Inaugural address delivered at the opening of Morrison College, Lexington, Kentucky : November 4th, 1833 / by the Rev. Benjamin O. Peers.

  • Peers, Benjamin O. (Benjamin Orrs), 1800-1842.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inaugural address delivered at the opening of Morrison College, Lexington, Kentucky : November 4th, 1833 / by the Rev. Benjamin O. Peers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    [ io] ed as to make its subject a full, exact, and ready man, and that is the best system, which, to the greatest amount of ex- act knowledge, adds the best command of the faculties God has given us. If this representation be correct, it follows, that the study of no subject, the dead languages, or the more abstruse parts of mathematics for example, need be pursued, solely on account of the valuable discipline it affords the mind; but that in determining the studies of his pupils, the teacher may be guided exclusively by a reference to their utility, assured that the rational investigation of any sub- ject whatever, will be rewarded not only by the acquisition of valuable knowledge, but also with an increase of vigour to the intellectual faculties. Here however, it is proper to remark, that this principle does not operate as some alledge, to the exclusion of the dead languages from a course of liberal education. On the con- trary, the argument from utility, is daily acquiring greater strength. As science advances, that assimilating process which commenced with the revival of classical learning, and by which the English is becoming more and more nearly alli- ed to the Latin and Greek, is going on with an accelerated ratio. Already have these fountains been drawn upon to such an extent, that it may be safely affirmed that a large majori- ty of English words in current use are of classic origin. Of the sixteen thousand with which Webster found occasion to enrich his Dictionary, (none of which are given us by Johnson) nine tenths or more, are of Greek and Latin parentage; and so rapidly is knowledge becoming de-professionalized with the progress of popular intelligence, that before the end of the present century we shall need another Dictionary em- bodying some sixteen thousand more. Nor is this all. Knowl- edge and language being of necessity commensurate, as science enlarges its boundaries, facilities of expression must be multiplied. We may therefore, anticipate an indefinite accession to the existing stock of words. Whence shall they be derived? From the Saxon? Its resources are not ade- quate to the demand. It could not have been a copious