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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 FROM 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 arVISOOO 
 
 How to strengthen the mernor 
 
 3 1924 031 686 904 
 
 olin.anx 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031686904 
 
H0¥ TO STRENGTHEI THE 
 PIOEY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 NATIJBAL AND SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF NETER 
 FORGETTING. 
 
 By M^^' L. HOLBROOK, M. D., 
 
 EDITOR OP "THE HERALD OF HEALTH," AtJTHOR OE " HTQIENB OF 
 
 THE BRAIN," " PARTURITION WITHOUT PAIN," "EATING 
 
 FOR STRBNOTH," rRUIT AND BREAD," ETC. 
 
 New York: 
 M. L. HOLBROOK & CO. 
 
/i rl^l^d^ 
 
 V- — ___^ „^y' 
 
 COPYRIGHT BY 
 M. L. HOLBROOK, 
 
 1886. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Some years ago I commenced investigating the vari- 
 ous systems of mnemonics in connection with my friend, 
 Mr. John Fretwell, of Eisenach, Germany. Whatever 
 came in my way I gave to him, and whatever he found 
 in his extensive travels and reading he at once com- 
 municated to me. The result was a mass of incongrn- 
 ous material, much of it having little value. 
 
 "We found that most systems of mnemonics are alto- 
 gether too cumbersome — using them is like employing 
 a large amount of machinery to accomplish a small 
 amount of work. It is more diflBcult to handle the 
 machinery than to do what is to be done by simple and 
 natural methods. These methods are given in this 
 book. They are all easy, and adapted to every class of 
 persons, be they learned or unlearned. 
 
 Let no one, however, imagine he can train and dis- 
 cipline his memory by reading this book ; he must 
 apply its principles, and that, too, for a long time. A 
 half hour given to the subject every day so keeps the 
 matter in hand that in the course of time every person 
 with a weak and defective memory may have a strong 
 one. The extent of Its strength will depend largely 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 upon the patience and perseverance of the pupil. I 
 advise him to use the work as a text-book, and master 
 every principle contained therein, so that they become 
 a part of his mental organization. These principles 
 are the laws of association, comparison, attention, 
 repetition and the securing of a vivid first impression ; 
 minor details, important as they are, will easily be 
 learned. Those who wish to possess memories of great 
 power, and become able to master the most diflScult 
 subjects if nature has not given them the requisite 
 ability, can do so by hard work, and by no other means. 
 All will find that the rational methods of memory cul- 
 ture advised will not only strengthen this faculty, but 
 every other intellectual faculty. That the work may 
 prove useful to all who study it is my sincere desire. 
 
 M. L. H. 
 
OONTEJSTTS. 
 
 lutroduotory 9 
 
 The Best Foundation for a Good Memory 13 
 
 Memory and Nutrition 21 
 
 Fatigue 23 
 
 Perfect Circulation of Blood 23 
 
 Quality of Blood 23 
 
 Memory and Bodily Illness 23 
 
 Results of Brain Injury 23 
 
 Eesults of the Use of Narcotics 31 
 
 Unconscious Memory 34 
 
 Memory, Its Exaltation and Degeneration 38 
 
 £2:aItation Si5 
 
 Degeneration 38 
 
 Attention 40 
 
 Hepetition 13 
 
 Suggestions, Associations, Links and Chains a 
 
 A Striliing Example of Memory Culture 51 
 
 Close Attention 53 
 
 Careful Observation and Reflection 53 
 
 Methodical Association 53 
 
 Mental Employment 50 
 
 Memory Culture in Schools 67 
 
 Self-culture of the Memory 67 
 
 Memory of Names 73 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Memory of Forms and Faces 77 
 
 Why the Memory of Form Should be Trained 77 
 
 Early Training 79 
 
 Methods of Training 83 
 
 Memory of Faces 87 
 
 Memory of Places and Its Culture 90 
 
 Culture of the Musical Memory 95 
 
 Strengthening the Memory for Facts and Events 98 
 
 Memory for Figrures and Dates 101 
 
 The Figure Alphabet lOi 
 
 Tricks of Memory 107 
 
 How to Learn a New Language 109 
 
 Association of Ideas— Analogous or Opposite 110 
 
 " " Neither Analogous nor Opposite 116 
 
 Application of these Bules 119 
 
 Word Memory 126 
 
 Lawyers' Memories 138 
 
 Suggestions for Clergymen 143 
 
 Mastering the Contents of a Book 146 
 
 The Art of Forgetting 148 
 
 Abnormal Memory 150 
 
 Conclusion 152 
 
HOW TO STEENGTHEN. THE 
 MEMOEY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Memory may be defined as that intellectual 
 power whicli enables a person to recall, with 
 more or less distinctness and accuracy, past ex- 
 periences, facts which have before been in the 
 mind, forms, faces, figures, words, phrases, 
 emotions, sounds and Colors which have pre- 
 viously exercised the brain. Or it may be 
 defined as a kind of resurrection or reproduc- 
 tion of the past, or a perception of anything 
 with reference to its past existence, or a vision 
 of time past. Memory appears to be a prop- 
 erty of living matter ; at least a property of it 
 after it has become organized into a nervOus 
 system. 
 
