topic?
If a topic is treated in various parts of a long work the volumes are
indicated by Roman numerals, the pages by ordinary numerals.

Interpret this entry taken from the index of _A History of the United
States_ by H.W. Elson.

Slavery, introduced into Virginia, i, 93; in South Carolina,
122; in Georgia, 133; in New England, 276; in the South, 276;
during colonial period, iii, 69, 70; in Missouri, 72;
attacked by the Abolitionists, 142-6; excluded from
California, 184; character of, in the South, 208 _seq_.;
population, iv, 82; abolished in District of Columbia, in new
territories, 208; abolished by Thirteenth Amendment, 320,
321.

Retaining Knowledge. The only valid test of the reader's real
equipment is what he retains and can use. How much of what you read do
you remember? The answer depends upon education, training in this
particular exercise, and lapse of time. What method of remembering do
you find most effective in your own case? To answer this you should
give some attention to your own mind. What kind of mind have you? Do
you retain most accurately what you see? Can you reproduce either
exactly or in correct substance what you read to yourself without any
supporting aids to stimulate your memory? If you have this kind of
mind develop it along that line. Do not weaken its power by letting it
lean on any supports at all. If you find you can do without them, do
not get into the habit of taking notes. If you can remember to do
everything you should do during a trip downtown don't make a list of
the items before you go. If you can retain from a single reading the
material you are gathering, don't make notes. Impress things upon your
memory faculty. Develop that ability in yourself.

Have you a different kind of mind, the kind which remember best what
it tells, what it explains, what it does? Do you fix things in your
brain by performing them? Does information become rooted in your
memory because you have imparted it to others? If so you should secure
the material you gather from your reading by adapting some method
related to the foregoing. You may talk it over with some one else, you
may tell it aloud to yourself, you may imagine you are before an
audience and practise impressing them with what you want to retain.
Any device which successfully fixes knowledge in your memory is
legitimate. You should know enough about your own mental processes to
find for yourself the best