The Portland daily press., 1899-05-06

Georgian, Mongol, chinesc, Korean,
Japanese, Crock, russian, Welsh, and
Gothic. He is said to HAYS learned 10
speak Armenian iiuently n fortnight,
aud be preached In Georgian to Georgian
con gregntion in the cathedral Of lSutais,
Our most famous American nnguist
was Elihu Burr,tt, "the learned blark-
smith," born at New Britain, Conn, In
1919. and died there in 1879. lie learned
Latin. Greek anu French while working
at the forge, and atterwaId acquired
fifteen other languages, making eighteen
in all. One If the monuments of his lin
guistic attachments is translation of the
lcelandic Sagas relating TO the discovery
of America.
But it is to the Roman Catholic Church
that the world is indebted for the most
remarkable succession of llnguists, ow-
ing, no doubt, 10 the influence OF the Col
lege de ropagnudn Eide and OF the
schools established in Rome for the train
ing of candidates for missions In all parts
of the world. Nearly all the linguists OF
Italy from the CLOSE of the sixteenth cen.
tury appear to have been either actual
missionaries or connected with tue col
leges of the foreign mission The most
iliustrious OF ali the Italian hnguists,
and probably the most remarkable that
any country in the world has ever pro-
duced. was Joseph Casper Mezzofanti
who was born at Bologna in IVA, was
created Cardinal in 1888, and died at
Rome in iS4S. Ehs list of languages and
dialects which he acquired reaches the
astounding total of ia, full list OF
them may be found in Dr. Russsll's Life
of Cardinal blezzofanti. 1t is not to be
supposed that be knew I'LL these languages
and dialects equally well, but 1t is certain
that he spoke thirty languages with rars
excellence ;hmany of the Others he spoke
fuently, and the rest he had studied from
books so as to read them with facility and
understand their peculiarities. DR..
Russell, who knew the Cardinal person.
ally and had often converssd with him,
has recorded attestations that in the
power OF speaking the languages In which
he was best ,ried-whether Hebrew or
Arabic or Armenian, or Persian, OF
Turkish, or .Albanese, or Maltese,
or Greek, or Romaic, or Latin, or italian,
or Spanish, or Portuguese, or French, or
Swedish, or Danish, or Dutch, or Flem-
isb, or English, or Russ1en, or Bohemian,
or Magyar, or Chiuese-nis success was
entire ly beyond suspicion and wouid bear
with that of the most accom-
plished non-natiye masters of these Ian.
guages, even those who have confined
themselves to one or two of the number.
g" For the few languages upon which 1
myself may presume to speak, adds Dr.
X ussell (who was the learned President
of st patriok's College, Maynooth), "
IlOeb uHnc6lLtbAiAkil ohpph bhio bouSiN
sion, comparing my reeoilections of the
Cardinal with those i retain of almost
any other foreigner whom / have, ever
heard speak the same lang images"
1t would be interesting to know what
system was pursued by CarGial Mezzofanti
in the study OF languages; but little light
il now obtaiuable on this subject He
must have mud a prodigious memory, and
be WAS in fact great psychological phe-
1t is said that he had the habit
of thinking when alone in each and all
of his various languages in succession; SO
that, without the presence of second
individual, he also enjoyed the advant-
age of practice IN conversation. He once
said to an inquiring friend that 1.-THE
learning OF languages is less difficult than
is generally thought; that there Is but
limited number OF points to which IL Ii
necessary TO direct attention; ana that,
when one is master of these points, the
remainder follows with great facility"
adding that, when one has learned ten
or a dozen languages essentially different
from each other, one may, with a little
study and attention, learn any number
of them. " But he also stated to another
friend that his own way of learning new
languages was no other than that OF our
schoolboys, by writing ont words and
paradigms, and committing them to
memory" 1t is certain that Mezzofanti's
power of acquiring languages was mainly
gift of nature, but those who are always
on the lookout for sh ort roads to learning
should rememb Der that whatever may have
been his natural talent, and however 1t
may have quickened or facilitated the re-
suit for him, i5 did not enable him to dis
pense with the sedulous aud systematic
use of MI the ordinary appliances of
study, and especially of every available
means for the acquisition of vocabularies,
and of practice in their exercise. de is
said to have made Il rule, even amid
his most frequent and most distracting
occupations. to turn to account every
chance moment In which he was released
from actual pressure. The true secret of
his success therefore. was the systematic
employment of time.