 1* (9) 
 
10 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 There seems to be a close relation between 
 memory and instinct; the latter being mem- 
 ory carried to a point in which f orgetfulness is 
 next to impossible. The bee, for iitetance, 
 knows how to build its cell, because its ances- 
 tors have practiced building cells for countless 
 ages, and organized their experience into an 
 instinct. The child learns its letters, and in 
 after years they are perfectly familiar to it, 
 because its memory of them has become posi- 
 tive knowledge organized into the structure 
 and action of the brain. At this point it is no 
 longer memory, but what in animals we call in- 
 stinct. 
 
 Memory is necessary because it is of the high- 
 est importance to us that we be able to recall 
 past experiences and events, and because it is 
 impossible for us to keep our acquisitions of 
 knowledge constantly present in our minds. 
 Most of our mental acquisitions we keep in the 
 realm of unconsciousness, and call them up by 
 various methods when they become necessary. 
 V Memory is a limited faculty. It would be as 
 impossible for a human being to recall all past 
 experiences as it would be to lift the globe, or 
 turn it from its orbit; we recollect only what 
 
INTRODUCTOEY. 11 
 
 has been so well impressed on the brain as to 
 have become a part of its structure. Other ex- 
 periences we forget, and forgetfulness seems as 
 necessary as memory ; otherwise the brain 
 would become so occupied in holding its acqui- 
 sitions that it would not be able to attend to the 
 new demands made upon it. 
 
 Memory is not a perfect faculty. It has been 
 demonstrated that the human eye is not, mathe- 
 matically, a perfect instrument for the recep- 
 tion of light. Opticians have pointed out sev- 
 eral particulars in which it might be improved. 
 It does not give a perfect image of what it Sees. 
 It is doubtful if any of our organs are so perfect 
 that we cannot conceive of improvements in 
 their structure. It would astonish most people 
 to be made aware of the imperfections of their 
 recollections — their crudeness, their inaccura- 
 cies, their frequent untruthfulness. To chal- 
 lenge the veracity of a person's memory is con- 
 sidered about as great an insult as one person 
 can offer to another, and such an insinuation 
 would be resented almost as much as to ques- 
 tion his mental soundness. A majority of us 
 are inclined to be very sure about matters of 
 recollection until we have tested ourselves in a 
 
lii HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 most rigorous manner. The judge in court, 
 and the lawyer at the bar know how imperfect 
 the memory is, and how often it convicts an in- 
 nocent man or saves a guilty one from punish- 
 ment. The past rarely appears to us as it really 
 is, but is in numerous ways altered and softened. 
 It falls much below in vividness the reality, and 
 the intensity of the first impressions of the 
 recollection is so indistinct that the minor de- 
 tails disappear, and only fragments of our past 
 experience are restored. Let any person who 
 has nothing but his recollection to aid him un- 
 dertake to write his autobiography, and he will 
 find that only a few main features of his career 
 have survived ; all others have faded away, or 
 the impression of them has become so feeble 
 that they cannot be recognized. The memory 
 drifts about helplessly, and at last, if the man is 
 imaginative and not over honest he creates in 
 his mind the facts, disarranges the incidents 
 or puts them in the wrong place, and ends, 
 finally, by reconstructing a new past, which 
 never existed. 
 
 And not only is the memory an imperfect 
 and limited faculty, but it is subject to illusions. 
 We all know that in diseased mental states illu- 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 13 
 
 sions are common ; but all do not know that 
 persons in perfect health are also subject to 
 them, especially if they have not trained and 
 disciplined themselves in a rational manner. 
 What is ari illusion ? It may be defined as a 
 partial displacement in the mind of a fact for 
 a fiction, of a truth for a falsehood. If we re- 
 member a past event imperfectly it is not an^/- 
 illusion ; but if we remember it differently from 
 what it was, it is. For instance, a friend who 
 would not falsify for anything, argued for sev- 
 eral weeks with me that on one occasion I 
 wrote a letter on a certain subject, at a certain 
 time, relating to a business transaction which I 
 knew I could not have written. So firmly was 
 this fixed in his mind that he became quite irri- 
 tated at my statement that the letter to which 
 he referred was written a year previously and 
 related to a different transaction. The letter 
 was at last found, when it was proved that 
 I was correct and he incorrect. He l^ad re- 
 membered that there was a letter, but had sub- 
 stituted another date for the true one, and an- 
 other subject ; or, in other words, there had 
 been an illusion by a partial displacement in 
 the mind of a fact for a fiction. Such illusions 
 
14 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 are common to all of us, but especially to chil- 
 dren, and persons of an imaginative turn of 
 mind, and to those whose mental faculties are 
 not well-balanced and carefully disciplined. 
 
 The physiology of memory is a subject of pro- 
 found interest, and our students of mental 
 science have done much to throw light upon it ; 
 but there is grave doubt if they can ever en- 
 tirely penetrate the mystery. Still some things 
 are known. In the first place, it is a settled 
 fact that it is the brain which remembers, and 
 not any spiritual organ which we cannot take 
 cognizance of. And then it is probably true 
 that when we remember anything it is the 
 same region of this organ which revives the 
 former experience. That is to say, memory is 
 a localized faculty. Not that every variety and 
 description of memory has exactly the same lo- 
 cation in the brain, but that every special mem- 
 ory has. For instance, the memory of color, of 
 form, of words, have their places in the brain, 
 though we may not be able to point them out. 
 I Then, again, the memory depends on the integ- 
 rity and soundness of the brain ganglia. If 
 these are diesased memory may be entirely 
 wanting ; or^^if present, manifest abnormal 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 15 ^ 
 
