This matter of association by relation is one of the most important things in the whole subject of thought, and the degree of correct and efficient thinking depends materially upon it. It does not suffice us to merely "know" a thing—we must know where to find it when we want it. As old Judge Sharswood, of Pennsylvania, once said: "It is not so much to know the law, as to know where to find it." Kay says: "Over the associations formed by contiguity in time or space we have but little control. They are in a manner accidental, depending upon the order in which the objects present themselves to the mind. On the other hand, association by similarity is largely put in our own power; for we, in a measure, select those objects that are to be associated, and bring them together in the mind. We must be careful, however, only to associate together such things as we wish to be associated together and to recall each other; and the associations we form should be based on fundamental and essential, and not upon mere superficial or casual resemblances. When things are associated by their accidental, and not by their essential qualities,—by their superficial, and not by their fundamental relations, they will not be available when wanted, and will be of little real use. When we associate what is new with what most nearly resembles it in the mind already, we give it its proper place in our fabric of thought. By means of association by similarity, we tie up our ideas, as it were, in separate bundles, and it is of the utmost importance that all the ideas that most nearly resemble each other be in one bundle.'' The best way to acquire correct associations, and many of them, for a separate fact that you wish to store away so that it may be recollected when needed—some useful bit of information or interesting bit of knowledge, that "may come in handy" later on—is to analyze it and its relations. This may be done by asking yourself questions about it—each thing that you associate it with in your answers being just one additional "cross-index" whereby you may find it readily when you want it. As Kay says: "The principle of asking questions and obtaining answers to them, may be said to characterize all intellectual effort" This is the method by which Socrates and Plato drew out the knowledge of their pupils, filling in the gaps and attaching new facts to those already known. When you wish to so consider a fact, ask yourself the following questions about it:

I. Where did it come from or originate?
II. What caused it?
III. What history or record has it?
IV. What are its attributes, qualities and characteristics?
V. What things can I most readily associate with it? What is it like!
VI. What is it good for—how may it be used—what can I do with it?
VII. What does it prove—what can be deduced from it?
VIII. What are its natural results—what happens because of it?
IX. What is its future; and its natural or probable end or finish?
X. What do I think of it, on the whole— what are my general impressions regarding it?
XI. What do I know about it, in the way of general information?
XII. What have I heard about it, and from whom, and when?