Napoleon's Campaign in Russia, Anno 1812; Medico-Historical Part 20

DR. A. F. CURRIER, New York: "Dear Dr. Rose, I received your book with great pleasure. It is very attractively made up, and I am looking forward to the pleasure of reading it. As I get older I am astonished at the charm with which memory recalls history, myth, and poetry in the study of the cla.s.sics long ago. With sincerest wishes for your success, believe me yours, Philh.e.l.lenically."

C. EVERETT CONANT, Professor of Greek and Latin, Lincoln University, Lincoln, III.: "I wish personally to thank you for the effort you are making to set before us Americans the true status of the modern Greek language in its relation with the cla.s.sic speech of Pericles' day. With best wishes for the success of your laudable undertaking, I am cordially yours."

MR. H. E. S. SLAGENHAUP, Taneytown, Md.: "Dr. Achilles Rose. Dear Sir, Your book, 'Christian Greece and Living Greek,' reached me this morning.

Although it arrived only this morning I have already read the greater part of it. It is a work for which every Philh.e.l.lene must feel truly grateful to you. Not only do I admire the care, the industry, and the scholarly research which are evident on every page of this valuable exposition of h.e.l.lenism and Philh.e.l.lenism, but I most heartily indorse every sentiment expressed in it. I rejoice that such a book has appeared; I hope it may have a wide influence favorable to the just cause of h.e.l.las; and I pledge myself to render whatever a.s.sistance may lie in my power in the furtherance of that cause. The disasters of the past year have in no wise shaken my faith in the h.e.l.lenic race; on the contrary, they have increased my admiration for the brave people who undertook a war against such odds in behalf of their oppressed brethren; and I believe that the cause which sustained such regrettable defeats on the plains of Thessaly last year will eventually triumph in spite of opposition."

FRANKLIN B. STEPHENSON, M. D., Surgeon United States Navy. "United States Marine Corps Recruiting Office, Boston: My dear Doctor, Permit me to write you of my pleasure and satisfaction in reading your excellent book on Christian Greece and Greek; and to express my appreciation of the clear and vivid manner in which you have portrayed the life and work of the h.e.l.lenes, who have done so much in preserving and transmitting to us the learning in science and art of the ancient world.... Your reference to the eminent professor of Greek who said that there was 'no literature in modern Greek worthy of the name,' reminds me of the remark of a man, prominent in financial and social circles, who told me that there was nothing in Russian to make it worth while studying the language [Dr.

Stephenson is a well-known linguist--mastering eight languages, Russian among them]. I wish you all success in the work of letting the light of truth, as to Greek, s.h.i.+ne in the minds of those who do not know their own ignorance."

MORTIMER LAMSON EARLE, Professor Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa., who mastered so well the living Greek language that Greeks of education p.r.o.nounce their admiration of his elegant style, saying that it is most wonderful how well a foreigner writes their own language: "The book has been duly received, but I have not as yet had time to read all of it.

However, I have read enough to know that, though I differ with you in many details, I am heartily in accord with you in earnestly supporting the cause of a people and language to which I am sincerely attached. I am glad that you speak so highly in praise of the Klephtic songs. I hope that your book may do much good."

LOUIS F. ANDERSON, Professor of Greek, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.: "From my rapid inspection I regard it as superior even to my antic.i.p.ations. I trust that it will have an extensive sale and corresponding influence. It is the book needed just now. I hope to write more in the future."

MR. C. MEHLTRETTER, New York: "After due reading of your book I feel it my duty to congratulate you on same. True, you may have received so many congratulatory notes that the layman's opinion will be of little value.

Nevertheless, I can a.s.sure you the perusal of your book caused me more pleasure and instruction than any other I heretofore read on the subject. I a.s.sure you it will find a prominent place in my library, and any time in future you should again write on _any subject_ consider me one of your subscribers."

WILLIAM J. SEELYE, Professor of Greek, University of Wooster, Ohio: "Dr.

Rose's book received yesterday. I have already read enough to see that the author is not only full of his subject, but treats it with judicial mind."

JOSEPH COLLINS, M.D., Professor Post-Graduate School of Medicine, New York: "The chapters of your book that I have read have been entertaining and instructive."

ISAAC A. PARKER, Professor of Greek and Latin, Lombard University, Galesburg, Ill.: "I wish to say to Dr. Rose that, although I have yet had time only to glance hastily at the book, the few sentences which I have read have interested me very much, and it will give me much pleasure to give it a careful perusal, as I see that it contains much valuable information. The thanks of those interested in Greece and Greek literature are due to Dr. Rose for giving them this book. Praise is due to the printer for his excellent work."

CHARLES R. PEPPER, Professor Central University, Richmond, Ky.: "Your book, 'Christian Greece and Living Greek,' came duly to hand. I am much pleased with it. I hope the interest of the Philh.e.l.lenes in the United States may be quickened to a livelier degree in Greece and Greek affairs, and that your book may accomplish a good work in putting before the people generally the claims of h.e.l.las to the grat.i.tude, love, and admiration of the civilized world."

