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General instructions. In this chapter,
we shall call your attention to certain of

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the general principles already mentioned in the
preceding chapters, for the purpose of further

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impressing them upon your mind, and
in order that you may be able to

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think of and to consider them.
Independent of the details of the special phases

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of memory. This chapter may be
considered in the nature of a general review

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of certain fundamental principles mentioned in the
body of the work. Point one,

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give to the things that you wish
to memorize as great a degree of concentrated

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attention as possible. We have explained
the reason for this advice in many places

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in the book. The degree of
concentrated attention bestowed upon the object under consideration

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determines the strength, clearness, and
depth of the impression received and stored away

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in the subconsciousness. Thecharacter of these
stored away impressions determines the degree of ease

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in remembrance and recollection. Point two. In considering an object to be memorized,

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endeavor to obtain the impressions through as
many faculties and senses as possible.

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The reason for this advice should be
apparent to you if you have carefully read

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the preceding chapters. An impression received
through both sound and sight is doubly as

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strong as one received through but one
of these channels. You may remember a

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name or word either by having seen
it in writing or print, or else

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by reason of having heard it.
But if you have both seen and heard

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it, you have a double impression
and possessed two possible ways of reviving the

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impression. You are able to remember
an orange by reason of having seen it,

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smelt it, felt it, and
tasted it, and having heard its

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nos pronounced. Endeavor to know a
thing from as many sense impressions as possible,

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Use the eye to assist ear impressions, and the ear to assist in

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eye impressions. See the thing from
as many angles as possible. Point three.

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Sense impressions may be strengthened by exercising
the particular faculty through which the weak

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impressions are received. You will find
that either your eye memory is better than

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your ear memory, or vice versa. The remedy lies in exercising the weaker

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faculty so as to bring it up
to the standard of the stronger. The

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chapters of eye and ear training will
help you along these lines. The same

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rule applies to the several phases of
memory. Develop the weak ones, and

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the strong ones will take care of
themselves. The only way to develop a

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sense or faculty is to intelligently train, exercise and use it. Use exercise

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and practice will work miracles in this
direction. Point four. Make your first

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impression strong and firm enough to serve
as a basis for subsequent ones. Get

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into the habit of fixing a clear, strong impression of a thing to be

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considered from the first. Otherwise you
are trying to build up a large structure

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upon a poor foundation. Each time
you revive an impression, you deepen it.

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But if you have only a dim
impression to begin with, the deepened

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impressions will not include details omitted in
the first one. It is like taking

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a good sharp negative of a picture
that you intend to enlarge afterward. The

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details lacking in the small picture will
not appear in the enlargement, but those

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that do appear in the small way
one will be enlarged with the picture.

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Zero point five. Revive your impressions
frequently and thus deepen them. You will

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know more of a picture by seeing
it a few minutes every day for a

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week than you would by spending several
hours before it at one time. So

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it is with the memory. By
recalling an impression a number of times,

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you fix it indelibly in your mind
in such a way that it may be

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readily found when needed. Such impressions
are like favorite tools, which you need

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every little while. They are not
apt to be mislaid, as are those

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which are but seldom used. Use
your imagination in going over a thing that

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you wish to remember. If you
are studying a thing, you will find

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that this going over in your imagination
will help you materially in disclosing the things

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that you have not remembered about it. By thus recognizing your weak points of

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memory, you may be able to
pick up the missing details when you study

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the object itself the next time.
Zero point six. Use your memory and

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place confidence in it. One of
the important things in the cultivation of the

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memory is the actual use of it. Begin to trust it a little,

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and then more, and then still
more, and it will rise to the

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occasion the man who has to tie
a string around his finger in order to

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remember certain things soon begins to cease
to use his memory, and in the

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end forgets to remember the string or
what it is for there are many details,

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of course, with which it is
folly to charge the memory, but

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one should never allow his memory to
fall into disuse. If you are in

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an occupation in which the work is
done by mechanical health helps, then you

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should exercise the memory by learning verses
or other things in order to keep it

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in active practice. Do not allow
your memory to atrophy. Zero point seven.

