be no interference. The plan about to be proposed may, however, be of use in assisting teachers who are, for the first time, introducing this study to their schools; and the principles on which it is based are well worthy the attention of every pupil who is about to commence this study.

1. When you sit down to the study of a lesson in this work, be careful to be free from interruption, and to have such a period of time before you, to be occupied in the work, as will give you the opportunity really to enter into it. Then banish other thoughts entirely from the mind, and remove yourself as far as possible from other objects of interest or sources of interruption. The habit into which many young persons allow themselves to fall, of studying lessons in fragments of time, having the book, perhaps, for some time before them, but allowing their attention to be continually diverted from their pursuit, will only lead to superficial and utterly useless attainments. It is destructive to all those habits of mind necessary for success in any important intellectual pursuit. It is especially injurious in such a study as this. Intellectual Philosophy is emphatically the science of thought, and nothing effectual can be done in it without patient, continued, and solitary study.

2. Ascertain before you commence any lesson what place it occupies in the general plan of the book, with which, at the outset, you should become very thoroughly acquainted. Nothing promotes so much the formation of logical and systematic habits of mind, and nothing so effectually assists the memory, in regard to what any particular work contains, as the keeping constantly in view the general plan of the book; looking at it as a whole, and understanding distinctly, not merely each truth, or system of truths brought to view, but the place which it occupies in the general design.

First direction. A common but faulty mode of studying described. Its effectswhat? Second direction. Effects of this practice.

3. This preparation being made, you are prepared to read the lesson, which should be done, the first time, with great attention and care, and with especial effort to understand the connection between each sentence and paragraph, and those which precede and follow it. It should always be borne in mind, that treatises on such subjects as these, present trains of thought and reasoning, not mere detached ideas and sentences. Every remark, therefore, should be examined, not by itself, but in its connections. This should be especially observed in regard to the anecdotes and illustrations, with which the work abounds. The bearing of each one on the subject should be very carefully studied. They are all intended to prove some point, or to illustrate some position. After reading such narratives, then, you should not only take care to understand it as a story, but should ask yourself such questions as these: Why is the story introduced here? What does the author mean to prove by it? What principle does it illustrate ?"

There is, for example, in the section on Memory, a story of the author's seeing the wife of one of his patients, but he could not think who it was, until he accidentally passed a cottage where he had attended the patient, when all the circumstances came to his mind. This is a very simple story to read and remember, merely as a story. But to do that alone is only light reading; it is not study at all, far less the study of the Philosophy of Mind. But if you inquire what the narrative is designed to illustrate, by looking back a paragraph or two, you will see that the subject is Memory, as affected by Local Association, and that this incident is intended to show how events were recalled to the memory of the author, by his coming in sight of a cottage with which they were strongly associated, although all his direct efforts failed to bring them to mind.

Third direction. Connections of the passage. Anecdotes and illustrations, how to be studied? Example. Mode of studying it? Difference between reading and study.

Thus it illustrates a principle; and careful effort to discover and clearly to understand the principles thus illustrated, is what constitutes the difference between merely reading a story book, and studying the Philosophy of Mind.

The pupil, too, should avail himself of collateral helps in understanding the lesson. Every geographical, or historical, or personal allusion should be examined with the help of the proper books. If a distinguished indivi dual is mentioned, find the account of his life in a biographical dictionary. If a place is named, seek it on the map. There is one other direction which I am sorry to say it is absolutely necessary to mention. Look out all the words, whose meaning you do not distinctly and fully understand, in a dictionary. Strange as it may seem, in nine cases out of ten, a pupil in school will find in his lesson a sentence containing words he does not understand, and, perplexing himself some minutes with it in vain, he will go to his recitation in ignorance of its meaning, as if he never had heard of such a contrivance as a dictionary. Now the habit of seeking from other books explanations and assistance in regard to your studies is of incalculable value. It will cause you some additional trouble, but it will multiply, many fold, your interest and success. 1

4. After having thus read, with minute and critical attention, the portion assigned, the pupil should next take a cursory review of it, by glancing the eye over the paragraphs, noticing the heads, and the questions or topics in the margin, for the purpose of taking in, as it were, a view of the passage as a whole. The order of discussion which the author adopts, and the regular manner in which the several steps of an argument, or the several applications of a principle, succeed one another, should be carefully observed. There are the same reasons for doing this, in regard to any particular chapter, as in regard to the whole work. The connec

Collateral helps. Examples of this. Use of dictionary. Fourth direction. Review of the lesson

tion, too, between the passage which constitutes the lesson, and the rest of the book, i. e. the place which it occupies in the plan of the author, should be brought to mind again. You thus classify and arrange, in your own mind, what is learned, and not only fix it more firmly, but you are acquiring logical habits of mind, which will be of lasting and incalculable value.

5. You will thus have acquired a thorough knowledge of the lesson, but this is by no means all that is necessary. You must learn to recite it. That is, youl

must learn to express, in your own language, the ideas you have thus acquired. This is a distinct and an important point. Nothing is more common than for pupils to say, when they attempt to recite in such a study as this, "I know the answer, but I cannot express it;" as if the power to express was not as important as the ability to understand.

The pupil then must make special preparation for this part of his duty, that is, for expressing in his own language the thoughts and principles of the author. The best way, perhaps, of making this preparation, is to go over the lesson, looking only at the topics in the margin, and repeating aloud, or in a whisper, or in thought, the substance of what is stated under each. Be careful that what you say makes complete and perfect sense of itself, that it is expressed in clear and natural language, and that it is a full exposition of the author's meaning. Such a study as this ought not to be recited by mere question and answer. Whenever the subject will allow, it is better for the teacher to give out a subject or topic, on which the pupil may express the sentiments of the writer. This is altogether the pleasantest, as well as the most useful mode of recitation. Those unaccustomed to it will, of course, find a little difficulty at first. But the very effort to surmount this difficulty will be as useful in developing and strengthening the intellectual powers, as any other effort which the study requires.

Connections of the lesson. Fifth direction. Learning to recite. What implied in this. Common excuse. Preparation-how to be made. Mode of questioning.

You should go over the lesson, then, for the purpose of reciting it by yourself as it were, by looking at the marginal titles, one by one, and distinctly stating to yourself the substance of the author's views upon each. If this preparation is made, and if the recitation is conducted on the same principles, the pupils will soon find themselves making very perceptible and rapid progress in that most important art, viz. expressing their sentiments with fluency, distinctness, and promptitude.

It will be evident, from what is said above, that the pupil ought not to commit to memory the language of the author. This practice may indeed be useful in strengthening the memory, and in some other ways, but very far higher objects ought to be in view in studying such a work as this, which will be far better attained by the pupils depending entirely on themselves for the language in which they express their ideas. To illustrate distinctly the mode of recitation intended, I will give a specimen. The following passage will

serve as text.

66

Memory is very much influenced by ATTENTION, or a full and distinct perception of the fact or object, with a view to its being remembered; and by the perception being kept before the mind, in this distinct manner, for a certain time. The distinct recollection of the fact, in such cases, is generally in proportion to the intensity with which it has been contemplated; and this is also very much strengthened by its being repeatedly brought before the mind. Most people, accordingly, have experienced that a statement is more strongly impressed upon the memory by being several times repeated to others. It is on the same principle that memory is greatly assisted by writing down the object of our knowledge, especially if this be done in a distinct and systematic manner. A subject also is more distinctly conceived, and more correctly remembered, after we have instructed another person in it. Such exercises are not strictly to be considered as helps to the memory, but as excitements to attention; and as thus leading to that clear and full com

Advantage of this mode. Committing to memory.