Assimilative Memory; or, How to Attend and Never Forget

Tartrated Antimony … tartar emetic … vomiting … irritating … emollient drinks … ladies drink … strong tea … bitter infusion … tannic acid.

Nitrate of Silver … silver sand … seashore … sea water … common salt … white … white of egg … fowls … barley … barley water … warm water … vomiting … emetics.

Perchloride of Mercury … quicksilver … white … white of egg … piecrust … wheat flour … flowers of sulphur … milk of sulphur … milk.

Can you discover more than one relation existing between “grain” and “flour”?
Why could we not use the single word “white,” to connect “white of egg” to “flour”?
What is the relation between “liquid” and “oil”?
What two relations exist between “vomiting” and “irritating”?
What one, between “fowls” and “barley”?
Why?
What is the relation between “wheat flour” and “flowers of sulphur”?

Strychnine … nerve stimulant … nerve sedative … Bromide of Potassium and Chloral Hydrate … organic compound …‌ heated organic compound … charcoal … animal charcoal … charcoal fumes … asphyxia … artificial respiration … perspiration … tea … tannic acid … acidity … dyspepsia … vomiting … emetics.

Belladonna … deadly nightshade … deadly sick … emetic … mustard and water … brandy and water … stimulants … hot … perspiration … pilocarpine [p. injected hypodermically causes profuse perspiration].

THE TWELVE PAIRS OF CRANIAL NERVES.

The following list is worked out for practice much more fully than a medical student would do if he were learning the list in his studies. The medical student would doubtless first objectively identify these nerves in dissection, and then use correlations to help him remember those which his natural memory could not carry. If not a medical student, my pupil may omit this and the previous examples from Quain’s Anatomy.

THE TWELVE PAIRS OF CRANIAL NERVES.

CRANIAL NERVES … within the skull … within (12 pairs) … withdrawal … draw oil … oil factory … Olfactory (1st pair) … manufactory … smoke … smell … scent-bottle … glass … optical glass … Optic (2nd pair) … optician … eyeglass … sight … eye-witness … ocular demonstration … Occulo Motor (3rd pair) ocular motions … move the eye many ways … tear in the eye … Trochlear or Pathetic (4th pair) … moving … move the eye obliquely … obtuse angle … triangle … Trigeminal (5th pair) … gem … sparkling … eye … eyetooth … jaw … talk … tongue … taste … good taste … good feeling … feeling … feelers … motion … ocean … sailors … absent from home … Abducent (6th pair) … sent out‌ … see out … moves the eye outwards … face outwards … Facial (7th pair—motor to muscles of expression) … face … audience … Auditory (8th pair, sensory for hearing and equilibration) … ear-ring … shiny … glossy … Glosso-pharyngeal (9th pair, taste, swallow) … congeal … unfixed … vague … Vagus (10th pair, pneumogastric) … gusty … blown back … backbone … Spinal accessory (11th pair, moves head) and motor … spines … sharp criticism … hypercritical … Hypoglossal (12th pair) … glossary … foreign tongue … Tongue Muscles.

Between “perspiration” and “tea”?
Why so?
Explain the relation between “Belladonna” and “deadly nightshade.”
What advice is here given the medical student?
Are you required to learn the twelve pairs of cranial nerves if you are not a medical student?
What do the words printed in italics indicate in this exercise?
Is it essential for the medical student to know these uses?
What word indicates the number of pairs of cranial nerves?
Through what consonant?

PROTOPLASM.

Albumen, gluten, fibrin, syntonin, are closely allied substances known as proteids, and each is composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.

Proteids … Protector … commonwealth … for all … albumen … all men … liars … fibs … fibrin … brindled … spotted … sin … syntonin … toe nails … hoofs … glue … gluten.

The foregoing exercises show that there are no facts of Science, &c., or in Daily Life, with which the System cannot cope—thus proving the greatest saver of Labour and Time if the pupil makes an application of it to his studies or business when once he has mastered the system. ←ToC

‌BOOKS LEARNED IN ONE READING.

For the past ten years I have printed in my large prospectus a general view of my meaning. I will reproduce most of those views here, premising that I have never suggested that books are to be learned by heart, but only the important, useful portions of them—such as are new to the reader and which he may desire to retain.

I do not mean such books as Bradshaw’s Guide, the London Post-Office Directory, or any other mere collection of names, addresses, statistics, &c., which one may have occasion to consult, but which it would be the mere bravado of Memory to learn by heart—though even this is possible enough to the master of my System. What is one’s object in reading a book? Simply to retain the IDEAS in it that are NEW and USEFUL to him, as well as the NEW USES that are therein set forth of old and familiar ideas. If the reader is already partly acquainted with a book, there will be fewer new ideas in it than in one with which he is unacquainted. Now, what do I mean by Learning either of these books in one reading? I mean exactly what I say. All that you desire to remember shall be retained—all the leading or subordinate ideas, propositions, illustrations, facts, &c., &c.

