GREEK AS INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE. 257 tone of the commentaries prove that thought on the subject has been aroused, and will continue. Bikelas, the Greek Washington Irving, after having read my article, wrote the words quoted above in regard to the idea of Greek as the uni- versal language for scholars: "Who knows, some day perhaps, this our beautiful dream may become reality." I have received many congratulatory letters from physicians, from other scholars, from men of prominence and of high official positions, many urging me to continue speaking and writ- ing on the Greek question. A German philologist, after expressing him- self very courteously in praise of the energy which, he says, I have exhibited, is of the opin- ion that the idea of having Greek as the inter- national language of scholars will not become realized. He refers to my narration of the failure of all attempts to invent a world-lan- guage, and also to my illustration of the at- tempted official invention of the Maximilian style of architecture. He says an international lan- guage for scholars can likewise neither be nomi- nated nor invented. Resolutions to this effect might be adopted, but nobody will learn the lan- guage, because nobody has time to learn an 17
