Tempo:
APP XV
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^^^ °^ ARABIC AND SANSKRIT
3^9
guages are made the vehicles of instructing, the learned. These tongues should thus be aSsidAiously cultivated, although not so much for what they contain as for what they may be made the means of conveying. The hierarchies of 'Gymnosophists' and 'Uiema' will the more readily assent to mathematical or logical deductions, if couched in words identified in their eyes with scientific research; and they in time must of necessity make known the truths learned to the mass of the people. The present system of endeavouring to diffuse knowledge by means of the rude and imperfect vernacular tongues can succeed but slowly, for it seems to be undertaken in a spirit of opposition to the influential classes; and it is not likely to succeed at all until expositions of the sciences, with ample proofs and illustrations, are rendered complete, instead of partial and elementary only, or indeed meagre and inaccurate in the extreme, as many of the authorized school-books are. If there was Sanskrit or Arabic counterparts to these much-required elaborate treatises, the predilections of the learned Indians would be overcome with comparative ease. The fact that the astronomy of Ptolemy and the geometry of Euclid are recognized in their Sanskrit dress as text-books of science even among the Brahmans, should not be lost upon the promoters of education in the present age. The philosophy of facts and the truths of physical science had to be made known by Copernicus and Galileo, Bacon and Newton, through the medium of the Latin tongue; and the first teachers and upholders of Christianity preferred the admired and widely spoken Roman and Greek, both to the antique Hebrew and to the imperfect dialects of Gaul and Syria, Africa, and Asia Minor. In either case the language recommended the doctrine, and added to the conviction of Origen and Irenaeus, Tertullian and
Clement of Rome, as well as to the belief of the scholar
more modern times. Similarly in India the use of Sanskrit and Arabic and iPersian would give weight to the most obvious principles and completeness to the most logical demonstrations. That in Calcutta the study of the sciences is pursued with some success through the joint medium of the English language and local dialects, and that in especial the tact and perseverance of the professors of the Medical College have induced Indians of family or caste to dissect the human body, do not militate against the views expressed above, but rather serve as excepof
!
!
"^^^
^^^ °^ ARABIC AND SANSKRIT
3^9
guages are made the vehicles of instructing, the learned. These tongues should thus be aSsidAiously cultivated, although not so much for what they contain as for what they may be made the means of conveying. The hierarchies of 'Gymnosophists' and 'Uiema' will the more readily assent to mathematical or logical deductions, if couched in words identified in their eyes with scientific research; and they in time must of necessity make known the truths learned to the mass of the people. The present system of endeavouring to diffuse knowledge by means of the rude and imperfect vernacular tongues can succeed but slowly, for it seems to be undertaken in a spirit of opposition to the influential classes; and it is not likely to succeed at all until expositions of the sciences, with ample proofs and illustrations, are rendered complete, instead of partial and elementary only, or indeed meagre and inaccurate in the extreme, as many of the authorized school-books are. If there was Sanskrit or Arabic counterparts to these much-required elaborate treatises, the predilections of the learned Indians would be overcome with comparative ease. The fact that the astronomy of Ptolemy and the geometry of Euclid are recognized in their Sanskrit dress as text-books of science even among the Brahmans, should not be lost upon the promoters of education in the present age. The philosophy of facts and the truths of physical science had to be made known by Copernicus and Galileo, Bacon and Newton, through the medium of the Latin tongue; and the first teachers and upholders of Christianity preferred the admired and widely spoken Roman and Greek, both to the antique Hebrew and to the imperfect dialects of Gaul and Syria, Africa, and Asia Minor. In either case the language recommended the doctrine, and added to the conviction of Origen and Irenaeus, Tertullian and
Clement of Rome, as well as to the belief of the scholar
more modern times. Similarly in India the use of Sanskrit and Arabic and iPersian would give weight to the most obvious principles and completeness to the most logical demonstrations. That in Calcutta the study of the sciences is pursued with some success through the joint medium of the English language and local dialects, and that in especial the tact and perseverance of the professors of the Medical College have induced Indians of family or caste to dissect the human body, do not militate against the views expressed above, but rather serve as excepof
!
!
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