There are only two ways of learning a book in this thorough manner:

(1) The first is the traditional method of learning by rote or endless repetition. A celebrated Coach in Anatomy says that no one can learn Anatomy until he has learned and forgotten it from three to seven times! In learning any book in this way, each sentence would be repeated over and over again, and then reviewed and relearnt and forgotten and learned again! And then at last the Pupil if he possesses a first-rate cramming memory might answer questions on it. In learning a book by rote, the number of times that each sentence and section is repeated, if actually‌ written out and printed, would doubtless cover 5,000 to 50,000 or more pages!—and even then the Pupil passes his examination, if he really does “pass,” partly by luck and partly by merit; all his life he is constantly referring to it, and repeating it, and studying it, over and over again—showing really that he possesses little more than a Reference Memory in regard to it! But let us be candid and confess the truth; tens of thousands every year and during successive years try the various professions—law, medicine, divinity, or sciences, history, &c., &c., and utterly fail to “pass,” even respectably, because they lack the extraordinary sensuous MEMORY necessary to acquire knowledge by rote.

It is only the exceptionally powerful natural memories that win at exacting examinations by rote—even then their learning is soon forgotten, unless it is perpetually renewed.

(2) The other mode of learning any book in the thorough manner I have indicated, whether it be a book in which the reader finds but few novel ideas or where they are all new, as in a scientific or technical work, is by my Method. In fact, I believe no one can learn any book so thoroughly by rote, even if he possesses a marvellous Natural Memory and if he peruse it ever so many times, as my Pupils can by my method in a single perusal. Let the reader note that my System has two important aspects—(1) It is a Device or Method of memorising or learning any facts whatever—prose, poetry, dates, data, formulæ and facts and principles of the sciences, &c., &c., &c., or anything whatsoever to be remembered. (2) There is another equally, if not more important aspect of it, namely, as a Trainer or Strengthener of the Natural Memory to any extent the pupil wishes to carry it. And the Natural Memory is so strengthened by the use of the System, that as a Device, the System is no longer required. You then remember from your new Memory-power without taking any pains to remember, and I am happy to add that the diligent student can derive the full benefit of the System as a Memory Trainer by learning the lessons in the way I point out.

Now, those who have thus derived the full benefit of the System, both as a Device for memorising and also as a Memory Trainer, are the persons who can learn a book in one‌ reading. “Reading” is used by Coaches in a technical sense; that is, synonymous with “thorough study.” By a “single” or “one reading,” I mean a single careful perusal in conformity to the requirements of my System. I do not mean that they can do this and doze during the process.

I now reproduce most of the plan always adopted in dealing with books whose contents, or the unfamiliar portions of them are to be mastered.

(1) You will not read the book with the rapidity with which some young ladies are said to devour the latest novel. They are often suspected of skipping pages at a time in order to discover the different stages of a plot, until a thoroughly aroused curiosity compels them to hasten at once to the last chapter to fall upon the denouement. This is not the style of perusal I contemplate.

(2) Nor is it to be supposed because you understand the method that it will therefore work itself. It has to be applied carefully and methodically at least once. This necessarily demands time, especially at first. Those who possess good health and good continuity, and a mastery of the System, accomplish the retention of a work in vastly less time than would be possible for them without the System, and the study is a pleasure instead of a task. On the other hand, those who are in the possession of poor health or of weak concentration, or who are overburdened with business anxieties, domestic cares or competitive worries, would very seldom, if ever, master any book in the ordinary way by mere repetition. These persons are extremely unfavourably situated to do justice to the System, and it costs them more time and trouble to master a book than the former class. A student admitted that he had carefully read a manual of English History completely through sixteen times, and then failed in the examination. To have obtained a lasting knowledge of this History by my method would probably have occupied him as long as he was formerly engaged in two or three of the sixteen fruitless perusals of it. There is, however, only one difference between this unfortunate student and the great majority of those who succeed in the examinations through cramming. He forgot all his historical knowledge before the examination—they usually forget‌ theirs shortly after. In fact, a student or a man in advanced years who has really mastered any book so that he never has to refer to it again is a wonder. Take the memories of members of the learned professions—they are usually only reference memories. They know where to find the coveted knowledge, but they do not possess it or retain it in their minds. On the other hand, the student who masters a book by my method really knows the contents of it, and he is thus enabled to devote to other purposes an enormous amount of time in the future that other people have to spend in perpetually refreshing their superficial acquirements. Moreover, the average student who has carried out all my instructions can even now learn as much by my Method in any stated time as he could learn without my Method, and with equal thoroughness in many, many times as long a period! And if any one who has been pressed for time, or who has been in a panic about an impending examination, or who has been too much troubled with Discontinuity, too ill in general health, or too idle, to do more than superficially glance at my lessons—if any such person doubts his competency to accomplish as much as the diligent student of average ability has done, then let him turn back and really and truly MASTER my System [for he does not even know what my System is until he has faithfully carried out to the very letter all my instructions, unless he has been a pupil of my oral lectures], and then and not before he will probably find that the achievements of the average diligent student of my System are quite within the easy range and scope of his own powers.

