fix in the mind

This one came so rapidly and so dizzyingly that it was almost impossible to fix in the mind, so the timeline of wickets is worth preserving for accuracy as much as posterity: 5.44pm:

Before entering into a more detailed discussion of the history of various processes, it may be useful, in a word, to fix in the mind of the reader our view of the first authority on various processes, and his period.

Something is needed to fix in the mind the knowledge that has been lodged there, and no process is more effectual to this end than that of class recitation.

Here, again, is his stern way of dealing with any author:—"To fix in the mind the clear and distinct idea of the question stripped of words; and so likewise, in the train of argumentation, to take up the author's ideas, neglecting his words, observing how they connect or separate those in the question."

It is given with much iteration in his Conduct of the Understanding, but comes in substance to this:— We are to fix in the mind the author's ideas, stripped of his words; to distinguish between such ideas as are pertinent to the subject, and such as are not; to keep the precise question steadily before our minds; to appreciate the bearing of the arguments; and, finally, to see what the question bottoms upon, or what are the fundamental verities or assumptions underneath.