# A Handbook of Phrenotypics for Teachers and Students/Introductory Remarks

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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
Notwithstanding the great advantages I derived both for myself and others from the various systems of Mnemonics which I made use of from my earliest infancy, I continually felt the want of some principles which might serve as tests for the purpose of estimating the merits or demerits of each system, and without which principles, those who attempt to apply mnemonic contrivances empyrically, must continually be tired, perplexed, and disappointed to such a degree as to make them often underrate, nay, disregard and finally reject as injurious and dangerous, those very engines which, if modified and directed by the hands of principle, would prove to be in reality as gigantic, ​safe, and docile assistants for the powers of the mind, as the steam engine is for those of the muscles, when managed by an engineer whose practice is not empyricism, but a continual, persevering, and rational application of the principles of mathematics, mechanics, and experimental philosophy. Without a knowledge of these principles, the least mischief, owing to the imperfection of the engine, or to accident, would easily be construed by the ignorant or ill-intentioned into unanswerable reasons for the condemnation and execution of the greatest benefactors of the present age,—the steam-engine and the railroad. And so it is with the intellectual engines: some of their imperfections and accidental individual disappointments are easily construed by the ignorant and ill-intentioned into unanswerable reasons why Mnemonics, and what I sincerely believe destined to become the engine of engines—Phrenotypics—should be treated with contempt, and thus the power of powers, the mind, left unassisted.
Long, long, labour, and little rest, in the practical field of memory—numerous observations carefully gathered together, perseveringly compared and meditated upon, have, I flatter myself, brought to my view principles, which may serve as leading threads through the hitherto long, often obscure and inextricable, labyrinth of Mnemonics. These principles appear to me, and to my numerous ​pupils, and judges equally as to a host of pirates worthy of being embraced, relied, and acted upon by those who really pant for the acquisition and communication of knowledge with the least possible delay.
With these principles in my hands, I have analyzed the mnemonic contrivances that have been at various epochs devised for the purpose of assisting the memory; and found invariably that the degree of usefulness, power, and practicability of these contrivances, depended strictly upon their being, moreor less, in accordance with such principles; and thus I was induced to reject a good many of the established systems, to modify others; and step by step, I have devised new combinations, systematized them, and practically applied them to almost every branch of human study.
This new edifice, as erected upon the rocky foundation of principles discovered by myself, I thought it just and expedient to baptize with a new name, created by myself also: Phrenotypics is the name which I composed for that purpose on the 5th of July, 1841.