"Children soon forget, as they soon learn: old people learn with difficulty, and remember best what they learnt when young. That is, say the Cartesians because the brain growing by degrees more dry retains old characters, but does not easily admit new."
— Doddridge, Philip (1702-1751)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by assignment from the author's widow, for J. Buckland, J. Rivington, R. Baldwin, L. Hawes, W. Clarke and R. Collins, W. Johnston, J. Richardson, S. Crowder and Co. T. Longman, B. Law, T. Field, and H. Payne and W. Cropley
Date
1763 (repr. 1776); 1794 (repr. 1799)
Metaphor
"Children soon forget, as they soon learn: old people learn with difficulty, and remember best what they learnt when young. That is, say the Cartesians because the brain growing by degrees more dry retains old characters, but does not easily admit new."
Metaphor in Context
4. Memory in a great measure depends upon the body, and is often much injured by a disease, and afterwards recovered with recovering strength, which on the Cartesian hypothesis is accounted for, by supposing that those parts of the brain, on which these characters are written, are by such disorders relaxed, in the same manner as the nerves in the other parts of the body are liable to be weakened or disabled.
5. The memory differs at different ages. Children soon forget, as they soon learn: old people learn with difficulty, and remember best what they learnt when young. That is, say the Cartesians, because the brain growing by degrees more dry retains old characters, but does not easily admit new.
6. Dreams generally make little impression on the memory: because, say some, the animal spirits are then but gently moved.
(Part I, Proposition VIII, p. 24)
5. The memory differs at different ages. Children soon forget, as they soon learn: old people learn with difficulty, and remember best what they learnt when young. That is, say the Cartesians, because the brain growing by degrees more dry retains old characters, but does not easily admit new.
6. Dreams generally make little impression on the memory: because, say some, the animal spirits are then but gently moved.
(Part I, Proposition VIII, p. 24)
Categories
Provenance
Reading in Google Books
Citation
4 entries in ESTC (1763, 1776, 1794, 1799).
First published as A Course of Lectures on the Principal subjects in Pneumatology, Ethics, and Divinity: with References to the Most Considerable Authors on Each Subject. By the late Reverend Philip Doddridge, D.D. (London: J. Buckland, J. Rivington, R. Baldwin, L. Hawes, W. Clarke and R. Collins, W. Johnston, J. Richardson, S. Crowder and Co. T. Longman, B. Law, T. Field, and H. Payne and W. Cropley, 1763). <Link to ECCO>
Text drawn from Philip Doddridge, A Course of Lectures on the Principal Subjects in Pneumatology, Ethics, and Divinity, Ed. Andrew Kippis, vol i (London: Printed for S. Crowder, T. Longman, B. Law and Son, G.G. and J. Robinson, etc., 1794). <Link to Google Books><Link to ECCO>
S. Clark's edition of 1763 was reprinted in 1776. The Kippis edition of 1794 was reprinted in 1799.
First published as A Course of Lectures on the Principal subjects in Pneumatology, Ethics, and Divinity: with References to the Most Considerable Authors on Each Subject. By the late Reverend Philip Doddridge, D.D. (London: J. Buckland, J. Rivington, R. Baldwin, L. Hawes, W. Clarke and R. Collins, W. Johnston, J. Richardson, S. Crowder and Co. T. Longman, B. Law, T. Field, and H. Payne and W. Cropley, 1763). <Link to ECCO>
Text drawn from Philip Doddridge, A Course of Lectures on the Principal Subjects in Pneumatology, Ethics, and Divinity, Ed. Andrew Kippis, vol i (London: Printed for S. Crowder, T. Longman, B. Law and Son, G.G. and J. Robinson, etc., 1794). <Link to Google Books><Link to ECCO>
S. Clark's edition of 1763 was reprinted in 1776. The Kippis edition of 1794 was reprinted in 1799.
Date of Entry
09/15/2011
