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The Russian Government is about to establish at St. Petersburg a Polyglot College, in which will be taught all the modern languages of any importance, and the tongues of all the nationalities, about seventy, under the Czar's sceptre. The purpose of this college is to prepare trust worthy and thorough interpreters for the diplomatic, consular, and military service, the civil officers and missionaries who have to deal with the different nations found in Russia, and mercantile agents who have to attend to the import and export trade. A Russian professor himself speaking over a score of languages says:
"In 1840, I visited Rome, and was introduced to that polyglot man who spoke in fifty-eight languages, and who, in that respect, has never been surpassed by any one - I mean of course, the Cardinal Mezzofanti. In order to puzzle the man who used to puzzle everybody, I began to speak to him in the language of Little Russia. 'What language is that?' he asked me in Italian. 'Little Russia,' I answered. 'Well, come to see me again in two weeks' he said. Two weeks passed and I presented myself to the cardinal, who for two hours spoke to me in Little Russian, and that very fluently. To my question how he could master a new language in so short a time, the prelate answered that he had known Russian already. That did not satisfy me, however, for one knowing Latin can easily learn Italian, but not within a fortnight. Since that time, for forty years I have zealously read everything that was written about the polyglot Cardinal. I was about giving up my task when suddenly I struck the hidden secret.
The professor is about to publish Mezzofanti's method of learning a foreign tongue. He has tried his method repeatedly, and his pupils have mastered different languages, each in from three to four weeks. 'Every man of average capability can learn any foreign language within a month,' says the Professor, 'and whoever fails is a lazy or a stupid fellow." - Newark Advertiser.
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