[_From the Troy Daily Times_, Feb. 7, 1898.]

"Christian Greece and Living Greek," by Dr. Achilles Rose. In view of the h.e.l.lenic defeat in the war with Turkey a year ago the future of Greece to many minds is rather vague and clouded. This idea is due to lack of knowledge of Greece history and character. Were Americans more familiar with the character of the h.e.l.lenes and their traditions none would doubt that the descendants of those great figures of the heroic age have a mission before them and that this mission will be accomplished in spite of Turkish bullets and the selfishness of the other European powers. Dr. Rose in this volume offers a clear presentation of the condition of Greece at the present time. His work deals not only with the nation, but with the language, and the history of each is traced from its earliest beginnings down to the present time. The reading of this book will afford a much clearer understanding of the causes leading to the war of 1897 than is generally possessed. Of especial interest is an introduction written by one of the best known Greeks now resident in this country, who reviews the causes leading to the great war, and clearly shows the shamefulness of the course pursued by the great European powers in leaving h.e.l.las to her fate.

Some of the statements made are significant, notably the following: "If Greece has sinned, it was on the side of compa.s.sion for her oppressed children and coreligionists. She is bleeding from every pore of her mutilated body, but there is a Nemesis which sooner or later will overtake those who rejoice now at her defeat and humiliation." New York: Peri h.e.l.lados Publis.h.i.+ng Office.

From REV. HENRY A. b.u.t.tZ, Dean Theological Seminary, Madison, N.J.: "My dear Sir, I have read with interest your book 'Christian Greece and Living Greek,' and have found it full of valuable suggestion. It discusses many points of great interest, giving a more correct view of the true condition of the Greece of to-day and of its relation to its glorious past. I am especially pleased with your forcible putting of the importance of adopting the modern Greek p.r.o.nunciation in our study of the Greek language. I wish your book a wide circulation."

F. A. PACKARD, M.D., Kearney, Neb.: "Dear Sir and Doctor, Your book on 'Christian Greece and Living Greek' received. I must say it is a grand work and I prize it highly and consider it a valuable addition to my library.

Wis.h.i.+ng you success, etc."

A. JACOBI, M.D., Professor Columbia University: "Dear Dr. Rose, The perusal of your book has been a source of much pleasure to me. If h.e.l.las has as enthusiastic men and women among her own people as you are, a friend in a foreign nation, she will have a promising future."

MR. LOUIS PRANG, Boston, Ma.s.s.: "'Christian Greece and Living Greek' has given me not only great pleasure to read but I have learned more about Greece, as it was and as it _really_ is, than I ever knew before. Your book is exceedingly valuable to a man like me who desires _reliable_ information on this very interesting people and who lacks the time for personal investigation or much book-reading, which after all, to judge by your statements, would not lead to a correct appreciation of present conditions.

Your personal experience based on large and varied observations among the people, and your evidently thorough study of past history make your judgment acceptable, and your manner of giving it to the reader is eminently interesting and engaging, and above all convincing. I do not think that what I have said here will be of much interest or satisfaction to you, as coming from a simple business man, but I wished to thank you for the enjoyment your book has given me and to tell you that you have made at least one convert for the cause of living Greek."

A GREEK LADY, living in Cairo, Egypt, writes to her father: "I thank you above all for the book of Dr. Rose you were so kind as to send me, and which I am perusing with the greatest interest. One can see that Dr. Rose is a friend of our dear country; if there were more like him we would not be so run down by ignorant and spiteful people."

[_From New York Medical Journal_, March 5th, 1898.]

Dr. Rose's well-known enthusiasm for the Greeks, their country, and particularly their language has resulted in the production of a very interesting book. Physicians will naturally be most interested in the concluding chapter, which treats of Greek as the international language of physicians and scholars in general, but from cover to cover there is nothing commonplace in the book; it is quite readable throughout. We congratulate Dr. Rose on the appearance of the volume in so attractive a form.

[_From The Independant_, March 24th, 1898.]

Dr. Rose stands forth in his volume the champion of modern Greece, the Greeks and their wrongs. He tells the story as it has been developed in this century, and recites the older history and appeals to the intelligent Christian world against the Great a.s.sa.s.sin of Constantinople. He believes the modern Greek tongue as now spoken and written to be the ideal one for international intercourse, especially on scientific matters, and repudiates the Erasmian method of p.r.o.nunciation. His account of the Greeks themselves is encouraging. He claims for them a strict morality. Theft he declares unknown, and drunkenness. The book is certainly eloquent and inspiring.

[_From The Living Church_, Chicago, March 19th, 1898.]

