Page:Christian Greece and Living Greek.djvu/254

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2 32 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. been instructed in the classics, in the course of time acquire a superficial knowledge of the ex- pressions, still there will remain in such a case a sentiment of inferiority because he does not know their origin. In the interest of the dig- nity of the profession, this sentiment should be spared to the future physician. The commis- sion further said it would be absolutely neces- sary that, in addition to the knowledge of the classical idioms, the knowledge of one of the modern languages should be required, namely, the German. In the present condition of med- ical science, which derives its elements from all parts of the world, every physician ought to be somewhat of a polyglot. The rivalry of the nations is against the em- ployment — as an international language — of on^ of those principally spoken in the civilized world, such as English, French, or German. In addition these languages are insufficient for the expression of new ideas and for the composition of words. Even as it is now, the English, French, and German scholars have one thing in common : they borrow from one and the same language when new words have to be formed for new things. They borrow from the Greek, from that language which has many claims to be