If we
add to this that neglect of the ancient languages, which is now-a-days
on the increase and is doing away with all general education in the
humanities--for a mere smattering of Latin and Greek is of no use--we
shall come to have men of learning who outside their own subject
display an ignorance truly bovine.
An exclusive specialist of this kind stands on a par with a workman in
a factory, whose whole life is spent in making one particular kind of
screw, or catch, or handle, for some particular instrument or machine,
in which, indeed, he attains incredible dexterity. The specialist may
also be likened to a man who lives in his own house and never leaves
it. There he is perfectly familiar with everything, every little step,
corner, or board; much as Quasimodo in Victor Hugo's _Notre Dame_
knows the cathedral; but outside it, all is strange and unknown.
For true culture in the humanities it is absolutely necessary that
a man should be many-sided and take large views; and for a man of
learning in the higher sense of the word, an extensive acquaintance
with history is needful. He, however, who wishes to be a complete
philosopher, must gather into his head the remotest ends of human
knowledge: for where else could they ever come together?
It is precisely minds of the first order that will never be
specialists.
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