(3) In regard to the subject matter of the book, you do not care to occupy yourself with what you are already familiar with, and in most books there are a great many things that you already know. In many works, too, there is a great deal of padding-matter inserted to increase the bulk of the book, and possessing no permanent interest. The expositions and explanations which enable you to understand the new matter usually take up a large part of the book, and sometimes much the largest part of it, and are not to be memorised, but only understood with a sole view to appreciate the valuable and important parts‌ of the book—these expositions can be learned if desired—but they usually serve only a preliminary purpose. There is also very much repetition—the same matter in new dress, is reintroduced for sake of additional comments or applications. You do not trouble yourself with these iterations. The contents of a book which demand your attention are the IDEAS which are NEW to you, or the NEW USES made of familiar ideas.

Students who have not learned to exercise any independent thought often confess that in reading any book they are always in a maze. One thing seems just as important as another. To them the wheat looks exactly like the chaff. As an illustration that the power of Analysis is entirely wanting in many cases, I may mention that I once received a letter in which the writer had literally copied one of my column advertisements, and then added, “Please send me what relates to the above!” A modicum of mental training would have led him to say, “Kindly send me your Prospectus.”

LEARN FIRST TO MAKE ABSTRACTS OF WHAT IS NEW TO YOU.

A great authority on education says: “Any work that deserves thorough study, deserves the labor of making an Abstract, without which, indeed, the study is not thorough.”

A work which deserves thorough study is obviously one full of IDEAS, new to the reader, such as the student must master.

If you are thinking of making an Abstract of a particular book, awaken the utmost interest in regard to it before you begin. Are you sure that it is worthy of thorough study? Is it the last or best work on the subject? And if you advance, note in a separate memorandum book your criticisms on the author’s method and the soundness of his views. These criticisms will help keep up your interest in the Abstract, and at the close enable you to suggest modifications, additions, excisions, or a refutation.

Three things are required: (1) To learn how to abstract; (2) To make one, at least, such abstract; and (3) To learn it when made.

‌HOW TO MAKE ABSTRACTS.

Let the ambitious student make an Abstract of any chapter of John Stuart Mill’s Logic, and then compare his work with the Analysis of this same chapter by the Rev. A. H. Killick (published by Longmans), and he will at once see the enormous difference between the essentials and the non-essentials—the difference between the subject of discussion and the explanation or exposition of it. The student’s abstract, if printed, would extend over twenty to thirty pages. Mr. Killick’s only occupies two to five pages. But do not reverse the process and read Mr. Killick’s Analysis first and then make your Abstract. The latter, however, is the easier, the usual, and the useless method. Let the student continue this comparison till he attains very nearly the brevity and discrimination displayed by Mr. Killick. Or, if he prefers History, let him write a summary of any chapter of Green’s “Short History of the English People,” and then compare his digest with Mr. C. W. A. Tait’s Analysis of the same chapter (now bound up with Green’s History, as lately published in England). It would be a capital training for the student to abstract the whole of Green’s work and compare his abridgment of each chapter with that of Mr. Tait. After considerable practice in this way in making Abstracts and comparing his work with that of such Masterly Abstractors as Dr. Killick and Mr. Tait, the student who needs this training is prepared to make abstracts of his own text-books.

Any other work of which an Abstract is published will serve the student as well as the above. There were formerly published Abstracts of several law books. And there may be other works whose abstracts are available to the ambitious student.

Abstracts would be very amusing if they did not indicate‌ an almost total failure of educational training in the matter of thinking for one’s self. Recently a Pupil brought me a work on Physiology, written for general readers, and pointing to a paragraph in it that occupied nearly a whole page, exclaimed, “The only way I can make an abstract of that paragraph is to learn it by heart!” A glance at it showed me that I could express the gist and pith of it in the following sentence:—“The pulse beats 81 times per minute when you are standing, 71 times when sitting, and 66 times when lying down.” After a re-perusal of the paragraph he remarked, “You are right. That is all one cares to remember in that long passage.” To his request for me to memorise the Abstract, I replied by asking what is the “Best Known” in it. Why, “pulse,” of course. It is merely occupied with the number of times the pulse beats per minute in different positions of the body. Now correlate (memorising your correlations as you proceed) “pulse” to “standing,” and “standing” to a word expressing 81 (feet); “sitting” to a word that translates 71 (caught); and “lying down” to a word that spells in figures 66 (judge). The bodily positions being exhaustively enumerated need not be correlated together. Pulse … beating … fighting … stand-up fight … STANDING … stand … small table … table legs … FEET. SITTING … rest … arrest … CAUGHT. LYING DOWN … lies … perjury … trial … JUDGE.

