a work on Physiology, written
for general readers, and pointing to a paragraph in it that occupied
nearly a whole page, exclaimed, "The only way I can make an abstract of
that paragraph is to _learn it by heart_!" A glance at it showed me that
I could express the gist and pith of it in the following sentence:--"The
pulse beats 81 times per minute when you are standing, 71 times when
sitting, and 66 times when lying down." After a re-perusal of the
paragraph he remarked, "You are right. That is all one cares to remember
in that long passage." To his request for me to memorise the Abstract, I
replied by asking what is the "Best Known" in it. Why, "pulse," of
course. It is merely occupied with the _number of times_ the pulse beats
per minute in different positions of the body. Now correlate (memorising
your correlations as you proceed) "pulse" to "standing," and "standing"
to a word expressing 81 ({f}ee{t}); "sitting" to a word that translates
71 ({c}augh{t}); and "lying down" to a word that spells in figures 66
({j}ud{g}e). The bodily positions being exhaustively enumerated need not
be correlated together. Pulse ... beating ... fighting ... stand-up
fight ... STANDING ... stand ... small table ... table legs ... FEET.
SITTING ... rest ... arrest ... CAUGHT. LYING DOWN ... lies ... perjury
... trial ... JUDGE.

These efforts in abstracting will qualify the young student to
distinguish the main ideas from the subordinate ones, and he will then
know when reading a book what to attend to and what to reject. Try a
short essay first, then a longer one; and at last, when you are familiar
with the method, attack any book, and you will cope with it
successfully. Not much practice in this way will be required to enable
you to know, from a glance at the _table of contents_, just what to
assail and what to disregard. And in all your _first_ attempts in
reading a technical work, make out an Abstract of each chapter in
writing, and then deal only with this Abstract. Whenever the Subject is
not treated in a desultory manner, but with logical precision, you will
soon be able to find Suggestive or Prompting Words in the Sequence of
Ideas and in the successive Links in the Chain of Thought that runs
through the exposition. If there is no such Sequence of Ideas or Chain
of Thought running through it, it may serve as an amusement, but is
little likely to command serious study. _In a short time_ you will be
able, in the language of Dr. Johns