WHY DO WE REMEMBER 



can exist with very little judgment, or with none 

 at all. Is it the novelty then ? No ; not alto- 

 gether, and probably not at all ; for in that case, 

 we would surely best remember the greatest no- 

 velty ; and that unquestionably is the first sight 

 we get of the world. 



The reason why we remember cannot be ex- 

 plained by the individual things that we remem- 

 ber ; and as little can it be owing to any act of 

 the mind, considered as such. Where then shall 

 we seek for it ? We shall best answer that ques- 

 tion by putting another, and pausing to weigh it 

 well before we answer it. How came we by all 

 that we think and know, or by all that we can 

 think ? The answer to that question, if the right 

 one, will show us where the mine of knowledge is, 

 and how that mine can be worked ; and if we know 

 these, no matter how small our present stock of 

 knowledge may be, we shall soon and easily ob- 

 tain more as much more as we please. 



That is a very simple question, a question, the 

 answer to which requires no philosophy, no learn- 

 ing, no reading, nay not even the faculty of speech ; 

 and yet that question is the seal upon all the possi- 

 ble knowledge of which we are not in possession ; 

 and many of us live long and go down to our 

 graves in ignorance, merely because we do not 

 see, or seeing, will not take the trouble to break, 

 that seal. That truth is so very important that we 

 must dwell a little upon it. Some may think it 

 would be better to give the knowledge itself than 

 merely point out the sources from whence it may 

 be derived. Many persons would, no doubt, con- 

 sider that gift more advantageous, or, at any rate, 

 more amusing, just as school-boys sometimes like 



