ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 499, 4 December 1877, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

PL A A a ) r t of <>f by paration ■ in 1 i() tho 1 i h where for Sin, —As of 1.1u» Count, hearers are no doubt readers of paper, I hope yon will allow inn 1o DialccT" a few rein,'irks on the subject of that tl( ni,■in',s lust, lecture. 11, iN pivsumptuouH, 1 know, to comment, critically upon a system winch has been generally .so well received ; yd. as ;in empirical system it is open to invalidation before adoption. Now the pri iciple of (lie lecturer's system rests U]>on V lie laws of association of ideas (inelud*' tliose of localisation) as mnemonic aini(/ .Accessory means ot assooiation here u.s ! "<; colour and position. .Now, I maint 1 . 1 that to many minds colour will prove*" 1 ' £ very weak means of association. :ind a '• /i'v a still weaker. ~ .. , usv/ ', , r B. lore 1 :;?<■;-l-.i im ;i s-wral din linet facts, llure must > distinct | >< id■ | >- tion. Su]iposu a c!iild 1.-orns history by tji<i Count's method. lie yees a. black mark' in the first- partition v.f < h«.— fourth division of the eighteen!h century. Has lie not to observe Ihe position to learn the year, and the, fact that, it, indicates a war, and the colour to (ell the nation who fought thereat. And after all, lie muM, use a history to say wh<> won and what was the battle. But see, is it, not: easier to read and learn " Blenlieim was fought in 17<M ' than to enter in those eoiisiderations liciore even beins.; able to apprehend the General and nieivly senii-i xhaustive fact that there was a battle I Why, I>\ th" ordinary reading lie learns the tact without tho needles* and 1; ix i ni' esi-rcitation oi so many oliservaiive act-;. A child, 1 will undertake, would learn Hie import ml, dates in the world's history in the time that- it would take to learn the complete system. A plea for the lecturer's method was that in it events were chronologically parabiotic. True, | own a child uiiijht t hereby ohm rve cause and elj'eel, but I am con tide nf, the average child or man very seldom would do so. But. has not every sjood history book' the same advantage of paralle lie cause and sequence t Auain, since it- is impossible to tell the name of any individual place, or battle from two or three color* anil the mere position (for though the, name illicit be indirectly sU'."_res'ed, ii, would not In; shown), a history must, lie used supnlementarily ; then wliv not, so at ouee ?

Tli<> student who is capable (»(' )in>li( hvj; by liis:di-v or of ] >»•<>'•• <•<fil fo ilsphilosi>|>liy. will nerd no snc'i up.'ins (o m.-istoi-the leading fads and dates which ;in mI hoy can '.'i.i'-)i in early yearn, I'lio system, as it, is «1 • vrlnprd :e, \ < I, seems a sU'iLicsti ve pu/./Je I'm- '-ih-'i as, shirking tin: labour of studying history, serk to make it :m amusement ; hut, such inert, |>i-ojile ninv lose us nnii'li time in learninir to proceed :iloii'4 a novel ami complicated way as would have home theut jiloiil; the simple and col ii moil road to t lie olijerl. Tin; way to use the association of id< as as the basis of a .system is this : l;<t the child or man Irani the most, important, facts of history and their dales. Now, tin's can he done in as little time as Iho Count's system could he hand in. Then, by the law of association, whatever hislorv'is read by the student will dine; associated to these loading ideas, and in proper connection. Tims.; h-adine; events will form tlio skeleton to be dressed up by future readings, and will serve as points of collocation for the facts that jm; connected therewith. Whoever oilers special advantages to the indolent, by not, requiring (hem to , call into force those very things which it i is useful for them to exercise, viz., labor, application, and nminory, will, of courHc, be run to : but. when the novelty has worn oil', this tabular system will bo an / uncntertainin'4 (because complex) as tho > « child's table cards, which it. is so hard £f«t learnt—-notwithstanding by the lattc* ! one jjets an end. and bribe former onb Dili a means. That, ii may prove an inloroHti\;j pu;',/.ie I doidit not, but used as a liintoncsl chart with a handbook for ilhiH- '. .-atioiis (for colors and situations enough could not be found for individual namcis),

it will ba\e Jiftlp attraction for true students wl><V_ Watering facts from black •vnf] white, -v : iU sbeK to disgeat them preferably to entertaining the mind and whilinj away pleasingly the hours of study 6y entertainments of color and position. I am confident that if two Imys of tlie same goud inti lii.c-rnal power were taken, both ignorant ot history, as mncii could be tanght by tlie good parathesi:> of fncrs and dates in the Civil Service English History as the lecturer conld teach by the parathesis of colored squares and symbols. —I am, &c., Wiured.