পাতা:সাহিত্য পরিষৎ পত্রিকা (দ্বিতীয় ভাগ).pdf/২২২

( 2.2 ) of the educated Bengali will then be removed as already pointed out ;-and (4) the development of the vernacular literature will receive an impetus in certain directions. This is the proper place to touch on the influence of Universities on the growth of vernacular languages and literatures in certain aspects and direotions. It must be noticed that in the fields of literature proper the great vernaculars of Europe developed themselves outside the limits of University influence. Whether we look to the master-pieces of literary prose, or of poetry and the drama, the Universities as such have directly exercised no influence on their production in any European language. In some countries indeed the vernacular language and literature have been greatly influenced by the corporate action of other bodies- mean the academies; and in this respect, that parent of academies, the Academia dela Crusca, and next to it the Academy of Paris, have done Knight's service to their mother-tongue. The Sahitya Parishad, it is to be hoped, will in no way prove itself unworthy of these high traditions. But the Universities as such have exercised no influence on the development of the vernaculars in the literary sphere. On the other hand, the scientific and philosophical departments, the departments of special technical knowledge-the literature of information or knowledge pure and simple, as contrasted with the literature of power-have in every language grown and developed under the fostering influences of Universities and academies or learned societies, especially of the former. In Bengal what little of mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, hygiene, geography physical or political, &c. there is in the vernacular has been due to the necessities of primary or vernacular secondary education; and higher developments of these and other subjects may be expected when corresponding studies in the vernacular will enter into the scheme of the Entrance Examination of the University. While therefore I have full sympathy with the principle of instruction through the vernacular up to the Entrance standard or during the upper secondary stage of instruction and believe that it is bound to come in time, I must say I do not consider that things are ripe for such a change. At the outset I would state that though I would have the vernacular language and literature recognised as a subject in the F. A. and ultimately in the B. A. Examination, I am unhesitatingly of opinion that University education in subjects like the physical or philosophical sciences must in the paramount interests of the country always continue to be conducted wholly through the medium of the English language. If this entails great restrictions on the growth of a scientific, philosophical or technical vernacular literature, the evil is a necessary one; and means must be sought to obviate these disadvantages in other ways, and it will be incumbent on us to seek to foster