when the figures are most simple
and distinct, and particularly, when the objects grouped in the picture
have previously been familiar. Pictures are indeed a pretty close
imitation of Nature in this part of her work; and they are defective
chiefly on account of their want of _motion_ and _continuity_.
These last are two great and inimitable characteristics in all the
groupings painted upon the memory by the imagination.

From all this it is obvious, that there is an essential difference
between a child's acquiring the knowledge of things individually, and
acquiring a knowledge of their several associations. The two must never,
if possible, be confounded with each other. When they are kept distinct
in the education of a child, he has an evident pleasure in attending to
either; but as soon as they are allowed to interfere, and more
especially when they are systematically blended together in the same
exercise, he experiences confusion, irritation, and fatigue. There is no
necessity, however, for this ever being the case. All that is required
is, that the few individual elements that are to be grouped or
associated in a lesson, whether they be objects or ideas, shall
previously be made familiar to the pupil. These, when once known, may be
brought before the mind of the child in any variety of order or form,
and will be received readily and pleasantly, and will be retained by the
memory without confusion, and without effort. By attention to these two
principles, keeping each in its proper place, and bringing each to aid
and uphold the other in its proper order, it will be found, that a child
may be taught more real knowledge in one week, than is often
communicated in other circumstances in the course of a year.

CHAP. VII.

_On the Acquisition of Knowledge by the Principle of Analysis, or
Classification._

There is yet another principle brought into operation by Nature to
enable her pupils to receive, to retain, and to make use of their
knowledge. This is the principle of Classification, or Analysis.[6] The
difference between this and the former principle described we think is
sufficiently marked. The principle of Association, or Grouping, is
carried on chiefly by means of the imagination, and begins to operate as
soon as the mind is capable of imagining any thing; but the principle of
Classification, or Analysis, is more intimately connected with the
judgment. The consequence of this is, that it is but very part