This is a most interesting book. There is not a dull page in it. It is made up of various lectures delivered by the accomplished author, at different times, on the Greek language and history. Magnificent as Gibbon's work is on the Byzantine Empire, the contemptuous tone he uses toward it has much misled modern writers and readers in their estimation of that wonderful monarchy. A state which lasted as that did in the face of so many difficulties, could not have been so badly governed as Gibbon implies. That Dr. Rose shows, and a good, English, up-to-date Byzantine history is greatly to be desired. Dr. Rose's account of the Greek struggle for independence is vivid, patriotic, and full of information on a subject that few people know much about. The most interesting part of the book to scholars is the chapters on modern Greek. Dr. Rose says: "The living Greek of to-day shows much less deviation from the Greek of two thousand and more years ago than any other European language shows in the course of centuries." This statement will surprise many, but it is literally true.

Dr. Rose gives the history of the creation of the modern Greek literary language on the lines of cla.s.sic Greek, and he advocates the use of modern Greek, especially in the matter of p.r.o.nunciation, in teaching cla.s.sic Greek. In all this we go with him heartily, and his views are being adopted in many colleges in Europe and America.

[_From the Evangelist_, February 17th, 1898.]

We commend this book to all who would know what the "concert of European powers" means to a struggling kingdom and people used as a "buffer state"

between the unspeakable Turk and civilized "Westerns." The historical chapters of the work are a revelation of the intricacies of "the disgraceful deals of the great powers whose victim the kingdom of Greece has been." The story is simply told with great candor and quiet reserve, but it carries a lesson that moves the heart and stirs the indignation of dispa.s.sionate and perhaps indifferent observers. How hard is it for a people like the Greeks or the Armenians to get a hearing! What "political necessities" demand silence; what diplomatic falsehoods, deceptions, subterfuges are indulged by ministries and cabinets that are called Christian! The history of Greece from the fall of the Byzantine Empire up to this hour is a tragedy, and the final deliverance in 1828 was more painfully sad and disappointing, more shamefully mismanaged and limited, more wretchedly hampered and hindered in every possible way, than is easily conceivable, considering the popular sentiment roused by such Philh.e.l.lenes as Byron, Erskine, Gladstone, and the Genevan banker Eynard.

Think of the ma.s.sacre of Chios, and then hear men talking of Navarino as a blunder!

But let our readers turn to the pages of Dr. Rose's book for information.

There is a historical sketch of the Byzantine Empire, showing the most extraordinary misrepresentations which have held on till very recently; a second chapter exposes the "erroneous views which have prevailed in regard to the relation of the Greek of to-day to the Greek of the cla.s.sical period," with a chapter on "absurd ideas in vogue in regard to Greek p.r.o.nunciation"; a fourth chapter gives the misery of the Turkish bondage and "their spiritual and political resurrection"; then follows one on the wrongs to the Greeks in their struggle for liberty, in which some American s.h.i.+pping firms are involved and "Mr. W. J. Stillman" is pretty severely handled; then "the kingdom of Greece before the war of 1897," and an "Epilogue," which should be read before Dr. Hepworth has time to get in his Armenian discoveries. This is the merest hint as to the intrinsic interest and pertinency of the book, the only unprejudiced and patriotic plea for the Greeks which has escaped the censors.h.i.+p of the press and politics and politicians. Let the Greeks be heard! Let the list of Philh.e.l.lenes grow to a grand majority in Europe and America that shall make itself heard in behalf of justice and humanity!

The scholarly chapters are as admirable as the statesmanlike and patriotic ones. They should lead to a Greek revival. We think the university wars of "Greeks and Trojans" might be fought over again. We join the Greeks!

His EXCELLENCY KLeON RANGABe, Greek Amba.s.sador in Berlin, writes: "Many sincere thanks for the kind transmission of your most interesting book....

I can congratulate you most sincerely. You treat all the important subjects in so exhaustive and conclusive a manner that all those who seek for truth must necessarily be convinced. We are in consequence indebted to you for a valuable service, but your own American countrymen ought also to be thankful to you, for every apostle of truth is in his way a benefactor of humanity. I hope that the days of the Erasmian absurdity, which belongs to the Dark Ages and is unworthy of American scholars, are now numbered. I hope that your book will also appear in German as it would do a great deal of good here. What you say about the system applied to Greek studies in general is also perfectly correct. These studies are still and will always be the soul of every liberal education, and, constantly undermined by the materialistic tendencies of the age, they can only be saved through a fundamental change of this system. The language must henceforth be taught as a living one, having never ceased to live for a moment since the days of Homer."

_Neologos_, an Athenian paper, writes a long article, reviewing the book and its author's works in general. "The author's name is already known to us by his lectures on Greece which have been published here. Mr. Rose belongs to those who will persevere to establish an idea; obstacles and difficulties can only serve to such characters to spur their ardor. Mr.

Rose is inspired by the n.o.ble idea to disseminate a better knowledge of Greece of to-day and to enlist sympathies in her behalf. He is combating the influence of an impossible Grecophobe press. People abroad will change their opinion when they know our true history, our character, our morals, customs, etc."

THE PUBLISHER OF THIS JOURNAL HAS PUBLISHED A GREEK TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK.