THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 



for his interest to do so; and the attentive listening in- 

 sured vivid and lasting impression; lasting, that is, 

 for a few minutes, as long as it will be of any use to have 

 it last. But this is not quite all. The great master 

 Habit has also come into the transaction. The novice 

 could not remember those lists however he strove to 

 concentrate attention on them; but repeated experi- 

 ences of memorising disconnected lists have resulted 

 in proficiency through habit; that is to say the waiter 

 has become as regards this one department of mind, a 

 cultivated being, for culture consists only in the ac- 

 quirements of good habits of mind. 



The lesson of all this is that every man may cultivate 

 his memory to an astonishing degree if he will de- 

 velop an interest in the subject to be memorised, as 

 this will lead to attentive consideration of the subject, 

 insuring vivid presentation and lasting recollection. 

 A man cannot change the inherent nature of his tissues. 

 Some organisms are inherently more receptive than 

 others; they may be likened to instantaneous plates 

 of the photographer. Other organisms are relatively 

 non-receptive, like the old wet plates. There are 

 obvious advantages with the instantaneous plate; 

 but it must be remembered that the old wet plate, if 

 given time for the impression to make itself felt, will pro- 

 duce just as good a result as the more rapid one. 



And the parallel, fortunately, holds as to the minds. 

 Repeated impressions of the same kind will take the 

 place of a single vivid impression. Macaulay reads a 

 poem once and can repeat it. But any man of ordinary 

 mind can learn to repeat that poem, if he set about it 



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