These efforts in abstracting will qualify the young student to distinguish the main ideas from the subordinate ones, and he will then know when reading a book what to attend to and what to reject. Try a short essay first, then a longer one; and at last, when you are familiar with the method, attack any book, and you will cope with it successfully. Not much practice in this way will be required to enable you to know, from a glance at the table of contents, just what to assail and what to disregard. And in all your first attempts in reading a technical work, make out an Abstract of each chapter in writing, and then deal only with this Abstract. Whenever the Subject is not treated in a desultory manner, but with logical precision, you will soon be able to find Suggestive or Prompting Words in the Sequence of Ideas and in the successive Links in the Chain‌ of Thought that runs through the exposition. If there is no such Sequence of Ideas or Chain of Thought running through it, it may serve as an amusement, but is little likely to command serious study. In a short time you will be able, in the language of Dr. Johnson, “to tear out the heart of any book.” Hazlitt said that Coleridge rarely read a book through, “but would plunge into the marrow of a new volume and feed on all the nutritious matter with surprising rapidity, grasping the thought of the author and following out his reasonings to consequences of which he never dreamt.” Such a result is rarely attained even by the ablest of men—but it is the ultimate goal at which every student should aim—an aim in which he will be largely assisted by the ART OF ASSIMILATIVE MEMORY.

There are four methods of learning abstracts: one is by Synthesis; the other is by the Analytic-Synthetic Method, the third is mostly by Assimilative Analysis, and the fourth method is by the memory developed and trained by the System, but which is not consciously used.

(1) It is the novelties of Fact, Opinion, Illustration, &c., set forth in your Abstract that you correlate together, thus: You correlate the Title of the First Chapter to the Title of the Book; next, the Titles of the Chapters to each other; and then you correlate, in each chapter, the first leading idea or proposition to the title of the chapter, the second leading idea to the first, &c., &c. In this way you will proceed until you have absorbed all the new ideas, facts, statistics or illustrations, or whatever you wish to retain. You can then test yourself on the work by calling to mind whatever you have thus cemented together. If this is well done you will never have to do it again.

(2) We have already seen how to apply the Analytic-Synthetic Method in learning by heart selections in Prose or Poetry, and same method can be used in memorising an Abstract of such parts of a book as are new to the reader. This method, too, once used in addition to what has been done by the pupil, will make a further resort to it unnecessary.

(3) And the same remark applies to the third method.

(4) The fourth method is the pupil’s final method.

‌The foregoing exhaustive methods of dealing with a book are recommended to those only whose natural memories are not yet made powerfully retentive by the System as a Memory-TRAINER. If, however, a Pupil possesses a good natural memory and a mastery of the System as a Device for memorising, and he has also greatly added to the power of his Concentration as well as his memory by doing all the exercises, he will not use my System, even in the reading of the first book, except now and then—certainly not constantly, but only occasionally. Although not necessary in case of memories made strong by the System, yet I do most earnestly recommend the most gifted and highly endowed to deal with one book in the above thorough-going manner. As for instance, Herbert Spencer’s little work on Education [four short essays]. Dr. Charles Mercier, who next to Herbert Spencer is the most original and clear sighted Psychologist in England, presents, in a work entitled “Sanity and Insanity,” a scarcely equalled example of lucid exposition and logical development. Whichever one is selected it should be fairly and honestly handled by my method. The gain to Intellectual Comprehension from having carefully abstracted one book, and the gain to the memory from having made and memorised the Abstract, will produce results that will last through life, and make all subsequent acquisitions more easy and delightful, and make all further abstracts probably unnecessary. ←ToC

How to learn a long series of Unconnected Facts in the Sciences or Events in History, Chapters in Books, or the Contents of Books.

1. It is useless for the pupil to attempt to learn the exercise here given unless he has carefully studied the Building, Ice, Presidential, and English Sovereign Series. The meaning of In., Ex., and Con. can be understood in application to the facts of life, the events of History and the principles and details of the Arts and Sciences, only by a complete mastery of all that precedes this exercise.

2. Let the pupil learn only ten facts, propositions or statements at each of the first few sittings, and then, as he‌ adds ten more, let him recite from memory all that he has previously learned of this exercise. The cementing relations of In., Ex., and Con., which bind the events together, must in each case be first found by the student himself, and afterwards, and not before, let him glance at my analysis which follows this series.

3. The lawyer, in selecting 100 or 1,000 events of the Victorian Era, would doubtless make a list interesting to lawyers, the physician would make one of interest mostly or mainly to doctors, and similarly with educators, statesmen, editors, &c., &c. But I have selected events with a view to find the most difficult cases to deal with and with no other view, and if the pupil masters these, all other work hereafter will be easy to him.

4. This method can be promptly used, provided the pupil does not attempt to engorge or cloy his mind by undertaking too much at a time at first. Practice will soon make longer exercises easy. Each of the following six Exercises is enough for any one session or sitting.

5. Between a pair of words it may be difficult sometimes to find either the relation of In., Ex., or Con.; but in the case of sentences, propositions or descriptions, it is always easy to find one or other of the cementing relations. Relations which to me are strong, may seem weak to some pupils. No two persons would find the same relation in some cases, but, however different the solutions may be, they must always verify In., Ex., or Con.

6. The Int. Analysis, the Analytic-Synthetic, or the mere Analytic method, will enable the pupil to memorise the statement or sentence which describes the fact whenever any aid is necessary.

7. This Method can be readily applied to events in ancient or modern times, or to an accumulation of facts in the sciences, &c.

