GREEK AND LATIN AT SIGHT.*

MR. WHITE, in his little pamphlet, sets forth three truths, which applied to Greek are as follows: first, Greek language should be taught rather than Greek grammar; secondly, it should be taught as a living rather than as a dead language, in the spirit of Greek rather than in that of English; and thirdly, it should be learned by observation rather than by rote, by principles rather than by rules, with intelligence rather than with blindness, and with pleasure rather than with pain. In short, Mr. White would have Greek to us a fountain of living waters and not a dead sea. To remedy present evils, therefore, he wisely advocates the economical method of reading at sight, and gives careful directions for doing so. English is but a medium in studying Greek, and ought gradually to be dispensed with by the advancing scholar until a medium is no longer needed. In this doctrine is the essence of reform. The standard of classical learning in America is much too low; let us welcome a well-considered attempt to raise it.

H. D. M.

* Greek and Latin at Sight, by Professor John Williams White, Ph. D. Reprinted from the New England Journal of Education, 1878. For sale at the University Bookstore. Price, 15 cents.