Modern inquiries, classical, professional, and miscellaneous / by Jacob Bigelow.

  • Jacob Bigelow
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Modern inquiries, classical, professional, and miscellaneous / by Jacob Bigelow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    55/404 (page 37)
    ON CLASSICAL AND UTILITARIAN STUDIES. READ BEFORE THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES DECEMBER 20, 1866. During a few centuries past, the opinions of those who seek as well as^f those who distribute knowl- edge have been divided between the relative claims of ancient and modern studies; by which are com- monly meant those intellectual pursuits which pre- ceded, and those which followed, the vacant period of the Middle Ages. As there is no good reason for believing that the bodily or mental vigor of the Caucasian race is different now from what it was two thousand years ago, our estimate of the relative inducements to study the productions of times so remote from each other must depend, not so much upon our deference to the especial genius that pro- duced them, as upon the power of these works to contribute to our present pleasure and advantage. There are two points of view, in which the learn- ing of past and present ages are usually con- trasted by those who would estimate their compara- tive fitness as objects and vehicles of education. 137]