Part 25

1. Does it require any effort to continue that power? 2. What tends to break down an acquired power of attention? 3. What suggestion is here given the pupil in regard to this? 4. Is this method easier and less severe than Hamilton's? 5. Is it not more effectual?

THOUGHTIVE UNIFICATIONS.

CONNECTING THE UNCONNECTED.

A Congressman could not remember the name of Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States, but he could always readily recall his nick-name, "Rough and Ready." In this case there was no revivable connection established in his mind between the name Zachary Taylor and the idea or image of the man known as Zachary Taylor--but there was a revivable connection in his mind between the name "Rough and Ready" and the idea or image of that man. Now the thing to be done to enable this Congressman to readily recall the name Zachary Taylor was to establish or make a revivable connection between the name Zachary Taylor and the image of him, or some characteristic of him, as it was known to that Congressman; or to connect the well-remembered name "Rough and Ready" to the usually forgotten name Zachary Taylor. This would be a device for helping him to revive this hitherto unrecallable name. But another and better way to aid him would be to STRENGTHEN his REVIVING POWER GENERALLY, so that he could readily recall the name Zachary Taylor as well as his other previous experiences; for there is no doubt that he had a record in his mind of the name Zachary Taylor; for whenever he failed to recall it, he recognised it the moment he saw it, or it was mentioned in his presence. This proved that he knew the name but could not revive it.

1. What difficulty did the Congressman have in connection with Z. Taylor? 2. What caused it? 3. What would have been his best aid to remember the name?

HOW TO HELP THE MEMORY.

There are therefore two ways of helping the memory. (1) By a device resorted to in each separate case to help make a more vivid First Impression. Nearly all Memory Systems hitherto taught have only been such Devices; of little benefit except in the cases where they have been actually applied--mere temporary appliances, and many of them of doubtful value, devoid of any strengthening power. (2) By a Method of Memory TRAINING. This is the unique character of my System. It is used as a device during the process of developing the latent powers of the Memory and the Attention, but the result of its use is to so strengthen the Memory that, as a Device it is no longer required. As a trainer my System operates in three ways. (1) It increases the general Impressionability, so that all First Impressions must be more vivid than they have ever been before. (2) It increases the general Revivability, so that First Impressions are more under the control of the will, and can be afterward recalled when desired. (3) It compels the Intellect to stay with the senses and thereby it abolishes mind-wandering.

1. Did he have a record of the name in his mind? 2. How many ways are there of helping the memory? 3. What is the first way? 4. The second? 5. What is meant by Memory Training? 6. What is the unique character of my system? 7. What is the result of its use? 8. In how many ways does my system operate as a Trainer? 9. What are they?

A one-sided view of the Memory proclaims that if vivid First Impressions are made in all cases, that is enough. This opinion implies a limited acquaintance with the different kind of memories. In some cases where a person is troubled with chronic forgetfulness, a vivid First Impression may be received, and no recollection of it will long survive. That a vivid impression was received is proved by the fact that, shortly after the occurrence, his memory of the details of it is possibly nearly perfect, and yet, after the lapse of a few days, or weeks, or months, the recollection of every trace of the occurrence has vanished. After the total oblivion of the matter in his waking moments, he will sometimes recall all the details of the affair in a dream. This is demonstration irresistible that the trouble in this case lies, not in receiving vivid First Impressions, but in the weakness of his reviving power. In fact, some memories are much oftener weak from deficiency in reviving power than from feebleness of first impressions. If, however, Impressionability be increased to the highest degree in all cases, and Revivability be strengthened to the same extent, all memories will be good, however bad some of them may theretofore have been in any or in all respects.

MODES OF ESTABLISHING CONNECTIONS.

RECOLLECTIVE ANALYSIS is used to memorise a series of words or facts between every pair of which the relation of In., Ex., or Con. exists. It equally applies to a single pair of such words or facts.

RECOLLECTIVE SYNTHESIS OR THOUGHTIVE UNIFICATION is used where no relation exists.

A revivable connection is established in such cases by means of a Correlation which always consists of one or more unifying intermediates. And the words, hitherto un-united, which are thus cemented together, are called Extremes.

