794 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 
should find that it was by some links in a chain which con- 
nected it with other things in our mind. The process may 
of course be subconscious, or the result of a conscious mental 
effort. Fitch has illustrated the point in his usual clear and 
masterly manner. ‘‘ Consider,” he says, “ for a moment the 
process which goes on when we try to remember a fact. 
You ask me the name of the statesman who tried so hard 
to set poor Louis XVI.’s finances in order, and I cannot 
recall it. . . . So I let my mind dwell for a moment 
on Louis XVI. As I do so the names of Calonne, of La 
Fayette, even of Burke and Pitt, recur to me. They are 
not what I want, and I refuse to let my mind dwell on 
them. I think of Madame de Stael. Stop! She was the 
daughter of the statesman whose name I seek. Of Gibbon: 
that reminds me that he had sought the same lady in mar- 
riage. Then Geneva and Lausanne, and Ferney and Vol- 
taire—all names which are connected—come rapidly 
through my mind, and in the midst of them Neckar’s name 
is suggested, and I fasten on it at once. It is what I 
wanted.” 
Every fact, then, which we wish to impress on a child’s 
mind should be logically connected with the previous know- 
ledge he possesses. Repetition, interest, and association are 
the three essentials in making any permanent impression on 
the memory. The memory of particular presentations is 
strongest in childhood, but, unless there is plenty of repeti- 
tion, a child quickly forgets, especially as his knowledge, 
having few bonds of association, is less systematised. The 
boy who organises his knowledge is sure to retain it longest. 
The old Puritan divine, Fuller, has left us three maxims 
with regard to memory, which are worth recalling— 
(1) Soundly infix what thou wouldst remember. 
(2) Marshal thy notions into method. 
(3) Overburden not the memory with details. 
Allied in some respects closely to the faculty of memory 
is that of Imagination, the forming of mental pictures of 
sensations previously experienced in the absence of the 
original stimulus. These may be recalled as they were first 
experienced, or parts of different impressions may be com- 
bined in a single picture. The simplest form of combina- 
tion is fancy day-dreams, which are determined only by the 
law of association. Fancy is strong, but definite imagina- 
tion is weak, in childhood, as the will is necessary to the 
latter in keeping to the point, and rejecting unnecessary 
accompaniments. Memory, interest, and judgment all play 
a part in definite and connected imagination. Without it 
