raphy, history, literature, art, and what not of the mother-land, Spain. Were they so intended, they would preach false doctrine, and should find no acceptance with us. On the contrary, we may well assume that the Congress aimed at the redressing of a lamentable fact the ignorance of the conditions in Latin-America which prevails in our northern region-and intimated that we might combine a purely linguistic effort with the highly desirable endeavor of acquiring a knowledge of the past and present thought and deeds of Spanish-Americans no less than of Spaniards. Needless to say, the same holds true of the study of Portuguese, which is beginning to take on some proportion in our University curricula; the acquisition of a reading ability in that language should accompany a resolution to secure an acquaintance with Brazilian conditions as well as those of Portugal.

Among our educators concerned with the direction of instruction in Spanish, there are some who express the view that, giving the proper emphasis to Spanish-American affairs in the subjectmatter of our class-room work, we should teach the Spanish-American pronunciation (they had better say, pronunciations) and not the purely Castilian. It is here submitted that such persons are needlessly making difficulties. The desirable results can be achieved by making the Castilian pronunciation the basis of the class-room exercises and acquainting the pupils with the leading SpanishAmerican variations therefrom. Of course, in cases in which the aim is the absolutely practical one of giving training in commercial usages to pupils who are to engage in business carried on in Spanish-America or with any of its several countries, it may be imperative to skill such pupils from the outset in certain non-Castilian peculiarities of enunciation; but for general cultural purposes that is not requisite. The truth of the matter is that there is no general Spanish-American pronunciation as distinguished from the Castilian norm, and if we are to insist on anything other than that norm we may be led into the false position of teaching as a standard the brogue of this or that region. However, the recent investigation conducted by Professor McKenzie of the University of Illinois (See The Modern Language Journal, October, 1917) shows that the majority of those responsible for the teaching of Spanish in this country are not troubled by the situation: they meet it by using

the Castilian pronunciation as a basis and by indicating the far from numerous variations which are found in Spanish-America and which often exist dialectically in Spain. Experience has proved to those of us who know fairly well both Spanish-America and Spain that the genuine Castilian is accepted and respected whereever the Spanish language is spoken.

Harvard University.