 states, such as illusion, hallucination, etc. 
 Then, again, memory depends upon the flow of , 
 blood to the ganglia, so that what we call nu- 
 trition may go on. A brain cell can no more 
 work without the force which it derives frona 
 the blood than a mill can work without the 
 force derived from water, or wind, or steam. 
 The difference is, one is a vital while the other 
 is a physical process. If the blood is deficient, ' 
 then the memory is, for the time, feeble ; if the ' 
 blood is modified in any way, the memory will 
 also be modified. Even a dimunition of the 
 oxygen of the air which the person inhales 
 affects the memory unfavorably. There are 
 some drugs, as the bromides of potash and soda, 
 which depress the memories of those who take 
 them for a long time, and there are other sub- 
 stances which temporarily increase our memo- 
 ries. All are familiar with the fact that a man 
 will remember things when partly drunk that 
 he will forget when sober, though intemper- 
 ance injures the faculty in the long run. Loss - 
 of sleep deteriorates the memory, and so does 
 overwork, and mental and physical exhaustion, 
 the lowering of the circulation, and other sim- 
 ilar conditions. 
 
16 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 But still we have not answered the question, 
 How do we remember ? One old theory was 
 that facts were impressed on the mind like a 
 stamp on wax. This was very simple, and 
 for a while served to explain the subject, but it 
 does not answer now for any but children. 
 Facts are not impressed on the mind like a seal 
 on soft wax. Another theory is, that memory 
 is a molecular action in certain brain ganglia. 
 No doubt molecular action does take place 
 when these ganglia work, just as it does when 
 any other tissues are in action. Still, this is 
 not an explanation that explains. Who knows 
 anything about molecular action in the brain ? 
 The nearest we can get to^an explanation of the 
 subject is, I believe, that the brain cells have 
 -the power of reproducing certain conditions, > 
 either by acting in a certain way or taking on a\ 
 /certain form ^hich reproduces in them the 
 same state of mind that occurred before. "We 
 may compare memory to muscular action; if 
 the biceps contr^ict it flexes ^he arm, and if it is 
 trained to contract in a "certain" way it will re- 
 produce the same conditions again and again. 
 So, too, if the brsj n cells are trained to act in a 
 certain way they bring forth the same result. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 17 
 
 no matter how often repeated. Physiologists 
 speak of the brain as registering impressions. 
 This is all very fine to read ; but it seems about' 
 as far-fetched as to say that impressions are 
 stamped upon it. The truth is, the brain has 
 the power to reproduce certain conditions just 
 as the muscles have, and if we are conscious of 
 \^these conditions, this is memory. 
 
 There are some other questions that should 
 be considered. It has become a proverb that 
 "what is soon learned is soon forgotten." This 
 is not always true, but most frequently it is. It 
 is difficult to understand why this is so, unless 
 we take a broad view of the subject. There is 
 a great difference between knowing a thing 
 and remembering it. A person possessing a 
 clear understanding and quick perceptions will 
 glance at a subject, have a perfect knowledge 
 of it for the moment, but not be able to remem- 
 ber it after it has passed from his mind. The 
 faculty of memory has not been called into 
 play, but only his understanding. We say, he 
 learns easily, which may be true ; but he re- 
 members with difficulty. On this subject Dr. J. 
 Mortimer Granville makes the following re- 
 marks : "Just as a man works out a prob- 
 
18 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY, 
 
 lem or performs a mathematical calculation 
 with perfect command of the data and pro- 
 cesses involved, but in no way burdens his 
 mind with the details, or even the results of his 
 work if they do not personally concern him, he 
 may concentrate attention and bring his reason- 
 ing faculties to bear on a subject of study, and 
 raaster its details so as to obtain a clear com- 
 prehension of the whole, while he is not regis- 
 tering any impression to form the basis of 
 memory. Indeed it is a notable circumstance, 
 [that in a large class of minds the faculty of ap- 
 f prehension is developed, so to say, at the cost of 
 " memory ; the whole force of the intellect being, 
 as it were, expended in understanding, while 
 the storing of impressions is left to chance, 
 which generally means it is wholly neglected. 
 It is, therefore, important to bear in mind that 
 a quick understanding does not either involve 
 or imply an aptitude for study. It is simply an 
 effectual power of perception, and is not uncom- 
 monly associated with a tendency to forget, 
 which is, in truth, the effect of an absence or 
 inefficiency of the faculty of remembering. 
 The distinctness and almost antagonism of 
 these two functions of the brain, understanding 
 
THE FOUNDATION FOR A GOOD MEMORY. 19 
 
 and memory, is curiously apparent in the fact 
 that idiots have often extraordinary powers of 
 retention and recollection, while the most intel-i 
 ligent hearers and readers often find to their' 
 cost that they are the most forgetful. The stu- 
 dent should not allow the consciousness that he 
 has a quick understanding to encourage him to •■ 
 neglect to cultivate his memory, or to be mis- 
 lead by a good memory to assume that he is en- 
 dowed with a high intellectual ability." 
 
 THE BEST EOUNDATION FOR A GOOD 
 MEMORY. 
 
 Robust health is the best foundation upon 
 which a good memory may be built.. I do not 
 mean that all healthy persons have good mem- 
 ories, but that persons with goo d health, Qthgj: 
 thi ngs being _ecQial, will remember more than 
 those who are in a lays: physical condition. 
 
