nd really and truly MASTER my System [for he does not even
KNOW what my System is until he has faithfully carried out to the very
letter all my instructions, unless he has been a pupil of my oral
lectures], and then and not before he will probably find that the
achievements of the average diligent student of my System are quite
within the easy range and scope of his own powers.

(3) In regard to the _subject matter_ of the book, you do not care to
occupy yourself with what you are _already familiar_ with, and in most
books there are a great many things that you already know. In many
works, too, there is a great deal of padding-matter inserted to increase
the bulk of the book, and possessing no permanent interest. The
expositions and explanations which enable you to _understand_ the new
matter usually take up a large part of the book, and sometimes much the
largest part of it, and are not to be memorised, but only understood
with a sole view to appreciate the valuable and important parts of the
book--these expositions can be learned if desired--but they usually
serve only a preliminary purpose. There is also very much
_repetition_--the same matter in new dress, is reintroduced for sake of
additional comments or applications. You do not trouble yourself with
these iterations. The contents of a book which demand your attention are
the IDEAS which are NEW to you, or the NEW USES made of familiar ideas.

Students who have not learned to exercise any independent thought often
confess that in reading any book they are always in a maze. One thing
seems just as important as another. To them the wheat looks exactly like
the chaff. As an illustration that the power of Analysis is entirely
wanting in many cases, I may mention that I once received a letter in
which the writer had literally copied one of my column advertisements,
and then added, "Please send me what relates to the above!" A modicum of
mental training would have led him to say, "Kindly send me your
Prospectus."

LEARN FIRST TO MAKE ABSTRACTS OF WHAT IS NEW TO YOU.

A great authority on education says: "Any work that deserves thorough
study, deserves the labor of making an Abstract, _without which, indeed,
the study is not thorough_."

A work which deserves thorough study is obviously one full of IDEAS, new
to the reader, such as the student must master.

If you are thinking of making an Abstract of a particular book, awaken
the utmost interest in regard to it