8. If we were to express only the year the formula would in most cases be different. To indicate the month and the day of the month, a consistent phrase must be used.

‌One Hundred Events of the Victorian Era, learned by one careful Reading or Study.

FIRST EXERCISE.

—The Victoria era begins June 20, 1837
—Abolition of death penalty for forgery and some other crimes July 17, 1837
—Question of Trades Unionism brought before the House of Commons by Mr. Wakley and Mr. Daniel O’Connell Feb. 13, 1838
—First steam voyage across the Atlantic Ocean completed in 15 days by the Great Western June 17, 1838
—International Copyright Act passed July 31, 1838
—Chartist Meetings proclaimed illegal Dec. 12, 1838
—Anti-corn Law League formed Dec. 19, 1838
—Penny Postage Act passed Aug. 17, 1839
—Marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s, by the Archbishop of Canterbury Feb. 10, 1840
—Birth of Princess Royal Nov. 21, 1840

SECOND EXERCISE.

—Birth of Prince of Wales Nov. 9, 1841
—Earl of Munster’s suicide Mar. 20, 1842
—Monster Chartist Petition, borne by 16 men and containing 3,317,702 names, denied a hearing before the bar of the House of Commons May 2, 1842
—Defeat of Boers at Natal by the British troops May 26, 1842
—Treaty with the United States of America on North-West Boundary, Slave Trade and Extradition Aug. 9, 1842
—Defeat of Ameers at Meanee by Sir Charles Napier. Loss 10,000 Jan. 16, 1843
—Birth of Princess Maud Mary Alice April 25, 1843
—Arkwright’s son leaves his heirs £8,000,000 May 24, 1843
—Birth of Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Aug. 6, 1844
—Imprisonment for debt under £20 abolished Aug. 10, 1844

THIRD EXERCISE.

—Maynooth College Endowment Bill passed by House of Lords by 131 majority May 16, 1845

—Faraday announces discovery tending to show that light, heat, and electricity are but different manifestations of one great universal principle Nov. 5, 1845

—Birth of Princess Helena May 25, 1846

‌—Opening of new Philosophical Institute at Edinburgh Nov. 4, 1846

—Shakespeare’s House, at Stratford-on-Avon, purchased by the Shakespeare Committee for £3,000 Sept. 16, 1847

—Commercial crisis: Bank of England rate raised to 9 per cent. Oct. 31, 1847

—Chloroform administered by Professor Simpson at Edinburgh Nov. 12, 1847

—The French Revolution of Feb. 22, 1848

—Birth of Princess Louise Mar. 18, 1848

—Kossuth claims protection from England Sept. 20, 1849

FOURTH EXERCISE.

—Treaty with United States in regard to the Nicaragua Canal April 19, 1850
—Sir Robert Peel’s fall from a horse, on Constitution Hill, June 29, resulted in his death July 2, 1850
—A Farewell Benefit to William Macready, the tragedian, at Drury Lane Theatre Feb. 26, 1851
—Opening of International Exhibition by Her Majesty, in Hyde Park May 1, 1851
—Louis Napoleon’s Coup d’état Dec. 2, 1851
—Duke of Wellington’s Death Sept. 14, 1852
—Birth of Prince Leopold April 7, 1853
—Lord Palmerston advises Presbytery of Edinburgh to first consult the laws of sanitation before ordering a fast on account of the Cholera Oct. 19, 1853
—Rev. F. D. Maurice dismissed from King’s College for opinion’s sake Oct. 27, 1853
—War declared by Russia against Turkey Nov. 1, 1853

FIFTH EXERCISE.

—War declared by England, against Russia Mar. 22, 1854
—Epochal Work—Spencer’s Psychology 1855
—Treaty of Peace between England, France, and Russia, at Paris Mar. 30, 1856
—Bands play on Sunday afternoons in Kensington Gardens April 13, 1856
—Birth of Princess Beatrice April 14, 1857
—Capture of Delhi Sept. 20, 1857
—First Sitting of the Court for Divorces: Sir Cresswell Cresswell, Judge Ordinary Jan. 16, 1858
—Statue of Sir Isaac Newton unveiled by Lord Brougham at Grantham Sept. 21, 1858
—Darwin’s “Origin of Species” published 1859
—Death of Lord (Thomas Babington) Macaulay Dec. 28, 1859

‌SIXTH EXERCISE.