 A good memory cannot be preserved with an 
 impaired nervous system. Not only may a 
 long-continued wakefulness change the temper 
 of a mild and gentle person, completely alter 
 his features and expression and occasion a de- 
 
20 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 velopment of singular and most uncomfortable 
 whims, but also cause great deviation in the 
 powers of intellect and imagination, and ruin 
 the ability to recall facts and ideas. 
 / The gift of remembering is dependent uponX 
 f the power of strict attenti xau- And t his isjde- 
 pendent not only upon discipline, but upon the 
 comfortable condition of the body, which only 
 comes from a good circulation and abundant 
 blood. Great orators usually have powerful 
 memories. ■ Without readiness and quickness 
 in the flow of words oratory is impossible. 
 Sometimes orators temporarily paralyze their 
 memories by physical exhaustion. Mr. G. J. 
 Holyoke said in a little work of his own on ora- 
 tory : " When traveling expenses were the only 
 thing that I received for my lectures, I used to 
 walk to the place of their delivery. On my 
 walk from Birmingham to Worcester, a dis- 
 tance of 26 miles, it was my custom to recite on 
 the way portions of my intended address. In 
 the first part of my walk my voice was clear 
 and my memory was good ; but towards the 
 end I could scarcely articulate or remember the 
 thread of my discourse. If I lectured the same 
 evening, as sometimes happened, I spoke with- 
 
MEMORY AND NUTRITION. 31 
 
 out connection and produced little effect upon 
 my audience. The reason was that I had ex- 
 hausted my strength and paralyzed my mem- 
 ory. One Saturday I walked from Sheffield to 
 Huddersfield to deliver two lectures. It was my 
 first appearance there, and I was anxious to 
 make a good impression ; but in the morning I 
 was unable to do more than talk half inaudibly 
 and incoherently. In the evening I was toler- 
 able, but my voice and memory were weak. 
 My annoyance was excessive. I was a paxadex" 
 to myself. My power seemed to come and go 
 by some eccentric power of its own. I did not 
 find out until some years after, that exhaustion 
 of my strength had exhausted my powers of 
 speech, thought and memory, and that entire 
 repose instead of entire fatigue should have 
 been the preparation for public speaking." 
 
 MEMORY AND NUTRITION. 
 
 Every act of memory produces a permanent 
 modification of the brain ; but the nature of 
 this modification cannot be known. Whatever 
 this change may be, it must be accomplished 
 
23 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. , 
 
 through nutrition. This organ, and especially 
 the gray substance, the seat of memory and 
 cerebration, receives a very large supply of 
 blood — no other part of the body receives so 
 much — and nutrition goes on here at a very 
 rapid rate. In proportion as nutrition is' per- | 
 feet memory is good. This helps us to under- 
 stand why the power of recollection in the 
 young is so much better than in that of the 
 aged. Their brains are better nourished, and 
 the blood circulates in them more perfectly. 
 The color of -the surface of the brain of a child 
 is rosy; that of an old person is yellowish; 
 and these facts indicate that one is being well 
 fed with an abundance of rich blood, and that 
 the other is not. This fact has an important 
 bearing on all our efforts to strengthen this 
 faculty; not only must the brain be properly 
 exercised, but it must be well nourished. 
 
 FATIGUE. 
 
 Fatigue of every form is weakening to the 
 memory. Impressions received when we are 
 tired are not permanently fixed in the mind, 
 and their reproduction is often impossible. Fa- 
 tigue is the result of an excessive activity of 
 
MEMORY AND NUTRITION. 33 
 
 any faculty, continued until its stored-up nutri- 
 ment is exhausted. After a period of rest, and 
 a return to normal conditions, the memory also 
 returns. A very interesting, illustration of the 
 result of fatigue upon memory has been given 
 by Sir Henry Holland. He says : "I descended 
 on the same day two very deep mines in the 
 Hartz Mountains, remaining some hours under 
 ground in each. While in the second mine, ex- 
 hausted by fatigue and inanition, I felt the ut- 
 ter impossibility of talking longer with the Ger- 
 man inspector who accompanied me. Every 
 German word and phrase deserted my recollec- 
 tion ; and it was not until I had taken food 
 and wine and been at rest for some time, that 
 my memory returned. " 
 
 A fact like this, and, many others which 
 might be mentioned, goes to show that there is 
 a close relation between memory and nutrition. 
 
 PERFECT CIRCULATION OF BLOOD. 
 
 Memory is also, to a large extent, dependent 
 upon a perfect circulation of the blood in the 
 brain. The following case illustrates the effects 
 of impeded circulation of the blood on the mem- 
 ory, and is also a very interesting account of 
 
34 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 the workings of the mind in sleep, as given by 
 Mrs. Agassiz in the life of her husband : 
 
 " He [Agassiz] had been for two weeks striv- 
 ing to decipher the somewhat obscure impres- 
 sion of a fossil fish on the stone slab in 
 which it was preserved. Weary and perplexed 
 he put his work aside at last, and tried to dis- 
 miss it from his mind. Shortly after, he one 
 night awoke persuaded that while asleep he 
 had seen his fish with all the missing features 
 perfectly restored. But when he tried to hold 
 and make fast the image, it escaped him. 
 Nevertheless, he went early to the Jardin des 
 Plantes, thinking that on looking anew at the 
 impression he should see something which 
 would put him on the track of his vision. In 
 vain — the blurred record was as blank as ever. 
 The next night he saw the fish again, but with 
 no satisfactory result. When he awoke it dis- 
 appeared from his memory as before. Hoping 
 that the same experience might be repeated on 
 the third night, he placed a pencil and paper be- 
 side his bed before going to sleep. Accord*- 
 ingly, toward morning, the fish reappeared in 
 his dream, confusedly at first, but, at last, with 
 such distinctness that he had no longer doubt 
 
