278 MEMOEY. 



logical association of tlie ideas or thoughts to be remem- 

 bered, with experience and truths already known. 



But suppose the soul, who desires to remember a 

 thought expressed or a fact observed, has not already 

 an appropriate thought with which to associate that 

 which he desires to remember. Under such conditions, 

 we see no other plan possible than intent attention to 

 the thought expressed or the fact observed, followed by 

 careful investigation of what the observed fact teaches 

 and what the expressed thought signifies. In this in- 

 vestigation, the mind will proceed from the known in 

 experience or the accepted in axioms to the related 

 unknown. In this investigation it is probable the in- 

 vestigator will find such a richness of truth that he will 

 exclaim, " not even the half was told," "how very little 

 I saw of what was to be seen." 



It is not what the soul holds in memory, but the 

 quality of activity exercised in investigating and 

 memorizing that determines the soul's tone and power. 

 Hence two of the most important maxims in education : 

 " Never tell the child that which he can discover for 

 himself," and "Proceed from the known to the related 

 unknown." Personally I believe that no other two 

 maxims are so frequently violated as is each of these, 

 by both parent and teacher. But teaching is an art. 

 Few practitioners profess to be artists. 



I quote from Dr. Harris : (Page 5, Kay's "Memory.") 



"It is a matter of every day comment that much 

 memorizing deadens the power of thought. * * * * 

 But it is equally true that memory may paralyze the 

 powers of sense-perception, imagination, and will. With 

 an over-active memory, we suppose ourselves to see in 

 an object what we remember to have seen in it before, 

 and any new features escape our superficial perception. 

 * * * * Even the imagination may be dulled by a 

 too active memory, and degenerate into a mirror of the 



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