Page:Christian Greece and Living Greek.djvu/88

66 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. 1889 an international Philhellenic society was called into existence in Amsterdam, and men of the highest ranks of life, princes who had dis- tinguished themselves as Greek scholars, cele- brated writers, men of learning from all parts of the civilized world became members to the number of five hundred. This body of Philhel- lenists published a quarterly review entitled 'EXXd^y for the propagation of the ideas of the society. The articles published in this organ treat on philological studies, on the solution of the question of the true pronunciation, and give encouragement to the study of the living Greek in order that it may serve as an international language. The idea to make Greek the uni- versal language of scholars will remain the order of the day and will be realized sooner or later. Thus far the outcome of the noble labors of d'Eichthal and his followers has been the intro- duction of living Greek pronunciation in the French schools. As soon as this act of the Gov- ernment had been proclaimed, I received many letters from my Greek friends in Paris and in Athens. One of them was from Professor Spiri-^ dis, who had been most active among those who had written and spoken to bring about this happy result. He wrote to me under date of Marcli