MEMORY AND NUTRITION. 35 
 
 as to its zoological characters. Still half dream- 
 ing, in perfect darkness, he traced these char- 
 acters on the sheet of paper at the bedside. In 
 the morning he was surprised to see in his noc- 
 turnal sketch features which he thought it im- 
 possible the fossil itself should reveal. He has- 
 tened to the Jardin des Plantes, and, with his 
 drawing as a guide, succeeded in chiselling 
 away the surface of the stone under which por- 
 tions of the fish proved to be hidden. When 
 wholly exposed, it corresponded with his dream 
 and his drawing, and he succeeded in classify- 
 ing it with ease. He often spoke of this as a 
 good illustration of the well-known fact that i 
 when the body is at rest the tired brain will do 
 the work it refused before." 
 
 QUALITY OF BLOOD. 
 
 The quality of the blood must also be consid- 
 ered. Th. Ribot, in a work upon diseases of 
 the memory, says : " Fever in its various stages -? 
 is accompanied by extreme activity of the 
 brain. In this activity the memory takes part. 
 We know that in fever the rapidity of the circu- 
 lation of the blood is excessive^thg^ this fluid 
 is altered from its normal state a»^ charged 
 2 
 
26 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOKY. 
 
 with the waste product arising from rapid com- 
 bustion. In this state persons often remember 
 impressions of trivial things, in which no inter- 
 est was taken, while, perhaps, more important 
 impressions are forgotten. It will generally be 
 found that such impressions were received 
 when the energies were high ; when exercise or 
 pleasure, or both, had raised the action of the 
 heart. We may note, also, the ease and rapid- 
 ity with which we remember at that period of 
 life when the blood is driven through the ves- 
 sels in plentiful and swift-moving streams, and 
 how difficult it is to remember when the circu- 
 lation of the blood diminishes with advancing 
 years. It is also well known that in the latter 
 part of life the composition of the blood is 
 changed, and it is less rich in red corpuscles 
 and albumen. When this is exhausted by long 
 illness memory is enfeebled with the circula- 
 tion." 
 
 Herbert Spencer writes : " Highly nervous 
 persons, in whom the action of the heart is 
 greatly lowered, habitually complain of loss of 
 memory and inability to think — symptoms 
 which diminish as fast as the natural rate of 
 the heart beats is regained." 
 
MEMORY AND NUTRITION. 27 
 
 Medicines and narcotics affect the memory . 
 temporarily, for good or evil, according to their 
 action. Hashish, opium and similar drugs ex- 
 cite the nervous system and increase the pow- 
 ers of memory, so long as their effects continue. 
 When these are lost, a condition of utter f orget- 
 fulness takes their place. Bromide of potassi- 
 um is a good illustration of a drug which re- 
 tards the circulation of the blood in the brain, 
 and thus weakens the memory. I have known 
 a professional man who nearly lost his powers 
 of recollection by using this medicine to cause 
 sleep, which only returned when he gave it up. 
 
 A man's memory is like a fine horse. To do 
 its best work it must have good treatment. It 
 must neither be neglected nor overworked. It 
 can easily be so abused by irregular and un- 
 systematic employment as to become a cause of 
 annoyance and discomfort ; or, again, it can be 
 so overworked and heavily taxed that it be- 
 comes practically the chief organ or agent of 
 the entire system, every other portion dwin- 
 dling in comparison. The latter course is the 
 great danger of those who value the help of a 
 tenacious memory. Both memory and a horse 
 are valuable, not in proportion to the burdens 
 
28 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 they can carry, but in proportion to their train- 
 ing for the work of the body as a whole ; and 
 either of them is made effective only by such a 
 course of life and training as shall bring them 
 up to their best condition and hold them there 
 permanently. 
 
 MEMORY AND BODILY ILLNESS. 
 RESULTS OF BRAIN INJURY. 
 
 Dr. Andrew Wilson, in an essay on this sub- 
 ject, says: "In cases of head injury involving 
 loss of consciousness, the patient, on recovery, 
 recollects the details of his past life, save those 
 which concern a short time before the accident. 
 The period immediately preceding the accident 
 remains a blank in the memory. There is a 
 perfect recollection of every event up to within 
 a certain period before the accident. Of the 
 events of this period, the patient on recovery 
 can remember nothing. A man falls down a 
 deep well, sustains severe concussion of the 
 brain, and on recovery is amazed at the loss of 
 memory for events occurring just before his ac- 
 
MEMORY AND BODILY ILLNESS. 29 
 
 cident. ' He actually makes guesses at his pro- 
 ceedings, but fails to explain to his own satis- 
 faction, or that of anybody else, what he was 
 doing to the well and its rope.' A lawyer, after 
 concluding an intricate piece of business, goes 
 for a ride on the sands. He is thrown from his 
 horse, and sustains brain concussion. After 
 his recovery, he can recollect nothing whatever 
 of the business in question, although his mem- 
 ory for events long prior to the accident is as 
 good as ever. The 'lost hour' in such cases is 
 that just before the accident. That it is, which 
 is the unwritten part of the mental slate, or, 
 rather, the part of the mental slate the writing 
 on which has been blurred, obscured or rubbed 
 out altogether. 
 