—Thomas Hopley, schoolmaster, sentenced to 4 years’ penal servitude for causing the death of R. C. Cancellor by excessive corporal punishment July 23, 1860

—Lord Clarence advises Ironclads for the Navy Mar. 11, 1861

—Recognition by English Government of the Southern Confederacy May 8, 1861

—Death of Prince Consort of gastric fever Nov. 14, 1861

—Marriage of Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark Mar. 10, 1863

—Tercentenary of Shakespeare’s birth April 23, 1864

—Tercentenary of the death of Calvin May 27, 1864

—Inauguration of a statue to Sir Wm. Jenner, at Boulogne Sept. 1, 1865

—Albert Medal for those who in saving life endanger their own Mar. 7, 1866

—Mr. Peabody thanked by H. M. the Queen for his munificent gifts to the poor of London Mar. 28, 1866

—Government requires Electric Telegraph July 31, 1868

—University of Edinburgh admits women to the study of medicine Oct. 27, 1869

—Act for the abolition of imprisonment for debt comes into effect Jan. 1, 1870

—Prof. Tyndall traces propagation of disease by dust and germs floating in the air Jan. 14, 1870

—Prince of Wales attacked with typhoid fever Nov. 23, 1871

—Geneva Convention awards the United States of America, on account of Alabama Claims, £3,000,000 against Great Britain Sept. 14, 1873

—Miss Richards, of Stapleton, walked 1000 miles in 1000 consecutive hours June 29, 1874

—Captain Boynton crosses English Channel (second attempt) in his swimming dress May 28, 1875

—British Museum lighted by electricity Oct. 20, 1879

—Tay Bridge disaster Dec. 28, 1879

—Death of Mrs. Mary Ann Cross (George Eliot) Nov. 22, 1880

—International Medical Congress in London; 2000 doctors from all parts of the world Aug. 3, 1881

—Greenwich Observatory changed mode of reckoning time; commencing at midnight as in the case of civil time Jan. 1, 1885

—First complete copy of Revised Bible presented to H. M. The Queen May 15, 1885

—Sixpenny Telegrams introduced Oct. 1, 1885

—By Pope’s special authority the Queen visits the Monastery of the Grande Chartreuse April 23, 1887

—Queen’s Jubilee; 50th Anniversary June 20, 1887

—The “Times” Newspaper celebrates its 100th Anniversary Jan. 1, 1888

‌—First of 10 victims of “Jack the Ripper,” Whitechapel, London Aug. 29, 1888

—Henry Irving, Miss Terry and Lyceum Co., play at Sandringham, before the Queen, Royal Family and Guests April 26, 1889

—Lord Mayor of London, Cardinal Manning and Bishop of London, constitute a Board of Conciliation in the great Dock Strike Sept. 5, 1889

—Sir E. Guinness gives £250,000 for the erection of dwellings for the poor of London and Dublin Nov. 19, 1889

—Great Speech of Sir William Harcourt on Free Education in Scotland Aug. 1, 1890

—Death of Cardinal Newman Aug. 11, 1890

—Funeral of Charles Bradlaugh Feb. 3, 1891

—Loss of s.s. “Utopia,” off Gibraltar, 600 lives lost Mar. 17, 1891

—International Postal Congress May 23, 1891

—Meeting of Imperial Federation League June 19, 1891

—Primrose League Demonstration at Hatfield July 18, 1891

—Meeting in connection with University Extension of Education, held in Oxford Aug. 6, 1891

—International Agricultural Congress reject nationalization of land Sept. 11, 1891

—Mr. Lidderdale and the Baring Liquidation Sept. 17, 1891

—Publication of Koch’s new remedy for Tuberculosis Oct. 22, 1891

—Centenary of Mozart’s death observed in England Dec. 5, 1891

—Indian national congress opened Dec. 27, 1891

—The Khedive of Egypt appointed a new Cabinet without consulting the British Government. The next day he dismissed it under British pressure Jan. 17, 1893

—The Australian Joint Stock Bank failed for £13,000,000 sterling April 20, 1893

—The House of Lords rejected the Home Rule Bill Sept. 8, 1893

—Professor Tyndall died from an overdose of chloral administered in mistake by his wife Dec. 4, 1893

—Lord Salisbury attacks Darwinianism in his address before the British Association Aug. 8, 1894

ANALYSIS OF ONE HUNDRED EVENTS OF THE VICTORIAN ERA.

1 and 2—Con. and In.—The Victorian Era began June 20, 1837, and an Act for the abolition of the death penalty for forgery, &c., was passed nearly a month later. Here is the relation of Sequence or Con. The main motive for enacting the law was‌ doubtless sympathy. Death appeared to be too cruel for the crime; hence the sympathy on the part of the Sovereign, the founder of the Era, and of the legislators brought the Act into existence. Here we have the relation of Simple Inclusion.

2 and 3—Ex.—Criminals try to live by their wits, without work. The trade unionists live by labour. The modes of livelihood of these two classes are opposed. Hence it is Ex.

3 and 4—In. and Ex.—Trades union people and navigators are laborers.—Here is In. But the former work mostly at home or in their own country, and the sailors are engaged beyond the boundaries of their native country.—Here is Ex. from difference of locality.

4 and 5—In.—The sailors on the Great Western worked beyond the limits of their native country, and an International Copyright Law extends its influence even into the area of foreign lands. In the view of the sphere of operation these two cases contain an element in common.—Hence it is In.

5 and 6—Ex.—The International Copyright Law was enacted after long and earnest agitation—but all legal.—The Chartist agitators had to be suppressed. Here are conditions opposed to each other.—It is Ex.

6 and 7—Ex.—The Chartist agitation was extreme, and was proclaimed illegal. The Anti-Corn Law League acted prudently and within the law. Here again are opposed conditions. It is Ex.

