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 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF GREEK. 37 after the old Greek, especially in those words and expressions which are taken from the old language; notwithstanding this the new Greek remains a mixed language. The remodelling is called purification. Incorrect elements, when discovered, are extirpated with more and more severity and tact. Greek has changed from age to age because it has continued to live; only what is dead, like Latin, does not change any more. The Greeks now possess a highly devel- oped language ; they can without much difficulty translate every thought expressed in foreign idiom into their mixed language, a thing which even Korais did not always succeed in. The Greeks of all parts can communicate with each other easily without the slightest fear of being misunderstood. Babylonian difficulties are an impossibility to-day. To what extent this lan- guage has spread we find when we consider the highly developed journalism, and the in- numerable works which have been translated from other languages into Greek. Greek is the language of culture in the Orient. By the establishment of this literary language quite remarkable advantages have been gained. Everything written by the Greeks of to-day can easily be understood by all those who have