Induction is a natural method of
acquiring and unifying knowledge in an interesting way. Apperception,
in turn, is a principle of mental action which puts life and interest
into inductive and concentrating processes. Every hour of school labor
illustrates the value of apperception and teachers should find in it a
constant antidote to faulty methods.
Apperception may be roughly defined at first as the process of
_acquiring new ideas by the aid of old ideas_ already in the mind. It
makes the acquisition of new knowledge easier and quicker. Not that
there is any easy road to learning, but there is a natural process
which greatly accelerates the progress of acquisition, just as it is
better to follow a highway over a rough country than to betake one's
self to the stumps and brush. For example, if one is familiar with
peaches, apricots will be quickly understood as a kindred kind of
fruit, even though a little strange. A person who is familiar with
electrical machinery will easily interpret the meaning and purpose of
every part of a new electrical plant. One may _perceive_ a new object
without understanding it, but to _apperceive_ it is to interpret its
meaning by the aid of similar familiar notions.
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