The Science of Mnemonics. 291 
was the morbid desire to obtain something as a reminder of 
the tragedy. 
Happily, association is more frequently in an agreeable 
manner. The child who cries because the sixpence pre- 
sented to him by his fireside banker “is not his father’s 
sixpence!” or the very coin his father gave him, is uncon- 
sciously illustrating the poetry of association. And this 
principle of association may be cultivated and used as a 
pleasant and powerful aid in the development of intelli- 
gence. Some few years ago, when I was lecturing at the 
Royal Colosseum, London, I gave my illustrating boys a 
treat of a day’s excursion to Brighton, and one of the little 
fellows, on his return to London, told a gentleman he had 
been to Brighton and had seen the sea, and the boats, and 
chain pier, and other wonders; “and here” said he, “is a 
pebble I picked up from the beach.” “ Ah!” said the gen- 
tleman, with a smile, “you may as well throw that away. 
fein worth anything.’ “No Sir,’ replied the. boy, “I 
know it is not worth anything as a@ stone, but I am going to 
keep it for Association's sake!” It would be wellif the boy’s 
innocent answer wereknown and appreciated throughout the 
world. Assocation, and not wearisome repetition, is the 
great aid to Memory. 
The Science of Mnemonics embraces the art of forcing 
association, or of making the mind increasingly susceptible 
of suggestions. 
How can associations be forced? Why, when ideas are 
in the mind in a state of isolation, bring them together. 
This may be symbolically represented thus :— 
C 
A B D 
Let the points A, B, be two given isolated ideas, let the 
line A, C, and the line C, B, be the legs of a pair of com- 
passes holding ideas A, B. Close the compasses at the line 
C, D, and the association will be found at the point D., thus : 
A D : B 
Boy A boy on a gate, or gate 
a boy opening a gate, or 
a boy with a queer gait 
or, ad infinitum. 