 "It becomes evident that in the details of such 
 curious results of brain injury and of loss of 
 memory, we should find some clue to the nature 
 of the memory processes. The expression con- 
 cerning a thought being 'driven out of one's 
 head ' would appear to possess an actual paral- 
 lel in the history of the physical accompani- 
 ments or basis of memory. The inferences 
 which may be drawn from such cases are clear 
 enough. As Mr. Bell has pointed out, in the 
 
30 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MBMOKT. 
 
 act of what is named 'memory' there are at 
 least two distinct processes involved. There 
 must be a reception or recording by the brain- 
 cells of the brain of the impression made upon 
 the organs of sense. The ' gateways of knowl- 
 edge,' as Prof. George Wilson long ago named 
 the ' senses,' receive and transmit to the brain, 
 and, if recent research is to be trusted, to 
 special parts of the central organ of the nervous 
 system, the impressions we ordinarily speak of 
 as the result of seeing, hearing, etc. Then the 
 exercise of memory involves the power of recall- 
 ing these impressions — a process varying 
 greatly in different persons in respect, of the 
 fease, rapidity and exactitude with which it is 
 effected. So much, at least, is perfectly clear 
 as regards the nature of memory-acts ; and this 
 statement may be accepted without hesitation, 
 though we may be very far from understanding 
 the rationale of the processes. 
 
 "It would seem to be a matter of tolerable cer- 
 tainty that each impression made upon the 
 brain-centers, requires for its repetition and 
 preservation, a certain period of time. The 
 cases of brain concussion we have studied prove 
 this. As the sensitive plate of the photographer 
 
MEMORY AND BODILY ILLNESS. 31 
 
 requires a certain period of exposure for the re- 
 ception of the image, and as a still further 
 period is necessary for the fixation of the image ' 
 thereon, so the nervous mechanism demands a 
 certain period for the fixation of the impres-*' 
 sions which are to do duty in the ' memories ' 
 of the future. As Mr. Savory puts it, the men-*^ 
 tal ink must have time to dry. Any blurring^ 
 resulting from concussion, will render the after- 
 production of the impressions which we name 
 * memory,' imperfect, feeble, or it may be, alto- 
 gether impossible. 
 
 RESULTS OP THE USE OF NARCOTICS. 
 
 "In opposition to the loss of memory for im- 
 mediately preceding events, which a severe 
 shock to the brain is known to entail, Mr. Bell 
 records what is a common enough experience of 
 all who have had much to do with the adminis- 
 tration of chloroform or other narcotics, name- 
 ly, that 'almost always, intelligent patients* 
 can recall with great accuracy the last words 
 spoken before unconsciousness.' In other 
 worlds, the insensibility of the brain produced 
 by chloroform does not erase the memory-fac- 
 ulty for occurrences just preceding the admis- 
 
33 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 tration, as brain injury obscures the recollec- 
 tion of the patient. There is no 'lost hour' 
 in the case of chloroforming, as in that of brain 
 concussion. It may happen that if the patient 
 is told to hold up one hand and to count aloud 
 slowly while inhaling the cholroform, the hand 
 falls as the patient ceases to count. After the 
 operation has been concluded it often happens 
 that the next number to the one last counted 
 is slowly pronounced. What here happens is 
 clear and patent enough. The chloroform has 
 ^merely suspended intellectual operations, it has 
 not destroyed them. It has made the period of 
 insensibility alone a mental blank; it has left 
 entirely untouched the registration of the mem- 
 ory-impressions which were present just before 
 the artificial sleep, as it has not interfered with 
 those which succeeded it. So, also, in slight 
 attacks of epilepsy, the momentary loss of con- 
 sciousness which occurs leaves the memory im- 
 paired; the patient naturally and exactly re- 
 suming his conversation as if no * fit ' had in- 
 tervened. 
 
 " The interesting deduction, then, remains, 
 that judging by the results of surgical experi- 
 ence, impressions need a certain period of time 
 
MEMORY AND BODILY ILLNESS. 33 
 
 their fixation in the brain. Of the exact time 
 thus required for mental fixation of impres- 
 sions we know nothing; but it is a perfect- 
 ly justifiable inference that the period must 
 vary with the individual. It is more than pro- 
 bable that the 'good memory' amongst other 
 qualities, possesses that of ready, early and 
 rapid fixation of impressions. The monotonous 
 repetition of words and ideas used by many 
 in committing facts to memory, in this light 
 may be viewed as a clumsy liiethod of assist- 
 ing the powers of mental fixation in question. 
 The individual who requires 'time to think' 
 before he can guarantee his remembrance of 
 what he has seen or heard, probably devotes 
 the period of thought to unconscious and in- 
 voluntary registration of the impressions he 
 has received; and differences in the rapidity 
 with which ideas can be reproduced in the 
 work of the brain, may depend on the ease 
 with which different individuals mentally ef- 
 fect this process of fixation, or it may depend 
 on the fact that the brain ganglia, or centers, 
 in some persons are more active than in others^ 
 " That the mere process of receiving impres-^ 
 sions and ideas which are afterwards repro- 
 3* 
 
34 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 duced by acts of memory may be of an in- 
 stantaneous character, seems proved by many 
 well-known instances familiar to physiological 
 inquirers. 
 
 UNCONSCIOUS MEMORY. 
 
