by which he himself remembers
things, he would find his hand upon the key of the whole mystery. For
instance, the author was once trying to remember the word _blythe_.
There occurred to my mind the words "Bellman," "Belle," and then the
verse

--the peasant upward climbing
Hears the bells of _Buloss_ chiming.

"Barcarole," "Barrack," and so on, until the word "blythe" presented
itself with a strange insistence, long after I had ceased trying to
recall it.

On another occasion, when trying to recall the name "Richardson," I got
the words "hay-rick," "Robertson," "Randallstown," and finally "wealthy,"
from which naturally I got "rich" and "Richardson" almost in a breath.

Still another example: trying to recall the name of an old schoolmate,
"Grady," I got "Brady," "grave," "gaseous," "gastronome," "gracious,"
and I finally abandoned the attempt, simply saying to myself that it
began with a "G," and there was an "a" sound after it. The next
morning, when thinking of something entirely different, this name
"Grady" came up in my mind with as much distinctness as though some one
had whispered it in my ear. This remembering was done without any
conscious effort on my part, and was evidently the result of the
exertion made the day before, when mnemonic processes were put to work.
Every reader must have had similar experience, which he can recall, and
which will fall in line with the examples given.

It follows, then, that when we endeavor, without the aid of any system,
to recall a forgotten fact or name, our memory presents to us words of
a similar sound or meaning in its journey toward the goal to which we
have started it. This goes to show that our ideas are arranged in
groups in whatever secret cavity or recess of the brain they occupy,
and that the arrangement is one not alphabetical exactly and not
entirely by meaning, but after some fashion partaking of both.

If you are looking for the word "meadow" you may reach "middle" before
you come to it, or "Mexico," or many words beginning with the "m"
sound, or containing the "dow," as "window" or "dough," or you may get
"field" or "farm"--but you are on the right track, and if you do not
interfere with your intellectual process you will finally come to the
idea which you are seeking.

How often have you heard people say: "I forget his name; it is
something like Beadle or Beagle--at any rate it begins with a B." Each
and all of these were unconscious Loisettia