he
expression or dress throughout. Method by itself can be soonest acquired
because it turns on a small number of points; language is a multifarious
acquirement, and can hardly be forced, although it will come eventually
by due application.

[EXAMPLE FROM PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.]

To show what is meant by learning Form, with a view to the more
effectual study of subject-matter, I will take the example of a work on
the Practice of Medicine; in which the idea is to describe Diseases
_seriatim_, with their treatment or cures. At the present day, this
subject possesses method or form: there is a systematic classification
of diseased processes and diseases; also, a regular plan of setting
forth the specific marks of each disease, its diagnosis, and, finally,
its remedies. There are more and less perfect models of the methodical
element; while there are differences among authors in the fulness of the
detailed information. There is, besides, a Logic of Medicine,
representing the absolute form, in a kind of logical synopsis, by which
it is more easily comprehended in the first instance: not to mention the
general body of the Logic of the Inductive Sciences, of which medicine
is one. Now, undoubtedly, the best work to begin with--the
Text-book-in-chief--would be one where Form is in its highest
perfection; the amount of matter being of less consequence. In a subject
of great complication, and vast detail, the student cannot too soon get
possession of the best method or form of arrangement. When a work of
this character is before him, he is to read and re-read it, till the
form becomes strongly apparent; he is to compare one part with another,
to see how the author adheres to his own pervading method; he should, if
possible, make a synopsis of the plan in itself, disentangling it from
the applications, for greater clearness. The scheme of a medical work,
for example, comprises the Classification of Diseases, the parting off
of Diseased Processes---Fever, Inflammation, &c.--from Diseases properly
so called; the modes of defining Disease; the separation of defining
marks, from predications, and so on: all involved in a strict Logic of
Disease. Armed with these logical or methodical preliminaries, the
student next attacks one of the extended treatises on the Practice of
Medicine. He is now prepared to work the process of abstracting to the
utmost advantage, both for clearness of understanding, and for
impressing the memory. As in su