 " The following examples show that the mem- 
 ory faculty may be exercised unconsciously, 
 and that the impression reproduced must hare 
 been received with marvelous rapidity and ex- 
 actitude : In a Roman Catholic town in Ger- 
 many, a young woman, who could neither read 
 nor write, was seized with a fever, and was said 
 by the priests to be possessed of a devil, be- 
 cause she was heard talking Latin, Greek and 
 Hebrew, Whole sheets of her ravings were 
 written out, and found to consist of sentences 
 intelligible in themselves, but having slight 
 connection with each other. Of her Hebrew 
 sayings, only a few could be traced to the 
 Bible, and most seemed to be in the Rabbinical 
 dialect. All trick was out of the question ; the 
 woman was a simple creature; there was no 
 doubt as to the fever. It was long before any 
 explanation could be obtained. At last the 
 mystery was unvailed by a physician, who, 
 
MEMORY AND BODILY ILLNESS. 35 
 
 after much trouble, discovered that at the age 
 of nine she was taken into the house of a great 
 Hebrew scholar, remaining there till his death. 
 On further inquiry it appeared to have been 
 the old man's custom for years to walk up and 
 down a passage of his house, into which the 
 kitchen opened, and to read to himself with a 
 loud voice out of his books. The books were 
 ransacked, and among them were found several 
 of the Greek and Latin fathers, together with 
 a collection of Rabbinical writings. In these 
 works so many of the passages taken down at 
 the young woman's bedside were identified,' 
 that there could be no doubt as to their source. 
 
 "In this case the fever served as a brain 
 stimulant, and caused the reproduction of mem- 
 ories, of which, in healthy and normal exist- 
 ence, the patient could have entertained no re- 
 collection; and that impressions, thus repro- 
 duced, must also have been received rapidly 
 and registered indelibly are also inferences of 
 a justifiable kind. Michea relates a case show- 
 ing how instantaneously the memory faculty 
 may operate. A young butcher, living at Bi- 
 c6tre, suffered an attack of madness. During 
 his paroxysms he recited entire passages from 
 
36 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 the tragedy of ' Phfedre.' He had only once be- 
 held the tragedy represented; and on his re- 
 covery failed to recollect a single verse. 
 
 " Another case is that of a man who, -whilst 
 a patient in a hospital, suffering from a head 
 injury, spoke in a language during his partial 
 recovery from illness, which no one could un- 
 derstand. The language was, however, found 
 to be "Welsh. The man was a Welshman; he 
 had been absent from his native countrj^ so 
 long that he had entirely forgotten his native 
 tongue. When he recovered, he completely 
 forgot his Welsh again and spoke the English 
 language. The accident in this case had ex- 
 hibited the effect of stimulating memories 
 which had become obsolete." 
 
 MEMORY, ITS EXALTATION AND DEGENER- 
 ATION. 
 
 EXALTATION. 
 
 An exaltation of memory is where a multitude 
 of recollections spring up involuntarily on every 
 hand. It has its cause in an increase of the 
 
EXALTATION AND DEGENERATION. 37 
 
 circulation of the blood in the brain. It fre- 
 quently appears in acute diseases, especially in 
 "^ fevers. It is common in maniacal patients, and ' 
 it sometimes appears as a feature of hysteria 
 and in the early stages of brain diseases. 
 
 This subject of exaltation of memory will be 
 best understood by some simple illustrations. 
 There have been many accounts of persons 
 saved from imminent death by drowning who 
 all agree that at the moment of asphyxia they 
 deemed to see their entire lives unrolled before 
 them, even to the minutest detail. Some go so 
 far as to say that every instance of former life 
 seems to flash across the memory, not as an 
 outline merely, but with every detail filled in 
 with the most remarkable minutia — every act 
 of life, whether right or wrong, comes back 
 with great vividness. Ribot cites the case of a 
 clear-headed man who was in the act of cross- 
 ing a railroad track when an express train, run- 
 ning at full speed, appeared close at hand. 
 The man had barely time to throw himself down 
 in the center of the road between the two lines 
 of rails ; and as the train rushed over him, the 
 feeling of impending danger brought to his 
 recollection most vividly every act and incident 
 
38 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 of his former life, so as to suggest to him the 
 opening of "the great book at the last day." 
 
 There is, no doubt, much exaggeration in 
 these statements, and such augmentation may 
 be regarded as abnormal and undesirable, being 
 indications of disease, but they teach one lesson 
 to those who would strengthen their memories, 
 and that is the value and necessity of a per- 
 fectly healthy and vigorous circulation of blood 
 in the brain. 
 
 DEGENERATION. 
 
 The same lesson is taught by an opposite con- 
 dition from that of an exaltation — a diminution 
 of the normal memory by a decay or withering 
 of the brain cells and a diminished supply of 
 blood to the parts. 
 
 The loss of memory in the aged is a familiar 
 example, and can only be accounted for by a 
 deterioration of the brain elements and a dim- 
 inution of blood supplied to them. One of the 
 worst features of such cases is the fact that an 
 old person i^ not for a long time after decay has 
 begun.aware of it. I am now treating a case of 
 loss of memory in a person advanced in years, 
 who did not know that his memory had failed 
 
EXALTATION AND DBGBNEEATION 39 
 
 most remarkably till I told him of it. He is 
 making vigorous effort to bring it back again, 
 and with partial success. 
 
