lar there seems to be an absence of pOin
in II. What the Professor means by at
Irlbuting the downfall Of the jewish ma
ton, and also Of Greece and Rome, TO q
neglect Of their respective Languages
puzzles US 10 understand exactly
Neither do we see the force Of the
comparison between the Status oI
Russia and England, by which the latter
is made superior to the former on the
score ot her language. We had supposed
that language was rather an outgrowth
of National developIment than the cause
Of 1t. The Professor, like nearly all Col.
Iege Professors, Is a specialist in the mat.
ter OF education, and his specially seems
to be the study OF the languages. There
is much to be said on the other side Of
his subject, Tho world IL not suffering
Tor the moro extensive study of Greek
aud Latin. Hitherto they havc absorbed
too much attention. The tendency now
is to curtail them and pay moro attention
to science. The great truths Of science
have only been properly appreciated
within this and the preceding generation.
1t was but few months ago that the
Centennial OF the birth Of Chemistry was
celebrated. What food Of light the
gradual developement Of Chemistry
has thrown upon the world dur
ing Its hundred years as compared
with any hundred or FIVE hundred years
study Of the dead Languages. And what
hoOd ot light is yet to follow its fur
ther development Chemistry is only in
its infancy, while the Languages are, so
to speak, in their senility. And ss it is
with this one department Of science, SO
is 1t, to certain degree, with other de-
partments. We refer to Astronomy, Ge.
ology, Botany, Mincralogy, and their
infiniicsimsl subdivisions. These studies
are now taking precedence, as compared
with the psst, in the estimation OF schol.
ara, Not that the study Of the Lam
guHges is undervalued, but simply that
the studies referred 10 arc coming to be
regarded as "the weighticr matters Of
the law" Of which, with reference to the
past, it can be said, "rhcae ought ye to
have done, and not 10 leave tho others
undone." We do not advocate the neg
leCt OF the Languages, moro particularly
living languages, but "lile is short and
art is long," and but few Of us can like
the matchless BACON, take "all knoWl-
edgs" for our province. Somebody has
said that an educated man should know
something about everything and every
thing about something" In other words,
that while we should have multiIarious
knowledge, if possible we should be sure
10 know all about some one department
OF knowledge. This remark embOdies q
great deal Of practical good sense. In
the nature Of things education to most
people must be practical. 1.-THE rich
should acquire education for ornament
and the poor for a livelihood" says an
Arab proverb. The most people come
within the latter category. And there
fore, life being short, they cannot spend
much time in studies that do not furnish
actual knowledge, or that do not in some
way increase their capacity to acquire &C.
tual knowledge.
But we did not set out to spend this
much time on the leading article Of the
Educational Monthly. We have been
somewhat interested In looking through
the address delivered before the Normal
Institute at Charleston by Prot. d. Fl.
THAcKsToN, A. N. Wehave been struck
in reading that address with the necessity
ths, exists in education to have the mind
to think closely and logically. And this
necessity is only an other plea Tor the
study OF the exact sciences as compared
with the dead languages. For instance,
the Professor in speaking of the business
OF teaching remarks that the profession
snot withoutits monuments. The various
text books OF the lsnd-the great work Of
the practical teacher-wlll!aftord dItment
Tor coming posterity, and will bc handed
down, from one generation 10 another
as BETTING monuments to their authors
monuments that arc more enduring than
storied urn or animated bust" This
mixing up OF terms-turniDg monuments
into something to eat-and talking about
coming posterity," indicates that the
Professor has devoted too much time to
the Latin poets. His sentence reminds
US Of that famous one in Horace, CON-
menciug "KrigO monumsntum," which
the well known college boy translated u
have eaten monument more lasting than
brass" and whose professor suggested to
him to sit down and let digestion have
her perfect work.
The too exclusive study orlsnguages is
thought to make a mans style somewhat
pedantlc, and when we read sentence
like the following weIare inclined to fall
in with this opinion.