Palmer Declares Study of Classics in Original Language Has Definite Value -- Expects To See No Falling Off in Study

When asked his opinion as to the validity of the two charges, dullness and uselessness, which have been preferred against the classics, George Herbert Palmer '64. Alford Professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Civil Polity, Emeritus, replied that he, himself, had always found the classics interesting, and that he believed the study of them in the original languages had a definite value which could not be supplied by translations.

"Of course", he said, "in my own case I was brought up with them and have translated them all my life. I have always been found of them and I shouldn't want and don't expect to see any consist ant falling off in their study. I find that this University still sends out many professors well trained in the classics, and I am confident that it will continue to do so.

"Undeniably, a knowledge of classical culture is not essential is civilization and its disappearance would not cause any radical changes in the nature of things. I would not even say that classical forms of Hievature are always superior to modern once. The subject which is to be expressed must decide that. Some ideas are more suitable to modern expression, some to classical. There can be no fixed rule. However, as students get on in life, they will see the difference between men who have had training in the classics and those who have not for such training results in a larger grasp, a fuller appreciation and a deeper interest in literature of any sort."

When it was suggested that students could, through the study of translations, regain what they lose by not reading the classics in the tongues in which they were written, he answered, "Oh no. We can never attain in translation the effect of another language. The study of the classics in the original is a valuable part of modern education and if it were to be abandoned it would be a heavy loss indeed."