THE STUDY OF CHILD-NATURE. 793 
mind to recall mental images of previous sensations. These 
are mostly recollections of sight, sometimes of sound, rarely 
of smell or touch. No thought or action of our lives is iso- 
lated, but all are linked by a wonderful process to other 
thoughts and actions. Upon this process of association of 
ideas depends the retention in our minds of any particular 
idea ; and the ease with which we can recall it is dependent 
not only on the vividness of the impression, and the amount 
of attention we pay to it, but still more on the number of 
other ideas with which we can associate it. There are, of 
course, two kinds of associations—those which are logical 
and natural, and those which are purely arbitrary and acci- 
dental; and it is the aim of the teacher to break down 
the latter and build up the former, In quite young children 
the beginnings of logical association can be _ perceived. 
Darwin records of one of his children (five months old) that, 
“as soon as his hat and cloak had been put on, he became 
very cross if not taken out at once.” Of another child of 
eight months we are told that he had come to know that 
“the placing of a napkin under his chin was always followed 
by food, for he closed his eyes and opened his mouth.” 
Darwin’s boy at ten months had learned to look behind for 
the object which caused a shadow on the wall in front; and, 
in another case, of a boy 17 months old, it was noticed that, 
being unable to reach an object on some shelves, he fetched 
a portmanteau to stand on. Harrisson tells of a child two 
years old, who had been taught to bow ceremoniously to his 
friends, that he was seen one gusty morning looking with 
puzzled interest at the swaying branches of a tree. Sud- 
denly his face cleared, and he too began to bow, calling out 
at the same time “ How do? How do?” 
Many stories are told of Macaulay's precocity. Mrs. 
_ Hannah More was fond of relating how she called at Mr. 
Macaulay’s house, and was met by a fair, pretty, slight 
child, about four years of age, who came to the front door 
to receive her, and tell her that his parents were out, but 
that, if she would be good enough to come in, he would 
bring her a glass of old spirits, a proposition which greatly 
startled the good lady, who had never aspired beyond cow- 
slip wine. When questioned as to what he knew about old 
spirits, he could only say that Robinson Crusoe often had 
some. 
There is no such thing as an isolated image in the mind ; 
and if we could recall the mental process by which we suc- 
ceeded in reviving some particular piece of knowledge, we 