We had experience in learning the Series in the first chapter that the application of the Laws of In., Ex., and Con. enable us to memorise those Series in much less time than it would have taken had we not known how to make use of those Laws. Many people could never have committed to memory such Series by mere rote or repetition, and not one in a hundred could have learnt to say them backwards by rote alone. Yet my Pupils easily learn them both ways, because Analysis affords the highest possible AID to the Natural Memory. In fact, the deepest and most abiding impression that can be made upon the Natural Memory is by impressing it with relations of In., Ex., or Con.; because these are the Memory-Senses (if the phrase be allowed), these are the Eyes, Ears, Touch, Taste, and Smell of the Memory: and we have only to impress the Memory according to the laws of its own nature and the Memory will RETAIN the impression. This is exactly what my Art does: for I translate every case of Synthesis into an Analytic series by supplying one or more Memory-intermediates that grow out of the "Extremes," each one of which is an instance of In., Ex., or Con.--Thus, every example of Synthesis is a =developed or extended Analysis=. To make this translation from Synthesis into Analysis requires no intellectual ingenuity--no constructive power of imagination--but only a recall to consciousness, through In., Ex., or Con., of what we already know about the "Extremes." I call a specimen of developed Analysis a Correlation, because the Intermediates sustain the direct, immediate, and specific relation of In., Ex., or Con. to the "Extremes" (having nothing in common, in principle or nature, with the old-fashioned Mnemonical "Links," or "Phrases").

1. When is Rec. Analysis used? 2. Rec. Synthesis? 3. How is a revivable connection established? 4. Have you carefully read every question at the bottom of the previous page, and thought out or written out answers to them? 5. Since questions are valuable helps to the learner, will you faithfully read all the questions hereafter in this lesson, and write out or think out the answers thereto? 6. What have the laws of In., Ex., or Con. enabled us to do? 7. Could all people have learned them by rote? 8. What affords the highest possible aid to the natural memory? 9. How are the deepest and most abiding impressions made on the Natural Memory? 10. What are the Memory-Senses?

EXAMPLES OF CORRELATIONS.

Make your own Correlation (different from mine, given below) between each of the following seven pairs of Extremes:

1. ANCHOR (1) Sheet Anchor (1) Sheet (1) Bed (1) BOLSTER ---- (3) Capstan (1) Night-cap (3) Pillow (3) ---- ---- (3) Roadstead (1) Bedstead ---- ---- (3) Sea Bed (1) ---- 2. PEN (3) Ink (1) Ink-bottle (1) Smelling-bottle (3) NOSE ---- (1) Pensive (2) Gay (1) Nosegay ---- ---- (3) Wiper (3) ---- 3. SLAIN (3) Battle (3) Joshua (3) MOON ---- (1) Struck-down (1) Moon-struck (1) ---- ---- (3) Fallen (2) Risen (3) ---- 4. TEA (1) Teaspoon (1) Spooney (1) LOVER ---- (3) Sugar (1) Sweet (1) Sweetheart (1) ---- 5. ARROW (3) Tell (3) Apple (3) Cider Mill (1) TREADMILL ---- (3) Flight (3) Arrest (3) Convict (3) ---- 6. BEE (1) Beeswax (1) Sealing-wax (3) Title deeds (3) ATTORNEY ---- (1) Queen Bee (1) Queen's Counsel (3) ---- 7. LASH (1) Eye-lash (1) Glass Eye (1) Substitute (1) VICARIOUS

Children and Adults, who have thoroughly learned Recollective Analysis and practised its exercises, find no difficulty in making Correlations, unless they are so afflicted with Mind-Wandering that they have never digested the impressions they have received, or unless their intellectual operations have been twisted out of the natural order by perversities of early education; but even in these cases the diligent student will be able--usually before these pages are finished--at once to correlate any word whatever to any or all the words in any dictionary. A learned Professor declared that no person unacquainted with astronomy could correlate "Moon" to "Omnibus." He did it thus: MOON--(3) Gibbous [one of the phases of the Moon]--(1) "Bus"--(1) OMNIBUS. I asked a pupil then present--a girl nine years old--to connect them. She promptly replied, "MOON--(1) Honey-moon--(3) Kissing--(1) Buss--(1) OMNIBUS." A moment after, she gave another: "MOON--(1) Full Moon--(1) 'Full inside'--(3) OMNIBUS." Once more: "MOON--(1) Moonlight--(1) Lightning--(3) 'Conductor'--(3) OMNIBUS." Another pupil imagined it would be impossible to correlate the following letters of the alphabet to words beginning with the same letters, as "A" to "Anchor," "B" to "Bull," "C" to "Cab," "D" to "Doge,"--as well as "Cooley" to "The." There are, however, no words which my Pupils cannot soon learn to correlate together with the greatest readiness, as:

