But there's the kind where the scholar studies in an orderly manner building up the knowledge of the virtues of stone, or flowers, or the sea, and how to apply them, and get them to reinforce each other so that you have a unified body of knowledge.
Then there's the kind where you can find out how deep the sea is, note any approaching storms, encourage a wind, figure out what time it is (and what the difference is between that and the time where you came from), and locate north. Or you can identify the provenance of a book, put it in the right place in a collection, prevent theft, and light up the library. Learned by rote, mostly, for obvious reasons.
Was thinking of them as theoretical and practical, but most of the first kind are out there slugging with magic. In fact, they are much more likely to use it on the job and use it consistently when they do. And, of course, even the most dedicated wizard of the first type learned some spells by rote; light to read by, if nothing else. And other helpful household spells.
