Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-10-03
SCIENCE AND THE CLASSICS.
Address or Archdeaeon farrar at the Johns
Hopkins University.
baltimore Sum-

Address OF Archdeaeon Farrar at the Johns
Hopkins University.
baltimore Sum-
Archdeacon Farrar was introduced.
He is tall, Of akindly countenance. and
speaks with great eloquence and rapid
ty. He said "You must pardon me
if feel little confused at being called
upon Unexpectedly to address an as
sembly like this. was under the i'm
preston until yesterday that | was to
have familiar and perhaps pedantic
talk with the students and scholars of
the University, and not to address the
rank, fashion, and beauty Of Balti-
more. No one can read the reports
and publications Of this institution
without seeing that it undertakes to
teach the wide range of sciences. Sue
cessive generations of American youth
are here to be taught and selfgoverned
are to sit at the feet Of law. God has
many bibles as we'll as the Bible. He
speaks through all the branches of
knowledge-psychology, mathematics,
history, law, art, and sciences.
sin teaching the laws Of nature your
professors are endeavoring to lead you
through nature up to natures God.
The exhaustiveness Of the curriculum
is nothing less than a distinctive sign
of the time. Fifty years ago in Eng
land no university Of similar charac-
ter to this existed. The exclusive edu-
cation was in the classics in a narrow
and pedantic way. Boys were allowed
to grow up in ignorance unfathom-
able-an ocean without bottom and
without shores. 1t was a system
by which such boys as Parr grew
up as prodigies, and such boys
as Humphrey Davy and Sir Walter
Scott as little ounces. Boys were al
lowed to grow up in ignorance of the
beauties of English literature, of mod
ern languages, and indeed much that is
best worth knowing in the two Ian
guages. for which the other branches
were ruthlessly sacrificed. Many years
were spent, may say, in not acquiring
forms Of the verbs, or in not writing
elegiac couplets. The Latin prose, I'M
less it was made up Of mosaics from
the ancient authors, would have made
Quintilian gasp, and their Greek would
have made Athenian school-boys laugh.
| did endeavor to contribute all in my
power toward giving that system its
death-blow.
"When ] was young schoolmaster
boys were obliged to spend their time
writing Latin prose, and not a single
I English school had a science master.
The universities were also cramped.
| At Cambridge mathematics obtained
recognition, but at Oxford mathematics
had few adherents. may speak of
these things because they are matters of
the past, and we have changed all that
and begun to give attention to every
branch of human knowledge. | must
pause if | seem to be expressing hos
tility to the study of those Ian
guages. My object was to de-
stroy the absolute autocracy of
the classics, not to destroy
the study of them. For in them are
enshrined the noblest thoughts of the
noblest history of the noblest nations
of antiquity. My object then was only
to plead that the study of Latin and
Greek should not be exclusive; now l
plead that it should not be excluded.
The study of Greek and Latin. thanks
to the development Of comparative
philology, has become science. We
are the children, after all, of the past,
and a comprehension Of the laws of ma
ture must not exclude the law Of man,
who is part of nature. The past lives
and tingles in every particle Of our body.
The exclusive domination of Latin
and Greek was due to their inherent
power. The renewal Of the study at the
Renaissance let in food of light upon
mankind, and their riches flowed in like
vernal breeze upon the minds Of those
cramped by scholasticism. We can ap-
preciate the influence when we read of
Erasmus studying by moonlight to
avoid the expense Of candle of Queen
Elizabeth's versatility in Latin and
Greek, and Of Lady Jane Grey, young
girl, neglecting the pleasures of the
chase to read Plsto's Phedo." Cob
den is reported to have said Il only
know it through the newspapers) that
single copy OF the Times was of more
value than the writings Of ThucydideS,
but cannot agree with that.
"Greek and Latin are worthy OF
study if only for the beauty and gran
deur of the languages. They are among
the greatest instruments Of thought,
and we cannot neglect those languages
without damage to ourselves. Besides
their beauty and grandeur, they have
been enriched by the grandest thoughts
Of great artists. Greek was not only
the language of Homer, of Hesiod. OF
Plato, Of Epictetus, and of Marcus Au-
relius, but it is the language of revela-
ton; the New Testament was written
in Greek and the Old Testament was
translated into it. Ii was the language
Of the ancient fathers Of the sermons
of Socrates st. Paul spoke it, and in
it st. Chrysostom Numbered his words.
1t is also the language of the modern
Athenian newspapers.
"Latin was not only the language Of
Virgil, Of Jerome, of Augustine, but
for a long time it was the sole medium
of communication between European
scholars. 1t was the language Of free
dom, of theology from Tertullian to
Thomas Aquinas, of legislation from
the laws Of the twelve tables to those
Of William the Conqueror. Even now
| il is the means of communication OF
strangers OF different tongues. BY it
the great discoveries were handed down
to posterity. Therefore you see that
these languages cover vast realms Of
thought.