On the nature of thought, or the act of thinking, and its connexion with a perspicuous sentence / by John Haslam.

  • Haslam, John, 1764-1844.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature of thought, or the act of thinking, and its connexion with a perspicuous sentence / by John Haslam. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    t gies, and exercising its own thought on human affairs, has been less disposed to submit to the dictates of authority. At this period we possess abundant facilities foi the acquirement of valuable knowledge: under this system, the mental faculties have been directed to their proper objects, and the time consumed in teaching has been considerably abbreviated. This abridgement of the usual course of education has conduced to the neglect of that classical learning, which required a painful and enduring attention, even for many years, to two languages that have ceased to be spoken, and are only addressed to the eye in written character. It is in no manner in- tended to under-rate the value of classical litera- ture, the constituent of a scholar, and the passport and ornament of a gentleman; but to introduce a very probable opinion, that few of those who have devoted many of the most productive years of their existence to the Greek and Latin writers, ever at- tain a critical knowledge of those tongues: and that the substance of morals, wisdom, and even the elegant turns of expression, may be more cer- tainly conveyed through the medium of the best translations, which we now possess, and the per- formance of which has occupied a large portion of the time of accomplished scholars. This conver- sion of talent to that which is useful, and produc-