In the case of those who have not inherited, but who have _acquired_, a
great power of Attention, a decided _benefit_ will ensue, however, if
throughout life they occasionally use the System in regard to numbers
and in learning prose and poetry by the Analytic-Synthetic and
Interrogative Analysis Methods.
1. Will a pupil always require an aid to remember figures?
2. What is required of him in order to enable him to do away with
any _conscious_ aid?
3. What does a thorough training in my system accomplish in the
meantime?
4. Will there ever be any _necessity_ of using the figure alphabet?
5. Will not a decided benefit ensue to those who have acquired a
great power of attention?
Where a great power of Attention has been renewed or originally
acquired, it requires considerable effort to _continue_ that power. The
unnumbered objects of thought which civilization constantly brings
before the mind, without giving any opportunity for a mastery of many of
them; the fierce rivalries of interest, and the enervating habits of
body which are constantly being formed or perpetuated--all alike and
together tend to break down an acquired power of Attention. It is said
that Alexander Hamilton used to go through the demonstrations of
Euclid's Geometry before the commencement of each Session of the early
Congress. For what purpose? In order to be able to make use of
geometrical knowledge in debate? Certainly not. He reviewed this study
to stiffen the back-bone of his power of Attention. And he possessed
this power in an extraordinary degree by nature. I am not suggesting any
such severe course of self-discipline. But if the pupil whose
_attention was formerly weak_ will never allow a date to come before him
without fixing it in mind by my method, and if he will also occasionally
learn by heart a passage of prose or poetry by my _assimilating_
methods, he will train his Attention in a pleasanter and more effective
way than Hamilton did his by his studies in Euclid--besides making
himself conspicuously accurate where most men are notoriously
inaccurate.
[It is a most misleading mistake to suppose that the principles of the
following or either of the previous chapters are to be _consciously and
constantly_ used by the pupil, whether he be a student or a man of
business. It is only used at all during the training period--rarely
afterwards. But during the training period, I desire the pupil to make
as much use of the devices and principles of the system as he possibly
can--and the more he uses them the sooner he no longer has occasion to
use them.]
1. Does it require any effort to _continue_ that power?
2. What tends to break down an acquired power of attention?
3. What suggestion is here given the pupil in regard to this?
4. Is this method easier and less severe than Hamilton's?
5. Is it not more effectual?