Evening star., 1939-08-18

De Valera PIuns Revival Of
IreIund's Lost
Literature
By Thomas r. Henry.
DUBLIN, Aug. 19-Eire-land Of saints
and scholars. That was long ago, with
the first dawn streaks Of Christianity in
Western Europe, and before that when
the wild harps of the minstrels sounded
unearthly music through the dark, pagan
glens.
Now the revival of Fire as a center of
world scholarship Is one of the dearest
dreams of Eamon de Valera, Taoiseach,
or Prime Minister, of the new republic.
He is proposing, as a corner stone OF
this new edifice of Irish science and
learning, the establishment by the gov
ernment in Dublin of an institute OF
higher studies, modelled to some extent
on the institute of advanced studies at
Princeton University, which would bring
here the worlds foremost specialists in
various fields of scholarship.
For a start, as the plan is visualiZed
by Mr.. de Valera the institute would
!! consist of two major divisions, in both
Of which he believes Fire can become
pre-eminent. The first, and perhaps the
most practical, is an institute of Celtic.
The ancient language of Western Europe,
in it's @" dialect which gave rise to
both verse and Latin, is being revived
as living tongue after coming close to
extinction during the last century.
Fire now has officially two languages,
English and Gaelic. The latter is re-
quired of civil servants. 1t is taught in
the schools. Scores of popular English
books are being translated into it, with
the aid of government subsidies. 1t Is
used on money and postage stamps. All
road signs are in both Gaelic and Eng
lsh. Patriotic shopkeepers are chang
ing the names over their stores, dis
carding such un-Irish names-believe it
or not-as Fitzgerald for the truly Irish
MacGearails, as prominent Cork mer-
chant lately has done.
But Mr.. de Valeras plans go much
deeper than the mere substitution or
revival of a language. Buried in the
libraries and monasteries of Fire are the
manuscript remains of one of the worlds
great lteratures. 1t is a literature of
strange. inimitable beauty and sublimity.
Only echoes of it have reached the world
through English, as in the Arthurian
cycle, and through the dry grammars
and pathological treatises-unknown ex-
cept to specialists-of German and Scam
dinavian scholars.
1t is this buried literature, perhaps
the greatest single achievement of the
Irish race and the least advertised, which
the Taoiseach seeks to have revealed to
the world. The work is planned to give
to the Celtic of today living past.
There can be no racial lines in scholar
ship. Celtic experts from all over the
earth would be welcome to take advan-
tage OF the new institute for higher
studies. Some of the most eminent of
them have no Irish affiliations.
The second division of the institute,
as now outlined in Mr. de Valeras mind,
would be for researches in theoretical
physics and higher mathematics. He
himself was professor of mathematics
before the 1916 rebellion He believes
the Irish mind is particularly adapted
for studies of this sort and that such an
institute, properly endowed, would be
almost certain to achieve world leader
ship and contribute major advances to
the physical sciences.
1t would be impractical, he believes,
to venture far into the domain of expert
mental physics with the expensive equip
ment and enormous endowments re-
quired. Slowly this entire field of re-
search is gravitating toward America
where the necessary facilities can be
provided.
The Irish mind, Mr.. de Valera believes,
is essentially logical mind, as opposed
to the more practical English or Ameri-
can mind. 1t is more akin to the French
mind, he believes, and has pointed out
to friends that during his own days as
a mathematics professor, he preferred to
use French text books because he found
his students could follow the lines of
reasoning better than they could those
in English texts.
Some Of the foremost Irishmen of
modern times, Mr.. de Valera points out,
have achieved their distinction in the
oretical physics-notably Sir William
Hamilton and Fitzgerald, the co-author
of the FitzgeraldLorenz shrinking uni
verse hypothesis, which is one of the
corner stones of the theory of relatively.
Mr.. de Valera already has introduced
in the Dali measure for the establish
ment of the institute of higher studies
and statement of its essential purposes.
Comments on Detention of
Prisoners by Police.
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