perfon must have remarked, in ftudying the elements of geometry, how much his recollection of the theorems was aided, by the diagrams which are connected with them: and I have little doubt, that the dif ficulty which ftudents commonly find to remember the propofitions of the fifth book of Euclid, arifes chiefly from this, that the magnitudes to which they relate, are represented by straight lines, which do not make fo ftrong an impreffion on the memory, as the figures which illuftrate the propofitions in the other five books.

This advantage, which the objects of fight naturally have over thofe of hearing, in the diftinctness and the permanence of the impreffions which they make on the memory, continues, and even increases, through life, in the cafe of the bulk of mankind; because their minds, being but little addicted to general and abstract difquifition, are habitually occupied, either with the immediate perception of fuch objects, or with fpeculations in which the conception of them is more or lefs involved; which speculations, fo far as they relate to individual things and individual events, may be carried on with little or no affiftance from language.

The cafe is different with the philofopher, whose habits of abstraction and generalifation lay him continually under a neceffity of employing words as an inftrument of thought. Such habits co-operating with that inattention, which he is apt to contract to things external, must have an obvious tendency to weaken the original powers of recollection and conception with refpect to vifible objects; and, at the fame time, to ftrengthen the power of retaining propofitions and reasonings expreffed in language. The common fyftem of education, too, by exercifing the memory fo much in the acquifition of grammar rules, and of paffages from the antient authors, contributes greatly, in the case of men of letters, to cultivate a capacity for retaining words.

It is furprising, of what a degree of culture, our power of retaining a fucceffion, even of infignificant founds, is fufceptible. Inftances fometimes occur, of men who are easily able to commit to memory, a long poem, compofed in a language of which they are wholly ignorant; and I have, myfelf, known more than one inftance, of an individual, who after having forgotten completely the claffical ftudies of his childhood, was yet able to repeat, with fluency, long paffages from Homer and Virgil, without annexing an idea to the words that he uttered.

This fufceptibility of memory with refpect to words, is poffeffed by all men in a very remarkable degree in their early years, and is, indeed, neceffary to enable them to acquire the ufe of language; but unless it be carefully cultivated afterwards by conftant exercise, it gradually decays as we advance to maturity. The plan of education which is followed in this country, however imperfect in many respects, falls in happily with this arrangement of nature, and ftores the mind richly, even in infancy, with intellectual treasures, which are to remain with it through life. The rules of grammar, which comprehend fystems, more or lefs perfect, of the principles of the dead languages, take a permanent hold of the memory, when the understanding is yet unable to comprehend their import: and the claffical remains of antiquity, which, at the time we acquire them do little more than furnifh a gratification to the ear, fupply us with inexhauftible sources of the moft refined enjoyment; and, as our various powers gradually unfold themselves, are poured forth, without effort, from the memory, to delight the imagination, and to improve the heart. It cannot be doubted, that a great variety of other articles of ufeful knowledge, particularly with respect to geographical and chronological details, might be communicated with advantage to children, in the form of memorial lines.

It is only in childhood, that fuch details can be learned with facility; and if they were once, acquired, and rendered perfectly familiar to the mind, our riper years would be fpared much of that painful and uninteresting labor, which is perpetually diftracting our intellectual powers, from thofe more important exertions, for which, in their mature ftate, they feem to be destined.

This tendency of literary habits in general, and more particularly of phylofophical pursuits, to exercife the thoughts about words, can scarcely fail to have fome effect in weakening the powers of recollection and conception with respect to fenfible objects; and, in fact, I believe it will be found, that whatever advantage the philofopher may poffefs over men of little education, in ftating general propofitions and general reasonings, he is commonly inferior to them in point of minutenefs and accuracy, when he attempts to describe any object which he has feen, or any event which he has witneffed; fuppofing the curiofity of both, in fuch cafes, to be interested in an equal degree. I acknowledge, indeed, that the undivided attention, which men unaccustomed to reflection are able to give to the objects of their perceptions, is, in part, the cause of the liveliness and correctnefs of their conceptions.

With this diverfity in the intellectual habits of cultivated and of uncultivated minds, there is another variety of memory which feems to have fome connection. In recognizing visible objects, the memory of one man proceeds on the general appearance, that of another attaches itself to fome minute and diftinguishing marks. A peasant knows the various kinds of trees from their general habits; a botanist, from those characteristical circumftances on which his claffification proceeds. The laft kind of memory is, I think, moft common among literary men, and arifes from their habit of recollecting by means

of words. It is evidently much easier to exprefs by a description, a number of botanical marks, than the general habit of a tree; and the fame remark is applicable to other cafes of a fimilar nature. But to whatever cause we afcribe it, there can be no doubt of the fact, that many individuals are to be found, and chiefly among men of letters, who, although they have no memory for the general appearances of objects, are yet able to retain, with correctness, an immenfe number of technical difcriminations.

Each of thefe kinds of memory, has its peculiar advantages and inconveniencies, which the dread of being tedious induces me to leave to the inveftigation of my readers.

SECTION III.

Of the improvement of Memory.-Analysis of the Princi ples on which the Culture of Memory depends.

THE improvement of which the mind is fufceptible by culture, is more remarkable, perhaps, in the cafe of Memory, than in that of any other of our faculties. The fact has been often taken notice of in general terms; but I am doubtful if the particular mode in which culture operates on this part of our constitution, has been yet examined by philofophers with the attention which it deferves.

Of one fort of culture, indeed, of which Memory is fufceptible in a very striking degree, no explanation can be given; I mean the improvement which the original faculty acquires by mere exercise; or in other words, the tendency which practice has to increase our natural facility of affociation. This effect of practice upon the memory, feems to be an ultimate law of our nature, or rather, to be a particular inftance of that general law, that all our powers, both

of body and mind, may be ftrengthened, by apply. ing them to their proper purposes.

Befides, however, the improvement which Mem. ory admits of, in confequence of the effects of exercife on the original faculty, it may be greatly aided in its operations, by thofe expedients which reason and experience fuggeft for employing it to the best advantage. Thefe expedients furnish a curious fubject of philofophical examination: perhaps, too, the inquiry may not be altogether without ufe; for, although our principal refources for affifting the memory be fuggefted by nature, yet it is reasonable to think, that in this, as in fimilar cafes, by following out fyftematically the hints which the fuggefts to us, a farther preparation may be made for our intellectual improvement.

Every perfon must have remarked, in entering upon any new fpecies of ftudy, the difficulty of treafuring up in the memory its elementary principles; and the growing facility which he acquires in this refpect, as his knowledge becomes more extenfive. By analifing the different caufes which concur in producing this facility, we may, perhaps, be led to fome conclufions which may admit of a practical application.

1. In every fcience, the ideas about which it is peculiarly converfant, are connected together by fome particular affociating principle; in one fcience, for example, by affociations founded on the relation of cause and effect; in another, by affociations founded on the neceffary relations of mathematical truths; in a third, on affociations founded on contiguity in place or time. Hence one caufe of the gradual improvement of memory with respect to the familiar objects of our knowledge; for whatever be the prevailing affociating principle among the ideas about which we are habitually occupied, it muft ne

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