nsistencies on the part of teachers. We shall therefore
endeavour to exhibit the working of the principle in various forms, that
it may be fully appreciated when we come to apply it.

Let us then suppose two children taken silently through a museum of
curiosities, the one active and lively, the other dull and listless. It
would be found on retiring, that the former would be able to give an
account of many things which he saw, and that the other would remember
little or nothing. In this case, all the objects in the exhibition were
seen by both; and the question arises, "Why does the knowledge of the
one, so much exceed that of the other?" The reason is, that the mind of
the one was active, while the mind of the other was in a great measure
inactive. Both _saw_ the objects; but only one _looked at_ them. The one
actively employed his mind--fixed his eye on an object, and thought of
it; that is, he reiterated the ideas it suggested to him, whether as to
form, or colour, or movement, and by doing so, the ideas thus
reiterated, were effectively received, and given over to the keeping of
the memory. The other child saw the whole; they were perhaps objects of
perception; but he allowed his sensations to die away as they were
received; and his mind was left to wander, or to remain under the dreamy
influence of a mere passive and evanescent train of thought. His
"attention" was not arrested;--his mind was not actively engaged on any
of the articles he saw; in other words, the ideas which they suggested
were not "reiterated."[4]

Now, that it was the want of this mental reiteration which was the
cause, and the only cause, why this very usual means of acquiring
knowledge failed to communicate it, may be proved we think by a very
simple experiment. For if we shall suppose that the child who was
obtaining no knowledge by means of the various curiosities around him,
had been asked at the time a question respecting any of them,--a stuffed
dog, for example,--his attention would have been arrested, and his mind
would have been roused to active thought. The words, "What is that?"
from his teacher, or companion, would have made him look at it, and
reiterate the ideas of its form and colour, so far as to enable him to
give an answer. And if he does so, it will be found afterwards, on
leaving the place, that although he might have remained unconscious of
the presence of all the other objects in the museum, he will remember
the stuffed dog,