"A" (1) First Letter (1) First Mate (3) Ship (3) "ANCHOR" " (1) Aviary (3) Bird (3) Flew (1) Fluke (1) ---- "B" (1) Bee (3) Sting (1) Sharp Pain (1) Sharp Horns (1) "BULL" " (1) Below (1) Bellow (3) ---- "C" (1) Sea (3) Ocean Steamer (1) Cabin (1) "CAB" "D" (1) "D.D." (1) Clerical Title (1) Venetian Title (1) "DOGE" "COOLEY" (1) Coolly Articulated (1) Definite Article (1) "THE"

1. What must we do in order to make the memory retain the impression? 2. Does my Art do this? 3. Into what do I translate every case of Synthesis? 4. What does it then become? 5. What is a correlation? 6. Are correlations difficult to make?

All possible cases to be memorised can be reduced to (1) ISOLATED FACTS, where each fact is correlated to some fact in its surroundings through which you must think as the Best Known, in order to recall it--many instances will be given in this lesson:--or, (2) SERIAL FACTS, which must be remembered in the exact order in which they were presented to the mind--illustrated by many examples in this Lesson.

NEVER FORGET that this System serves two distinct purposes: (1) That it is a Device for memorising any Isolated Fact or Serial Facts by means of mere Analysis, otherwise called Instantaneous Assimilation or memorised Correlations, as well as by other means. (2) And that by memorising and repeating for a considerable period Analytic Series, and especially by making and memorising one's own Correlations, it is an unequalled system of Memory-TRAINING. Let the ambitious Pupil =learn as many examples as I give in the lessons in order to so strengthen his natural memory that he will no longer have to use the device for memorising, his natural memory permanently retaining all he desires to remember=. This result comes only to those who carry out ALL the directions with genuine alacrity--not shirking one of them.

1. Do all persons find them easy? 2. What persons do not? 3. Can such persons become expert in making them? 4. How? 5. Make an original correlation of your own between these extremes. 6. To what may all possible cases to be remembered be reduced? 7. What are Isolated facts? 8. What two distinct purposes does my system serve?

ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS COMPARED.

It is sometimes asked, cannot "Analysis" cement together unconnected "Extremes"? This question implies a contradiction of terms. I reply, "Yes, by accident, and by accident only."

Analysis is declaratory--Synthesis is constructive. Analysis discovers and describes the relations actually existing--Synthesis applies connecting intermediates where no relations previously existed, and then Analysis characterizes the relations introduced by the cementing intermediates.

Even in the First Exercises the Series are Synthetic. Every pair of words of which such Series consists exemplifies the relations either of Inclusion, Exclusion, or Concurrence. I used to call that Lesson Recollective Analysis, because in it the pupil is engaged in familiarising himself with those Laws of Assimilation, and in discovering and declaring the character of the relations between the words of such Synthetic Series. He commits to memory such a series by thinking of the relations between the words. A minor object is to memorise the Series--but a greater and higher object never lost sight of in these Lessons is to train the Memory and Attention. And let the pupil clearly notice how this training comes about. Merely running over a Series--two words at a time--without discriminating the kind and quality of the relations between the words--hoping that the mind unpractised in the Laws of Assimilation will intuitively feel those relations, constitutes no training of the Memory. Such reading neither strengthens the old power nor develops any new power. It is a blind act of unconscious absorption, however little be absorbed. But if the mind acts in such cases and tries to find and characterise the relations, then the appreciation of the relations of In., Ex., and Con., is quickened and invigorated and becomes in time so intensified that those relations are thereafter almost automatically felt, and the impression they make on the Memory, henceforth, is the most vivid possible.