a
very clear and definite understanding of them. He may be able to add to
them or to teach them. But he has little skill in their practical
application as compared with the student who learns them in a laboratory.
Furthermore, the laboratory student is at a disadvantage, probably, as
compared with the man who makes intelligent application of the laws and
principles to his daily work. So well recognized by educators is this
truth that no attempt is made in our colleges and universities and, for
the most part, even in our high schools, to teach sciences involving
observation, logical reasoning and sound judgment purely out of books.
Medicine, surgery, agriculture, horticulture, mechanics and other such
sciences are now taught almost entirely by a combination of text books and
actual practice. This rule also applies to the science of character
analysis.

LEARN THE PRINCIPLES

The first step in the mastery and practical use of the science of
character analysis is to learn the principles and the laws which underlie
them. These principles and laws are comparatively few in number and
comparatively simple. They are all classified under and grouped around the
nine fundamental variables, a list of which was given in the preceding
chapter.

The best way to learn a principle is not to memorize it, but to
understand it. Learn, if possible, the reason for its existence, at least
in a general way; the laws which underlie it, and the facts upon which it
is based. The student who memorizes the words, "all bodies attract one
another directly in proportion to their mass and inversely in proportion
to the square of the distance between them," knows little or nothing about
the law of gravitation, while the student who understands just what those
words mean, whether he is able to repeat them correctly or not, does know
the law of gravitation, and, if necessary, can probably apply it. The boy
who learns that any object weighs less on a mountain-top than at the sea
level learns an interesting and perhaps valuable fact. The man who learns
that the law involved in this fact is the law of gravitation has learned
something which he may be able to apply in a thousand ways. The man who,
in the future, may learn _why_ the law of gravitation operates as it does,
may open untapped reservoirs of power for himself, for all humanity, and
for all future generations. Therefore, in learning a principle, learn not
only to understand it, but, if possible,