7 and 8—In.—The Anti-Corn Law League was organised to help give cheap food to the masses. The Penny Postage Act was enacted to help the poor man, to save expense. A similar aim prompted the supporters of both measures.—It is In.

8 and 9—Ex.—Favouring the masses by cheap postage calls attention to the majority or the great body of the people. The marriage of the highest dignitaries of the State directs attention to the most favoured or exalted personages in the country. The extremes of the community are brought into relation. It is Ex.

9 and 10—Con. and In.—Parents and child is a Sequence. Hence Con. and a child possessing the blood of his parents sustains the relation also of In. to them. Let the pupil pause here, and before his next session of study of these events, let him recite these ten backwards and forwards several times from memory.

10 and 11—In.—Brother and sister possessing in common the blood of their parents is a case of In.

11 and 12—Ex.—Here is a birth contrasted with a death.—It is Ex.

12 and 13—Ex.—Death on the one hand and on the other a widespread effort to bring into existence Acts of Parliament. Self-destruction contrasted with efforts at production.

13 and 14—In.—Here are two winners and two losers. The parties opposed to Chartists defeat the hearing of this proposed motion; and the British soldiers gain a victory over the Boers. Success in common makes a case of In. on the part of the victorious‌ parties. And then the Chartists lost their proposed hearing and the Boers were beaten. This is the second In.

14 and 15—Ex.—A resort to arms contrasted with a resort to diplomacy.

15 and 16—Ex.—A treaty between the two greatest nations of the earth, and loss of 10,000 men. A triumph of Peace and a triumph in War.

16 and 17—Ex.—The death of a multitude of soldiers and a birth in the highest family of the realm.

17 and 18—Ex. and In.—A birth and a death gives Ex. A royal birth with all the advantages it brings, and the advantage of the inheritance of great fortunes, makes a clear case of In.

18 and 19—Ex. and In.—Similar relations to those spoken of in the last paragraph.

19 and 20—Ex.—To the taxpayer the endowment of the Duke of Edinburgh might seem to be a burden imposed—and the abolition of imprisonment for debt below £20, would be looked upon as a burden removed. Here we have Ex.

As before suggested, let the pupil recite the foregoing ten events forwards and the reverse way several times from memory. And then let him similarly recite the entire twenty events.

20 and 21—In.—Favoring poor people—debtors and poor students—characterises both events.

21 and 22—In.—This college among other things prosecuted the study of Philosophy—“the complete unification of knowledge”—Faraday unified three elements.

22 and 23—In.—Light, heat and electricity arise from latency to manifestation—a physical birth—here, too, is the birth of an organism.

23 and 24—In.—Beginning of two careers—one of an individual and the other of a body of persons.

24 and 25—Ex.—Object and aims different—one was a promotion of science—new science—highest science—the other was reverence for old literature—greatest of all literatures.

25 and 26—Ex.—Liberal outlay of money in art circles—great scarcity in business.

26 and 27—Ex.—Anguish and suffering unallayed—pain neutralized.

27 and 28—Ex.—Suppression of individual feeling—society’s outburst.

28 and 29—In.—Explosion of seething elements—a new nation—royal birth.

29 and 30—In. and Ex.—Nation protects Royal child—a foreigner seeks same protection.

30 and 31—In. and Ex.—Treaty between State and individual—treaty between States.

31 and 32—Ex.—Canal transportation comparatively safe—horseback riding liable to accidents.

32 and 33—In.—Farewell to life—farewell to stage.

‌33 and 34—Ex.—Close of one kind of exhibition and opening of another.

34 and 35—Ex.—Peaceful industries triumph—usurpation by intrigue and blood.

35 and 36—Ex. and In.—Beginning of one career and close of another—a trampler on laws; a respecter of them.

36 and 37—Ex.—Great General’s death; royal birth.

37 and 38—Ex.—Life and choleraic deaths feared.

38 and 39—In.—Rebuke of religious zeal—dismissal for opinion’s sake.

39 and 40—In.—A cleric dismissed and a war declared—“Intolerance” in both cases.

40 and 41—In.—Two declarations of war.

41 and 42—Ex.—Ravages of war contrasted with intellectual triumphs of peace—brute force and advanced thinking.

42 and 43—Con.—Philosophy and peace—high thinking and the conditions on which it can be carried on—co-existence.

43 and 44—Con.—Peace and its celebrations, cause and effect.

44 and 45—In.—General rejoicing and rejoicing in royal family.

45 and 46—Ex.—Life and bloody deaths.

46 and 47—Ex.—Forcible seizure and legal separation, capture and discharge.

47 and 48—Ex.—Marriage failures and honoring Newton’s successes.

48 and 49—Ex. and In.—Honoring old science—publishing new science.

49 and 50—Ex.—Beginning of scientific reputation—close of literary life.

50 and 51—In. and Ex.—Two deaths make In.—and one from natural causes and the other from violence, we have Ex.

51 and 52—Ex.—Violence externally applied kills the boy—but ships shielded from violence by its ironclad covering. It is Ex.

