Page:Russian Realities and Problems - ed. James Duff (1917).djvu/179

 The confessional type of cvdture which predominated in Europe even in the 17th century had also some influence on Russian literature: Krizhanich was one of the most fervent adherents of Catholic culture. But this type was obliged to give way to the Protestant atmosphere, which found a powerful supporter in Peter the Great and was fairly well assimilated by one of his adherents—the high-spirited Theophan Prokopovich. This influence promoted the development in Russia of the individualistic and rationalistic spirit which permeated, for instance, the conceptions of one of the friends of Protestant culture—Dmitri Tveritinov: he would have paid for his boldness with his life, if Peter the Great had not hushed up the affair (1711–1723).

Thus the growth of secular thought in Russia was to some extent secured by the Emperor himself: in 1725 he founded, for instance, the Academy of Sciences in order that its members might cultivate science and learning and thus refute the opinion according to which Russians were "barbarians." But Peter the Great was much more anxious to propagate technical knowledge among his subjects: he entrusted, at least partly, this business to the Academy and invited some foreign teachers for the purpose; one of them, called Farquharson, edited manuals of geometry, algebra and trigonometry (1719, 1730); and these were supplemented by elementary books on geodesy (1708), mechanics (1722) and other subjects.

At the same time Peter the Great ordered translations to be made of some of the best works on geography, architecture, fortification and artillery, ship-building and navigation, jurisprudence, history and