tant, while in reading for
information only, we may either ignore words and phrases entirely, or
subordinate them to the ideas which they convey. In reading any book for
the knowledge it contains, I should as soon think of spelling out all the
words, as of reading out all the sentences. Just as, in listening to a
slow speaker, you divine the whole meaning of what he is about to say,
before he has got half through his sentence, so, in reading, you can
gather the full sense of the ideas which any sentence contains, without
stopping to accentuate the words.

Leaving aside the purely literary works, in which form or style is a
predominant element, let us come to books of science, history, biography,
voyages, travels, etc. In these, the primal aim is to convey information,
and thus the style of expression is little or nothing--the thought or the
fact is all. Yet most writers envelop the thought or the fact in so much
verbiage, complicate it with so many episodes, beat it out thin, by so
much iteration and reiteration, that the student must needs learn the art
of skipping, in self-defense. To one in zealous pursuit of knowledge, to
read most books through is paying them too extravagant a compliment. He
has to read between the lines, as it were, to note down a fact here, or a
thought there, or an illustration elsewhere, and leaves alone all that
contributes nothing to his special purpose. As the quick, practiced eye
glances over the visible signs of thought, page after page is rapidly
absorbed, and a book which would occupy an ordinary reader many days in
reading, is mastered in a few hours.

The habit of reading which I have outlined, and which may be termed the
intuitive method, or, if you prefer it, the short-hand method, will more
than double the working power of the reader. It is not difficult to
practice, especially to a busy man, who does with all his might what he
has got to do. But it should be learned early in life, when the faculties
are fresh, the mind full of zeal for knowledge, and the mental habits are
ductile, not fixed. With it one's capacity for acquiring knowledge, and
consequently his accomplishment, whether as writer, teacher, librarian,
or private student, will be immeasureably increased.

Doubtless it is true that some native or intuitive gifts must be
conjoined with much mental discipline and perseverance, in order to reach
the highest result, in this method of reading, as in any other study.
"_Non om