ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS COMPARED.

It is sometimes asked, cannot “Analysis” cement together unconnected “Extremes”? This question implies a contradiction of terms. I reply, “Yes, by accident, and by accident only.”

Analysis is declaratory—Synthesis is constructive. Analysis discovers and describes the relations actually existing—Synthesis applies connecting intermediates where no relations previously existed, and then Analysis characterizes the relations introduced by the cementing intermediates.

Even in the First Exercises the Series are Synthetic.‌ Every pair of words of which such Series consists exemplifies the relations either of Inclusion, Exclusion, or Concurrence. I used to call that Lesson Recollective Analysis, because in it the pupil is engaged in familiarising himself with those Laws of Assimilation, and in discovering and declaring the character of the relations between the words of such Synthetic Series. He commits to memory such a series by thinking of the relations between the words. A minor object is to memorise the Series—but a greater and higher object never lost sight of in these Lessons is to train the Memory and Attention. And let the pupil clearly notice how this training comes about. Merely running over a Series—two words at a time—without discriminating the kind and quality of the relations between the words—hoping that the mind unpractised in the Laws of Assimilation will intuitively feel those relations, constitutes no training of the Memory. Such reading neither strengthens the old power nor develops any new power. It is a blind act of unconscious absorption, however little be absorbed. But if the mind acts in such cases and tries to find and characterise the relations, then the appreciation of the relations of In., Ex., and Con., is quickened and invigorated and becomes in time so intensified that those relations are thereafter almost automatically felt, and the impression they make on the Memory, henceforth, is the most vivid possible.

  1. To whom only does this result come?
  2. What question is frequently asked?
  3. What is the reply?
  4. Is analysis declaratory?
  5. If so, why?
  6. Is Synthesis constructive?
  7. If so, explain why?
  8. Why is the first lesson called Rec. Analysis?

Every Correlation is a Synthetic Series. It can be and should always be analyzed, but Analysis never makes a Correlation. That is the function of Synthesis. Since “extremes” are words with no relation between them, Analysis cannot find what does not exist. But accident sometimes makes a spelling or letter relation between the “Extremes,” and then Analysis can memorise these “extremes” by means of such accidental relations. To illustrate:—

A physician was troubled to remember on which side of the heart are the “mitral valves.” As they are on the left‌ side of the heart, he might have noticed that “mitral” ends with the letter “l,” and that the word “left” begins with the letter “l”—as “l” belongs to both of these words, here would be a case of analysis. Such a device, however, could never be erected into a rule, for it is founded on accident only, and cannot be used in all cases. How much more vivid to many persons in this example is a Correlation, thus: “Mitral valves … mitred Abbots… none left … left.”

To remember which of the University crews wears dark blue and which light, we can note that the vowel “I” belongs alike to Cambridge and “Light” and is absent from Oxford and “Dark.”

Take a case in Trigonometry—a Complement is what remains after subtracting an angle from one right-angle. Take 60 degrees from 90 degrees, and we have the complement 30 degrees—a Supplement is what remains after subtracting an angle from two right-angles. Take 120 degrees from 180 degrees and we have the supplement 60 degrees. How to remember that “Complement” relates to one right-angle, and “Supplement” relates to two right-angles, is a difficulty for a poor memory. Looking at the accidents of the subject, we see that Supplement and two right-angles have a relation in this, that Supplement begins with S and two begins with T. S … T. Hence we must remember that Supplement relates to Two right-angles, and, of course, the word Complement to one right-angle.

Or to use the Synthetic Method: “Complement (compliment) … praise bestowed … prize-winner … won … one right-angle” (Complement completes right-angle … one … right-angle) or “Supplement … supple … bend double … ‘two double’ … two right-angles” (Supplement … added to … more than one right-angle … two right-angles).