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Speaker 1: How to remember facts. In speaking of this phase of memory,

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we use the word fact in the sense of an

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ascertained item of knowledge, rather than in the sense of

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a happening, et cetera. In this sense, the memory of

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facts is the ability to store away and recollect items

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of knowledge bearing upon some particular thing under consideration. If

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we are considering the subject of horse, the facts that

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we wish to remember are the various items of information

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and knowledge regarding the horse that we have acquired during

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our experience, facts that we have seen, heard, or read

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regarding the animal in question, and to that which concerns it.

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We are continually acquiring items of information regarding all kinds

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of subjects, and yet when we wish to collect them,

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we often and find the task rather difficult, even though

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the original impressions were quite clear. The difficulty is largely

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due to the fact that the various facts are associated

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in our minds only by contiguity in time or place,

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or both, the associations of relation being lacking. In other words,

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we have not properly classified and indexed our bits of information,

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and do not know where to begin to search for them.

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It is like the confusion of the businessman who kept

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all his papers in a barrel without index or order.

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He knew that they were all there, but he had

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hard work to find any one of them when it

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was required. Or we are like the compositor whose type

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has become pied and then thrown into a big box.

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When he attempts to set up a book page, he

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will find it very difficult, if not impossible, whereas if

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each letter were in its proper box, he would set

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up the page in a short time. This matter of

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association by relation is one of the most important things

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in the whole subject of thought, and the degree of

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correct and efficient thinking depends materially upon it. It does

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not suffice us to merely know a thing. We must

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know where to find it when we want it. As

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old Judge Sharswood of Pennsylvania once said, it is not

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so much to know the law as to know where

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to find it. Kay says over the associations formed by

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contiguity in time or space, we have but little control.

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They are in a manner accidental, depending upon the order

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in which the objects present themselves to the mind. On

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the other hand, association by similarity is largely put in

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our own power, for we in a measure, select those

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objects that are to be associated and bring them together

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in the mind. We must be careful, however, only to

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associate together such things as we wish to be associated

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together and to recall each other. And the associations we

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form should be based on fundamental and essential and not

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upon mere, superficial or casual resemblances. When things are associated

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by their accidental and not by their essential qualities, by

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their superficial and not by their fundamental relations, they will

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not be available when wanted and will be of little

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real use. When we associate what is new with what

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most nearly resembles it in the mind, already we give

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it its proper place in our fabric of thoughts by

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means of association. By similarity. We tie up our ideas,

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as it were, in separate bundles. And it is of

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the utmost importance that all the ideas that most nearly

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resemble each other be in one bundle. The best way

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to acquire correct associations, and many of them. For a

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separate fact that you wish to store away so that

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it may be recollected when needed. Some useful bit of

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information or interesting bit of knowledge that may come in

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handy later on is to analyze it and its relations.

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This may be done by asking yourself questions about it,

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each thing that you associate it with in your answers

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being just one additional cross index, whereby you may find

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it readily when you want it. As Kay says, the

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principle of asking questions and obtaining an answers to them

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may be said to characterize all intellectual effort. This is

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the method by which Socrates and Plato drew out the

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knowledge of their pupils, filling in the gaps and attaching

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new facts to those already known. When you wish to

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so consider a fact, ask yourself the following questions about it.

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One where did it come from or originate? Two? What

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caused it? Three? What history or record has it? Four?

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What are its attributes, qualities, and characteristics? Five? What things

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can I most readily associate with it? What is it like? Six?

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What is it good for? How may it be used?

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What can I do with it? Seven? What does it prove?

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What can be deduced from it? Eight? What are its

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natural results? What happens because of it? Nine? What is

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its future? And its natural or probable end or finish? Ten?

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What do I think of it on the whole. What

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are my general impressions regarding it? Eleven? What do I

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know about it in the way of general information? Twelve?

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What have I heard about it? And from whom? And when?

