LESSON I.
This course of lessons being intended for strictly practical purposes, it is not my intention of, occupying much of your time in discussing the theory of the system; it will, however, be necessary for me to give you some information respecting the laws upon which it is founded.
It will be well for us, in the first place, to make some enquiry into the nature of memory. A few moments consideration will teach us that the most correct answer that can be given to the question, What is memory? is the following: Memory is the springing up of notions, or ideas, before the mind, which are exactly similar to what was before the same mind on some former occasion: thus, people say they remember the name of such a plant, the price of such an article, the symptom of such a disease, the composition of such a body, or the medicinal properties of such a drug, when that name, that price, that symptom, that composition, or that property, does, when wanted, spring up before the mind exactly similar to what was before the mind on some former occasion.
From this it will follow, therefore, that, when we want to commit anything to memory, the task we have to accomplish is reducible to the following problem, viz.:—Having agreed upon it that certain two ideas, or notions, should always follow one another, we want to make it certain that whenever one of these notions is presented to the mind, the other should immediately spring up before the same mind; for instance, having agreed upon it that the chemical equivalent of gold is 20, we want to make it certain that, whenever this substance is placed before the mind, its equivalent (20) should spring there also.
Having agreed upon it that hostes means enemies, we want to make it certain, that when hostes is presented to the mind, its meaning shall immediately spring there also.
