Assimilative Memory Part 29

Abstracts would be very amusing if they did not indicate an almost total failure of educational training in the matter of _thinking for one's self_. Recently a Pupil brought me a work on Physiology, written for general readers, and pointing to a paragraph in it that occupied nearly a whole page, exclaimed, "The only way I can make an abstract of that paragraph is to _learn it by heart_!" A glance at it showed me that I could express the gist and pith of it in the following sentence:--"The pulse beats 81 times per minute when you are standing, 71 times when sitting, and 66 times when lying down." After a re-perusal of the paragraph he remarked, "You are right. That is all one cares to remember in that long pa.s.sage." To his request for me to memorise the Abstract, I replied by asking what is the "Best Known" in it. Why, "pulse," of course. It is merely occupied with the _number of times_ the pulse beats per minute in different positions of the body. Now correlate (memorising your correlations as you proceed) "pulse" to "standing," and "standing"

to a word expressing 81 ({f}ee{t}); "sitting" to a word that translates 71 ({c}augh{t}); and "lying down" to a word that spells in figures 66 ({j}ud{g}e). The bodily positions being exhaustively enumerated need not be correlated together. Pulse ... beating ... fighting ... stand-up fight ... STANDING ... stand ... small table ... table legs ... FEET.

SITTING ... rest ... arrest ... CAUGHT. LYING DOWN ... lies ... perjury ... trial ... JUDGE.

These efforts in abstracting will qualify the young student to distinguish the main ideas from the subordinate ones, and he will then know when reading a book what to attend to and what to reject. Try a short essay first, then a longer one; and at last, when you are familiar with the method, attack any book, and you will cope with it successfully. Not much practice in this way will be required to enable you to know, from a glance at the _table of contents_, just what to a.s.sail and what to disregard. And in all your _first_ attempts in reading a technical work, make out an Abstract of each chapter in writing, and then deal only with this Abstract. Whenever the Subject is not treated in a desultory manner, but with logical precision, you will soon be able to find Suggestive or Prompting Words in the Sequence of Ideas and in the successive Links in the Chain of Thought that runs through the exposition. If there is no such Sequence of Ideas or Chain of Thought running through it, it may serve as an amus.e.m.e.nt, but is little likely to command serious study. _In a short time_ you will be able, in the language of Dr. Johnson, "to tear out the heart of any book." Hazlitt said that Coleridge rarely read a book through, "but would plunge into the marrow of a new volume and feed on all the nutritious matter with surprising rapidity, grasping the thought of the author and following out his reasonings to consequences of which he never dreamt." Such a result is rarely attained even by the ablest of men--but it is the ultimate goal at which every student should aim--an aim in which he will be largely a.s.sisted by the ART OF a.s.sIMILATIVE MEMORY.

There are four methods of learning abstracts: one is by Synthesis; the other is by the a.n.a.lytic-Synthetic Method, the third is mostly by a.s.similative a.n.a.lysis, and the fourth method is by the memory developed and trained by the System, but which is not consciously used.

(1) It is the novelties of Fact, Opinion, Ill.u.s.tration, &c., set forth in your Abstract that you correlate together, thus: You correlate the t.i.tle of the First Chapter to the t.i.tle of the Book; next, the t.i.tles of the Chapters to each other; and then you correlate, in each chapter, the first leading idea or proposition to the t.i.tle of the chapter, the second leading idea to the first, &c., &c. In this way you will proceed until you have absorbed all the _new ideas_, _facts_, _statistics_ or _ill.u.s.trations_, or whatever you wish to retain. You can then test yourself on the work by calling to mind whatever you have thus cemented together. If this is well done you will never have to do it again.

(2) We have already seen how to apply the a.n.a.lytic-Synthetic Method in learning by heart selections in Prose or Poetry, and same method can be used in memorising an Abstract of such parts of a book as are new to the reader. This method, too, once used in addition to what has been done by the pupil, will make a further resort to it unnecessary.

(3) And the same remark applies to the third method.

(4) The fourth method is the pupil's final method.

The foregoing exhaustive methods of dealing with a book are recommended to those only whose natural memories are not yet made powerfully retentive by the System as a Memory-TRAINER. If, however, a Pupil possesses a good natural memory and a mastery of the System as a Device for memorising, and he has also greatly added to the power of his Concentration as well as his memory by doing all the exercises, he _will not use my System, even in the reading of the first book, except now and then_--certainly _not_ constantly, but _only occasionally_. Although not necessary in case of memories made strong by the System, yet I do most earnestly recommend the most gifted and highly endowed to deal with _one_ book in the above thorough-going manner. As for instance, Herbert Spencer's little work on Education [four short essays]. Dr. Charles Mercier, who next to Herbert Spencer is the most original and clear sighted Psychologist in England, presents, in a work ent.i.tled "Sanity and Insanity," a scarcely equalled example of lucid exposition and logical development. Whichever one is selected it should be fairly and honestly handled by my method. The gain to Intellectual Comprehension from having carefully abstracted one book, and the gain to the memory from having made and memorised the Abstract, will produce results that will last through life, and make all subsequent acquisitions more easy and delightful, and make all further abstracts probably unnecessary.

