THE USE OF BOOKS. 317 



understanding what they are reading. This, however, 

 is less apt to happen in reading Zoology than in reading 

 general subjects, for any failure in attention is quickly 

 checked by the resulting inability to understand the 

 diagrams with which all important books or essays 

 are illustrated, and which of course form the most 

 valuable part of them. 



A few words must be said about the manner, as well 

 as the matter, of reading. The student should at first 

 make it a rule to write out from memory a short ab- 

 stract — the shorter the better — of the chief points of 

 every chapter of the book he is reading; and when he 

 has finished the volume, a short abstract of the whole. 

 These abstracts should be corrected by reference to 

 the volume, and unless the book is one that he can 

 purchase and keep, should be then copied succes- 

 sively into a large note-book, and headed by the exact 

 title of the book, its date, name and address of pub- 

 lisher, and price. In this manner a manuscript volume 

 of reference will soon be formed, invaluable to the 

 writer of it. 



The student must of course make a point of ascer- 

 taining the meaning of every new word he meets with, 

 including proper names. The meaning of these is 

 frequently such as to assist the memory in retaining a 

 description of the animal; but even if all of them were, 

 as some of them are, far-fetched or foolish allusions to 

 classical legends, yet the habit of passing words unex- 

 plained is such a bad one, that rather than run any 

 risk of falling into it, it would be better to spend a 



