The scientist is greatly dependent upon his memory. So is every one
else, including the young student. What suggestions, if any, can be
made about the retaining of facts?

In particular, how prominent in study should be the effort to
memorize? Should memorizing constitute the main part of study--as it
so often does--or only a minor part? It is often contrasted with
thinking. Is such a contrast justified? If so, should the effort to
memorize usually precede the thinking--as is often the order in
learning poetry and Bible verses--or should it follow the thinking?
And why? Can one greatly strengthen the memory by special exercises
for that purpose? Finally, since there are some astonishingly poor
ways of memorizing--as was shown in chapter one--there must be some
better ways. What, then, are the best, and why?

_6. The using of ideas, as a sixth factor in study_

Does all knowledge, like this of the scientist, require contact with the
world as its endpoint or goal? And is it the duty of the student to
pursue any topic, whether it be a principle of physics, or a moral idea,
or a simple story, until it proves of benefit to some one? In that
case, enough repetition might be necessary to approximate habits--habits
of mind and habits of action--for the skill necessary for the successful
use of some knowledge cannot otherwise be attained. How, then, can
habits become best established? Or is knowledge something apart from
the active world, ending rather in self?

Would it be narrowly utilitarian and even foolish to expect that one's
learning shall necessarily function in practical life? And should the
student rather rest content to acquire knowledge for its own sake, not