HOW TO LEARN A LONG SERIES OF UNCONNECTED FACTS IN THE SCIENCES OR EVENTS IN HISTORY, CHAPTERS IN BOOKS, OR THE CONTENTS OF BOOKS.

1. It is useless for the pupil to attempt to learn the exercise here given unless he has carefully studied the Building, Ice, Presidential, and English Sovereign Series. The _meaning_ of In., Ex., and Con. can be understood in application to the facts of life, the events of History and the principles and details of the Arts and Sciences, only by a complete mastery of all that precedes this exercise.

2. Let the pupil learn only _ten_ facts, propositions or statements at each of the first few sittings, and then, as he adds ten more, let him recite from memory all that he has previously learned of this exercise.

The _cementing relations_ of In., Ex., and Con., which bind the events together, must in each case be first found by the student himself, and afterwards, and not before, let him glance at my a.n.a.lysis which follows this series.

3. The lawyer, in selecting 100 or 1,000 events of the Victorian Era, would doubtless make a list interesting to lawyers, the physician would make one of interest mostly or mainly to doctors, and similarly with educators, statesmen, editors, &c., &c. But I have selected events with a view to find the most difficult cases to deal with and with no other view, and if the pupil masters these, all other work hereafter will be easy to him.

4. This method can be promptly used, provided the pupil does not attempt to engorge or cloy his mind by undertaking too much at a time at first.

Practice will soon make longer exercises easy. Each of the following six Exercises is enough for any one session or sitting.

5. Between a pair of _words_ it may be difficult sometimes to find either the relation of In., Ex., or Con.; but in the case of sentences, propositions or descriptions, it is always easy to find one or other of the cementing relations. Relations which to me are strong, may seem weak to some pupils. No two persons would find the same relation in some cases, but, however different the solutions may be, they must always verify In., Ex., or Con.

6. The Int. a.n.a.lysis, the a.n.a.lytic-Synthetic, or the mere a.n.a.lytic method, will enable the pupil to memorise the statement or sentence which describes the fact whenever any aid is necessary.

7. This Method can be readily applied to events in ancient or modern times, or to an acc.u.mulation of facts in the sciences, &c.

8. If we were to express only the year the formula would in most cases be different. To indicate the month and the day of the month, a consistent phrase must be used.

ONE HUNDRED EVENTS OF THE VICTORIAN ERA, LEARNED BY ONE CAREFUL READING OR STUDY.

FIRST EXERCISE.

1--The Victoria era begins June 20, 1837

2--Abolition of death penalty for forgery and some other crimes July 17, 1837

3--Question of Trades Unionism brought before the House of Commons by Mr. Wakley and Mr. Daniel O'Connell Feb. 13, 1838

4--First steam voyage across the Atlantic Ocean _completed_ in 15 days by the _Great Western_ June 17, 1838

5--International Copyright Act pa.s.sed July 31, 1838

6--Chartist Meetings proclaimed illegal Dec. 12, 1838

7--Anti-corn Law League formed Dec. 19, 1838

8--Penny Postage Act pa.s.sed Aug. 17, 1839

9--Marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, by the Archbishop of Canterbury Feb. 10, 1840

=10=--Birth of Princess Royal Nov. 21, 1840

SECOND EXERCISE.

11--Birth of Prince of Wales Nov. 9, 1841

12--Earl of Munster's suicide Mar. 20, 1842

13--Monster Chartist Pet.i.tion, borne by 16 men and containing 3,317,702 names, denied a hearing before the bar of the House of Commons May 2, 1842

14--Defeat of Boers at Natal by the British troops May 26, 1842

15--Treaty with the United States of America on North-West Boundary, Slave Trade and Extradition Aug. 9, 1842

16--Defeat of Ameers at Meanee by Sir Charles Napier. Loss 10,000 Jan. 16, 1843

17--Birth of Princess Maud Mary Alice Apr. 25, 1843

18--Arkwright's son leaves his heirs 8,000,000 May 24, 1843

19--Birth of Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Aug. 6, 1844

=20=--Imprisonment for debt under 20 abolished Aug. 10, 1844

THIRD EXERCISE.

21--Maynooth College Endowment Bill pa.s.sed by House of Lords by 131 majority May 16, 1845

22--Faraday announces discovery tending to show that _light_, _heat_, and _electricity_ are but different manifestations of one great universal principle Nov. 5, 1845

23--Birth of Princess Helena May 25, 1846