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If you will take the trouble to put any fact

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through the above rigid examination, you will not only attach

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it to hundreds of convenient and familiar other facts, so

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that you will remember it readily upon occasion, but you

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will also create a new subject of general information in

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your mind, of which this particular fact will be the

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central thought. Similar systems of analysis have been published and

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sold by various tea teatures at high prices, and many

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men have considered that the results justified the expenditure. So

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do not pass it by lightly. The more other facts

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that you manage to associate with any one fact, the

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more pegs will you have to hang your facts upon.

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The more loose ends will you have whereby to pull

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that fact into the field of consciousness. The more cross

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indexes will you have whereby you may run down the

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fact when you need it. The more associations you attached

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to a fact, the more meaning does that fact have

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for you, and the more interest will be created regarding

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it in your mind. Moreover, by so doing, you make

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very probable the automatic or involuntary recollection of that fact

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when you are thinking of some of its associated subjects.

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That is, it will come into your mind naturally in

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connection with something else in a that reminds me fashion,

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and the oftener that you are involuntarily reminded of it,

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the clearer and deeper does its impression become in the

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records of your memory. The oftener you use a fact,

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the easier does it become to recall it when needed.

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The favorite pen of a man is always at his

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hand in a remembered position, while the less used eraser

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or similar thing has to be searched for, often without success.

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And the more associations that you bestow upon a fact,

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the oftener it is likely to be used. Another point

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to be remembered is that the future association of a

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fact depends very much upon your system of filing away facts.

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If you will think of this when endeavoring to store

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away a fact for future reference, you will be very

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apt to find the best mental pigeonhole for it. File

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it away with the thing it most resembles, or to

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which it has the most familiar relationship. The child does

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this involuntarily. It is nature's own way. For instance, the

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child sees a zebra, it files away that animal as

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a donkey with stripes, a giraffe as a long necked horse,

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a camel as a horse with long crooked legs, long neck,

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and humps on its back. The child always attaches its

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new knowledge or fact onto some familiar fact or bit

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of knowledge. Sometimes the result is startling, but the child

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remembers by means of it. Nevertheless, the grown up children

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will do well to build similar connecting links of memory,

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attach the new things to some old familiar thing. It

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is easy when you once have the knack of it.

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The table of questions, given a little farther back, will

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bring to mind many connecting links. Use them. If you

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need any proof of the importance of association by relation,

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and of the laws governing its action, you have but

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to recall the ordinary train of thought or train of

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images in the mind of which we become conscious when

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we are daydreaming or indulging in reverie, or even in

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general thought regarding any subject. You will see that every

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mental image or idea or recollection is associated with and

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connected to the preceding thought and the one following it.

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It is a chain that is endless until something breaks

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into the subject from out side. A fact flashes into

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your mind, apparently from space, and without any reference to

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anything else. In such cases you will find that it

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occurs either because you would previously set your subconscious mentality

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at work upon some problem or bit of recollection, and

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the flash was the belated and delayed result, or else

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that the fact came into your mind because of its

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association with some other fact, which in turn came from

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a precedent one. And so on. You hear a distant

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railroad whistle, and you think of a train, then of

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a journey, then of some distant place, then of someone

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in that place, Then of some event in the life

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of that person, Then of a similar event in the

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life of another person, Then of that other person, Then

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of his or her brother, then of that brother's last

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business venture, then of that business, then of some other

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business resembling it, Then of some people in that other business,

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Then of their dealings with a man you know, then

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of the fact that another man of a similar name

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to the last man owes you some money, then of

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your determination to get that money. Then you make a

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memorandum to place the claim in the hands of a

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lawyer to see whether it cannot be collected. Now, although

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the man was execution proof last year from distant locomotive

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whistle to the possible collection of the account, and yet

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the links forgotten. The man will say that he just

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happened to think of the debtor, or that it somehow

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flashed right into my mind, et cetera. But it was

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nothing but the law of association. That's all. Moreover, you

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will now find that whenever you hear mentioned the term

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association of mental ideas, et cetera, you will remember the

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above illustration, or part of it. We have forged a

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new link in the chain of association for you, and

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years from now it will appear in your thoughts.