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Establish as many associations for an impression
as possible. If you have studied

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the preceding chapters, you will recognize
the value of this point. Association is

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memory's method of indexing and cross indexing. Each association renders it easier to remember

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or recollect the thing. Each association
gives you another string to your mental bow.

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Endeavor to associate a new bit of
knowledge with something already known by and

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familiar to you. In this way
to avoid the danger of having the thing

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isolated and alone in your mind without
a label or index number and non name.

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Connect your object or thought to be
remembered with other objects or thoughts by

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the association of contiguity in space and
time, and by relationship of kind,

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resemblance, or oppositeness. Sometimes the
latter is very useful, as in the

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case of the man who said that
Smith reminds me so much of Brown,

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he's so different. You will often
be able to remember a thing by remembering

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something else that happened at the same
place or about the same time. These

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things give you the loose ends of
recollection, whereby you may unwind the ball

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of memory. In the same way, one is often able to recollect names

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by slowly running over the alphabet with
a pencil until the site of the capital

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first letter of the name brings the
memory of those following it. This,

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however, only when the name has
pre obviously been memorized by sight. In

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the same way, the first few
notes of a musical selection will enable you

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to remember the whole air, or
the first words of a sentence the entire

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speech or selection following it. In
trying to remember a thing which has escaped

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you, you will find it helpful
to think of something associated with that thing,

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even remotely. A little practice will
enable you to recollect the thing along

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the lines of the faintest association or
clue. Some men are adept memory detectives

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following this plan. The loose end
in memory is all the expert requires.

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Any associations furnish these loose ends.
An interesting and important fact to remember in

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this connection is that if you have
some one thing that tends to escape your

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memory, you may counteract the trouble
by noting these associated things that have previously

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served to bring it into mind with
you. The associated thing, once noted,

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may thereafter be used as a loose
end with which to unwind the elusive

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fact or impression. This idea of
association is quite fascinating when you begin to

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employ it in your memory exercises and
work, and you will find many little

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methods of using it. But always
use natural association and avoid the temptation of

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endeavoring to tie your memory up with
the red tape of the artificial systems.

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Point eight. Group your impressions.
This is but a form of association,

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but is very important. If you
can arrange your bits of knowledge and fact

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into logical groups, you will always
be master of your subject. By associating

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your knowledge with other knowledge a along
the same general lines, both by resemblances

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and by opposites, you will be
able to find what you need, just

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when you need it. Napoleon Bonaparte
had a mind trained along these lines.

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He said that his memory was like
a large case of small drawers and pigeonholes,

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in which he filed his information according
to its kind. In order to

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do this, he used the methods
mentioned in this book of comparing the new

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thing with the old ones, and
then deciding into which group it naturally fitted.

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This is largely a matter of practice
and knack, but it may be

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acquired by a little thought and care
aided by practice, and it will repay

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one well for the trouble in acquiring
it. The following table will be found

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useful in classifying objects ideas, facts, et cetera, so as to correlate

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and as sociate them with other facts
of a like kind. The table is

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to be used in the line of
questions addressed to oneself regarding the thing under

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consideration. It somewhat resembles the table
of questions given in Chapter seventeen of this

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book, but has the advantage of
brevity. Memorize this table and use it.

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You will be delighted at the results. After you have caught the knack

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of applying it. Query table,
ask yourself the following questions regarding the thing

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under consideration. It will draw out
many bits of information and associated knowledge in

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your mind. One what two,
whence three? Where four? When five?

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How? Six? Why? Seven? Whither. While the above seven

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queries are given you as a means
of acquiring clear impressions and associations, they

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will also serve as a magic key
to knowledge if you use them intelligently.

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If you can answer these questions regarding
anything, you will know a great deal

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about that particular thing. And after
you have answered them fully, there will

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be but little unexpressed knowledge regarding that
thing left in your memory. Try them

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on one thing. You cannot understand
them otherwise unless you have a very good imagination,