New-York tribune., 1919-07-10
Faith in the Classics
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune
Sir: At the close 81 your editorial cor.
cerning Mr.. frlands interesting and ap
parently conclusive experiments regarding
the relative vocahularics Of classicailg
trained and -classically trained high
school students you put the following query
"Just how did Greek and Latin help the $.
dents of those all-helpful tongues to do be.
ter?" Assuming tins question to be asked ia
good faith shall endeayor TO answer IT,
% | am persuaded tAat the study
difficult and exact subjects such as the ei.
sizes and mathematics is calculated 10 enabl
pupils to handle with increased eAicienc,
any intelligence testing problems alons
kindred lines. The non-classicallv ttainei
writer of the representative list cited b.
you, except in the case Of the word "na!
able" manifested absolutely no thought ef
ingenuity whatsoever in dealing win n.
problem Of the unknown A. nanv Wi
not accept this mental discipline" theory,
put 1t first to have it out Of the way
90 All linguistic training leads stu.
dents to examine words more keenly and
understandingly. This IS especinily true Of
hard and complicated languages like Latin
and Greek, in which the reader must per
force look carefully at what he is trying 30
read and cannot make headway BY means
Of such hasty and superficial gucsswers a.
will often tide over o clever boy or girl if
less highly infected tongue like French or
Spanish. Moreover, such careful aurfey is
we'll rewarded by Latin and Greek. both Of
xs,ht t,k II.
many beautifully varied and logical ex
amples of word composition.
(3) A knowledge of Latin and Greek
roots, properly applied, is Of incsiimable a.
sistance in the work Of ascertaining the
meaning of any representative lis, Of Eng
lish words. Any first year Greek stldent
knows did and photno, and consequently
finds the word diaphdnous "easily looked
through or transparent" in more senses
than one.
(4 few of the words listed Save
changed considerably in meaning since their
origin. Thus. modern hypocrit' is quite
different character E his Greek ancestor
the hypocrites, or &C. 1t is in part be-
cause of the vicissitudes Involving often
noteworthy historical and psychologists
phenomena) to which words are subject
that their study is so fascinating IN The
case of a word like the one under conslc'
GRAFTON, no good teacher (and our field ear
boast Of at least as large proportion o.
good teachers as any other) will miss 'hs
opportunity to inject additional iu'efeF
and liveness into the lesson.
CD All progressive teachers Of Latin arc
Greek make a special feature Of word huls'
Ing in English, thereby reinforcing and usu'
ally even replacing the corresponding e.
forts Of the teacher of English. whe 70
bound TO find that among students hss
equipped with knowledge Of Latin raps
ar 'telligent progress In English etyrass
impossible.
much for my answer But, after a.
you question-or, rather the skeptleish
implied by the putting of that question. sas
revealed In your assertion OF "strssF
doubts" just above-~is gratuitous. w
irlsnd's evidencc--obsained by shornughv
scientific methods. not in ono high s.hceA
not in many Of those which he exarinsa
but In all--is indeed imprcssive but ww =
should be labelled by you as almost W.
impressive" fail to understand. The fass
and the conclusions TO be drawn from tfss
facts seem 20 me unequivoca' and ssfs'v
table. T.. ADELAIDE MANN
Hunter College, New York City. Jsly Z ~