2i6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tween all sciences and all knowledge, and that one truth really be- 

 comes ours only in proportion as it is surrounded and illuminated by 

 other truths already ours ? But, in spite of all untoward circum- 

 stances, the power of association in reading can be, and should be, 

 trained carefully. 



The power to read well depends, likewise, upon our power of per- 

 ception, of mental perception ; upon the readiness with which we dis- 

 cover the relation between ideas. The degree of this faculty, more 

 than any other one thing, constitutes the diflerence between dull and 

 sharp minds. Also, it seems to be, more than any other faculty, a 

 native endowment. However, training will show here as plainly as 

 elsewhere. Persons blindfolded have described the contents of rooms, 

 the position of doors, windows, etc., with such accuracy that the cred- 

 ulous have attributed to them a superhuman power ; whereas, their 

 whole secret lay in the development of their perceptive faculties. 

 Circumstances unnoticed by others gave them information and the 

 power of inference. The same difference may be observed among 

 readers. One person at a single reading will grasp the thought pre- 

 cisely as it was expressed ; for another, even time and study are not 

 sufficient to impress all the modifications and the exact form of the 

 idea. Our Federal Constitution afibrds a good opportunity to test 

 this power of perception in reading. " No person except a natural- 

 born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adop- 

 tion ot this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President ; 

 neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have 

 attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resi- 

 dent within the United States." Upon once perusing tl^s, a fair reader 

 would instantly recognize the difference between the two classes of 

 citizens spoken of, and also consciously notice that in the last line it 

 is not " citizen," but " resident," and he will distinctly perceive the 

 difference in the meaning of these words. But this is just what a vast 

 number of those who ought to be good readers will not do. They 

 will not perceive these distinctions until study or comment brings 

 them to their attention. I say a good reader will consciously per- 

 ceive these differences; he will think of them as he goes along: for 

 many persons will retain in a physical chamber of the mind, as it were, 

 an echo of the words, and repeat them verbathn, but these distinct 

 ideas will not penetrate their consciousness. Submit to the average 

 readers of Byron this line upon the Gladiator : 



"... His manly brow 

 Consents to death, but conquers agony," 



and judge of the quickness and clearness of their perception. 



A large part of the function of this faculty consists in the percep' 

 tion of analogies. Such is its chief office for the student of literature 

 The feeling of likeness in one way or another is the foundation of all 