52 and 53—In. and Con.—Interest in war and befriending a belligerent, coexistence of war improvement, and favouring a warlike people.

53 and 54—Ex.—Coming into existence (recognition) and death of a high personage.

54 and 55—Con. and Ex.—Father and son is Con.—death and marriage as the condition of life.

55 and 56—In.—Marriage festivities and celebration of Shakespeare’s birth—both rejoicings.

56 and 57—In. and Ex.—Both tercentenaries, and one reckons from birth and the other from death.

57 and 58—In. and Ex.—Tercentenary ceremonies, and dedication of a statue to Sir William Jenner—one tried to save souls, the other to save life.

58 and 59—In.—A statue and a medal—honour in both cases.

59 and 60—In.—One tried to save life, the other alleviated its sufferings.

60 and 61—In.—Gifts to the poor in a lump—buying telegraph to cheapen cost of messages to the great mass of community.

61 and 62—In.—Extension of telegraphs, ultimately to the benefit of all—extension of medical education to women.

‌62 and 63—In.—Rights of women and of the poor—beneficence to poor and charity to women.

63 and 64—Con.—Common prisons abound in dust and germs—these latter are propagators of disease.

64 and 65—In. and Con.—Germs cause typhoid and other diseases—Prince of Wales attacked by typhoid.

65 and 66—Ex.—Typhoid tends to destroy; awards build up.

66 and 67—In. and Ex.—Fast steamer Alabama, and fast woman walker, speed with injury—and innocent speed.

67 and 68—Ex.—Walking on land and safe swimming in water.

68 and 69—In.—Floating in water and electric lighting of museum—protection to life—and comfort to life.

69 and 70—Ex.—Lighted museum—and dark night at the Tay—light and safety—and darkness and death.

70 and 71—In.—Many deaths in Bridge disaster and one distinguished person dies.

71 and 72—Ex.—One person dies and medics strive to prevent death.

72 and 73—In. and Ex.—Medical improvement and improvement in reckoning time—doctors from abroad—and observatory stationary.

73 and 74—In.—Improved time reckoning—and revised and improved form of Bible.

74 and 75—In. and Ex.—Gift to highest personage and cheap telegrams for masses—favours to both.

75 and 76—In. and Ex.—Head of English nation and head of Catholic church—favour to the Queen and favour to the people.

76 and 77—In.—One concession to Queen—and people’s jubilee on account of Queen—good will in both cases.

77 and 78—In. and Ex.—Queen’s jubilee and Times’ jubilee, sovereign and subjects.

78 and 79—Con.—Universal reporter of good and bad things—worst possible murder.

79 and 80—Ex.—Horror and amusement.

80 and 81—Ex.—Players for Royalty and great arbitrators for labouring men.

81 and 82—In.—Strike of poor labourers, and houses for the poor.

82 and 83—In. and Ex.—Gifts to poor and education for them—physical benefits and mental benefit.

83 and 84—In. and Ex.—Intellectual education and spiritual education—living scholars and death of a great teacher.

84 and 85—In. and Ex.—Two deaths—and opposite beliefs—In. as to death and Ex. as to opinions.

85 and 86—In.—Death of one man—and death of six hundred—In.

86 and 87—Ex.—A dead multitude and a living congress.

87 and 88—In.—Two congresses.

88 and 89—In.—Imperialism—and party self-assertion.

89 and 90—In.—Political agitation—educational agitation.

90 and 91—Ex.—Extension of education—refusal to extend Government sway over land.

91 and 92—In.—Land not lost individuals—and bank saved.

‌92 and 93—In. and Ex.—Saving a bank and effort to save life—bank saved—but consumptives lost.

93 and 94—In. and Ex.—Rejoicing over supposed antidote to consumptive deaths—and music jubilee over death of Mozart.

94 and 95—Ex.—Death and birth of congress.

95 and 96—Ex.—A congress meets and a cabinet dissolves.

96 and 97—In.—A cabinet failed and a bank failed.

97 and 98—In.—Bank failure and Home Rule bill defeated.

98 and 99—In. and Ex.—Bill killed intentionally—a man killed accidentally.

99 and 100—In. and Ex.—Fatal attack of poison—unsuccessful attack on Darwinianism.

As to the dates of the 100 events, they will cause no difficulty. The pupil should look upon my formulas as models merely, and make his own whenever possible. In all the events belonging to this century, we have only to deal with the last two figures—(3) Model (7) Queen gives the date of (18)37. The rule in regard to the month and the day of the month is very easily applied. A separate word for each figure except for the three months [October, November and December] where there are two figures in the one word that expresses the number of the month, as ties, dues, ’tis, thus, this, those, express October, the tenth month; that, did, died, dot, date, thought, &c., &c., indicate November, the eleventh month; and then, thin, tone, tune, attain, &c., &c., mean December, the twelfth month. A Model Queen Just in season—Just in its “J” means the sixth month, or June, and “n” in “in” and “s” in season means a cypher—or 20—the translation of the phrase is (18)37—June—20th day.