“In some measure,” he replied; “but it is not merely by the new facts or ideas that we acquire that our real increase of knowledge must be estimated; it is by the number of relations which they bear to those already in the mind. New knowledge does not merely consist in our having access to a new object, but in forming new combinations of the ideas which it excites with our former ideas of similar objects; it is not by loading the memory with insulated facts, but by putting those facts in their right places, that we augment our stock of knowledge.”
“Indeed, my dear uncle, I feel the truth of that every day; for the more I know, the more my curiosity is excited, and I ramble on from one thing to another, till my head contains nothing but a confused heap of unconnected facts. Then, when I go back and try to put them in some sort of order, I find that the most useful circumstances are forgotten, and only those well remembered which happened to connect themselves with things long known.”
“That leads me,” said he, “to another point, which I would earnestly press on your attention;—discrimination—or the selecting from the necessarily confused mass of new ideas which are constantly presenting themselves those of the greatest importance. By grasping at all, you lose the real acquisitions within your reach; and though the sacrifice may at first appear great, you will be a gainer in the end. Every day your selection will be more judicious, and in time more abundant; and your knowledge of useful and connected truths will advance gradually and securely, because you will have learnt to hinge them properly together, without encumbering your mind with those that are insignificant.”
I then asked him if he approved of my writing this journal, and whether he advised me to continue it.
“Certainly I do, Bertha, because I am sure it is highly satisfactory to your mother, not only to know what you are doing, but to trace the progress of your mind. Besides, though I suspect that no young lady can write a great deal without introducing a little desultory matter, yet, from the pages you have occasionally shewn me, I am sure there is much in your journal that may be advantageous to Marianne. Indeed I am glad you mentioned it, for I think it forms no bad illustration of the unconnected manner in which knowledge presents itself in every-day life; and if our present conversation finds a place in it, tell your sister, from me, to attend to what I have said about discrimination, and to try her skill in selecting, and classifying in her memory, the many useful topics on which you have touched.
“The benefit to yourself of committing to paper the detailed knowledge that you acquire, is quite another question. As a help to which the memory may refer I am inclined to think that it is injurious; except in so far as the time occupied in writing forces one to dwell sufficiently on the ideas, to perceive their analogy with others. But you may, I think, make a common-place book really useful, by stating your general impressions of the books you read, and of the discussions you hear; and by sometimes recording those passing thoughts which suggest themselves to every reflecting person. By thus frequently marking the state of your mind, you can hereafter judge of its progress; and you will be able to correct the prejudices which may have impeded its steady improvement.”
29th.—I begged of my uncle to describe some more of the remarkable animals that have been found in a fossil state. He readily complied; and as it is possible that I may one day have an opportunity of seeing some of these curious petrifactions in the museums, I carefully noted what he told us.
“One of those huge oviparous quadrupeds to which the name Monitor has been given, was found at Maestricht, in soft limestone rock mixed with flints. The skeleton was about twenty-four feet long; the head four feet; and from the great breadth and strength of the tail, the animal is supposed to have inhabited the sea.
“There are but two living species of sloths known; and two fossil animals have been found which seem nearly allied to them. One of these animals, the megalonix, is of the size of an ox; and was first discovered in a limestone cave in Virginia. The other, the megatherium, is as large as a rhinoceros; its remains have been found only in South America; and it is a curious fact, that greatly as these animals exceed the sloth and the ant-eater in size, they not only appear to belong to the same family, but their bones are found only in America, the very country inhabited by sloths and ant-eaters.
“The gigantic fossil elks of Ireland are also an extinct species: they are found under bogs, or in deep marl pits; and generally in an erect position, as if the herd had been suddenly overwhelmed by the mass in which they are imbedded, while it was in a fluid state. The distance between the tips of the horns of a skull, now in the museum of the Royal Society of Dublin, is eleven feet and ten inches; and I have heard that a still larger specimen has been discovered in that country.