The character of the intellectual movement in Greece is didactic rather than scientific, in the widest acceptation of the term. We have not yet here those strifes and debates which at the present time agitate and enliven the modern mind in Europe. We teach, and teach. This is our mission for the present. Debate, which, if I may so express myself, is the luxury of science,--strife, which betokens a vigorous body trained by labour for the combat, have not yet disturbed the peace of our intellectual arena. We do not concern ourselves with philosophical, theological, or social discussions, and latterly we have abandoned even political discussions, which a few years ago were the exclusive occupation of the newspapers and of the professional politicians at Athens and in the provinces, because the whole attention of the nation has been turned towards the Eastern Question, the solution of which concerns alike its present and its future.
We are in the epoch of translations, but not yet in that of production. Our printing-offices are every day reproducing the results of Western science by means of translations, which spread abroad useful information for the instruction of the nation.
There have not been many original productions within the last few months. M. Koumanondis, the distinguished archæologist, the well-known author of a learned work, [Greek: 'Attikês epigraphai epitymbioi] (Sepulchral Inscriptions of Attica), frequently publishes in a Periodical Review of the University, the [Greek: Athênaion], very interesting papers on the archæological discoveries which are daily being made in Hellenic soil. M. Anagnostakis, one of the most eminent professors of our Faculty of Medicine, has recently published two pamphlets full of interest relating to the archæology of that science--[Greek: Melitai peri tên optikên tôn archaiôn] (Studies on the Optics of the Ancients); and another small work in French, "Encore deux mots sur l'extraction de la Catarracte chez les Anciens."
But a work by the eloquent Professor of History at the University is that which is most deserving of particular mention--viz., the [Greek: Epilogos tês historias tou hellênikou ethnous], which has been published in French under the title of "Histoire de la Civilisation hellénique." It is a summary of his large work in five volumes on the history of the Hellenic nation from the most distant period down to our own time. The writer has had for his object to establish the idea of Hellenic civilization and history, so often called in question in the West. We may boldly affirm that the author has attained the object of his labour. At a moment when Greece is condemned in Europe unheard, this book has appeared very opportunely as a defence of Hellenism. It is thus that the European press characterizes this product of an enlightened patriotism, in analyzing it in terms as flattering to the author as to the nation for whose apology this book serves.