EECOLLECTION OF IDEAS. 7i 



of some idea more or less related to it by association ; 

 and the reason why we feel sure that we really possess a latent 

 idea which we cannot at all recollect, is because we always 

 have in such a case a vague residuary perception of the 

 bond of association. 



In consequence of ideas being connected together in 

 diverging groups, and linked together in chains or series, 

 and of our ability also of recalling them after a lapse of 

 time, if the mind once becomes stored with ideas, and 

 even if the senses are lost, the memory can recall the pre- 

 viously acquired ideas, and thus supply the mind with 

 materials for thought and reflection. 



' The order of learning,' says Vives, ' is from the senses 

 to the imagination, and from this to the intellect,' 

 c from the simple to the complex, from the singular to the 

 universal.' l ' That only remains readily in the memory 

 which is conceived according to a natural order. If the 

 memory becomes enfeebled, it is with regard to proper 

 names that this enfeeblement is first apparent.' 2 Grratiolet 

 affirms that ' proper names disappear first, then substan- 

 tives, which are the proper names of things. Adjectives 

 or qualificatives disappear last, and everything disappears 

 with them, because we cannot have an idea of a thing 

 independently of its qualities. We recall things, and the 

 names of things in the ratio of their necessity.' 3 Dr. 

 Itard observes, 6 that in the loss of memory there is first a 

 forgetfulness of names, then of substantives, then of verbs, 

 and next of adjectives.' 4 General principles are more 

 easily remembered than facts, both because they are less 

 in number, and because they have a larger number of 

 bonds of association in the mind. 



1 Winslow, Obscure Diseases of the Brain and Mind, p. 362. 



2 IUd. p. 360. 3 IHd. p. 361. Ibid. p. 362. 



