order to develop interest in a subject, secure information about it_.
The force of this law will be apparent as soon as we analyze one of our
already-developed interests. Let us take one that is quite common--the
interest which a typical young girl takes in a movie star. Her interest
in him comes largely from what she has been able to learn about him;
the names of the productions in which he has appeared, his age, the
color of his automobile, his favorite novel. Her interest may be said
actually to consist, at least in part, of these facts. The astute press
agent knows the force of this law, and at well-timed intervals he lets
slip through bits of information about the star, which fan the interest
of the fair devotee to a still whiter heat.

The relation of information to interest is still further illustrated by
the case of the typical university professor or scientist. He is
interested in certain objects of research--infusoria, electrons, plant
ecology,--because he knows so much about them. His interest may be
said to _consist_ partly of the body of knowledge that he possesses. He
was not always interested in the specific, obscure field, but by
saturating himself in facts about it, he has developed an interest in
it amounting to passionate absorption, which manifests itself in
"absent-mindedness" of such profundity as to make him often an object
of wonder and ridicule.

Let us demonstrate the application of the law again showing how
interest may be developed in a specific college subject. Let us choose
one that is generally regarded as so "difficult" and "abstract" that
not many people are interested in it--philology, the study of language
as a science. Let us imagine that we are trying to interest a student
of law in this. As a first step we shall select some legal term and
show what philology can tell about it. A term frequently encountered in