 The method pursued is to spend two hours 
 daily, one in the m.orning and one in the even- 
 ing, in exercising this faculty. The patient is 
 instructed to give the closest attention to all 
 that he learns, so that it shall be impressed on 
 the mind clearly. He is asked to recall every 
 evening all the facts and experiences of the 
 day, and again the next morning. Every name 
 heard is written down and impressed on his 
 mind clearly, and an effort made to recall it at 
 intervals. Ten names from among public men 
 are ordered to be committed to memory every 
 week. A verse of poetry is to be learned, also 
 a verse from the Bible, daily. He is asked to 
 remember the number of the page in any book 
 where any interesting fact is recorded. These 
 and other methods are slowly resuscitating a * 
 failing memory. 
 
 The aged should all look to this danger in 
 their lives and resolve to combat it from the 
 very first. By so doing they will _^make their 
 declining years more enjoyable, and give much 
 greater pleasure to their friends. Unceasing 
 
40 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 self -culture, especially in preserving the mem- 
 ory and intellectual faculties, should constitute 
 a considerable part of the life of every aged 
 person, even more than of the young. Only by 
 it can this period of life be rendered pleasant 
 and profitable. The beneficial effect of this 
 course on the general health is also very con- 
 siderable. 
 
 ATTENTION. 
 
 When any person has decided to train and 
 strengthen his memory, he will find it of great 
 advantage to know som^ of the first principles 
 upon which to proceed. In this and the follow- 
 ing pages I shall give such suggestions as will 
 make memory culture much less difficult and 
 more certain than when pursued in a loose and 
 irregular manner. 
 w The most important point is to give strict and 
 undivided attention to the matter to be remem- 
 bered, so that the first impression shall be a 
 vivid and strong one. I believe that all writers 
 have recognized this fact, and if it were fully 
 understood and practiced it would make mem- 
 ory culture comparatively easy. If any one 
 will watch the intellectual processes of his 
 
EXALTATION AND DEGENERATION. 41 
 
 own mind, it will not be long before he will 
 discover that the distinct recollection of any 
 fact or idea is, as a rule, in direct proportion to 
 the vividness of the first impression and the 
 attention with which it has been received. 
 
 There are two ways in which attention is ex- 
 ercised. There is the involuntary or automatic 
 attention which one gives to any subject with- " 
 out the aid of the will ; it has little directness 
 and little value. By it the mind is never con- 
 centrated on any subject ; it is the kind of at- 
 tention which too many students give. It is 
 much less straining to the brain, and will do 
 very well for invalids and weaklings. Diges- 
 tion, respiration and the circulation of the blood 
 may well be left to the involuntary action of 
 the organs concerned ; but earnest students will 
 not leave mental culture to the involuntary, 
 almost unconscious day-dreamings and absent- 
 mindedness of the nervous system. They will 
 direct their thoughts by an earnest effort of the 
 will. The degree to which they will do this 
 must be decided by their own powers. Long- 
 continued attention to one subject is exhaust- ' 
 ing, and must be relieved by change. This is 
 particularly the case with children. Their wills 
 
42 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 are weak and not capable of holding the mind 
 for a long time to one subject. Involuntary 
 
 J attention is injurious to the intellectual facul- 
 ties. It keeps the thoughts on the lower range 
 of brain action, and never spurs the nervous 
 system up to its best. Voluntary attention is 
 
 I bracing and tonic in its effects. By it one can 
 accomplish almost any task. 
 
 ^ In training the attention one must be careful 
 and not direct it altogether through one chan- 
 nel. There is attention and memory through 
 hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell. Every 
 sense has a memory of its own. For the pur- 
 
 i pose of memory culture, hearing and sight are 
 
 ' all that I need here to consider. 
 
 N^ We acquire most of our knowledge through 
 the senses, and in our efforts to strengthen the 
 memory it will be well to bear this in mind. 
 In listening to a lecture, for instance, it is 
 mainly the sense of hearing that is taking in 
 the words and thoughts of the speaker. In 
 reading the same lecture, the impressions come 
 through the sense of sight, and the effect is 
 somewhat different. The person who reads a 
 discourse will remember it differently from the 
 one who hears it, so it is well to make both 
 
EXALTATION AND DEGENERATION. 43 
 
 senses aid us. This gives added power, devel- 
 ops the brain in new ways and aids us in cor- 
 recting by one sense erroneous impressions of 
 the other. 
 
 REPETITION. 
 
 If the attention has been properly directed to 
 the subject in hand repetition is less necessary, 
 but in any case it is important. There are a 
 few persons whose mental vigor is so great that 
 once hearing or seeing anything is sufficieht ; but 
 their number is small. The reason why a child 
 learns its mother tongue is because the words 
 and phrases are being constantly repeated to 
 it and by it. Let the child after learning to 
 talk fluently, be taken to a foreign country, 
 where it cannot hear its own language for 
 years, and it forgets it. Why ? Because there 
 is no repetition. So it is with other things. 
 The student forgets much of his Latin and 
 Greek if he does not constantly study them; 
 the musician forgets his music if he does not 
 practice, and the physician his knowledge of 
 medicine. I believe that next to attention suf- 
 ficient to make the first impression a vivid one, 
 occasional repetition is the greatest aid one can ■ 
 
44 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 have to insure strength and efficiency of the 
 memory. If the first impression has not been 
 a vivid one, the number of repetitions must be 
 extended many times. This is a fact which I 
 have tested, and which any one may test for 
 himself with very little trouble. 
 
 SUGGESTION, ASSOCIATIONS, LINKS AND 
 CHAINS. 
 
 Few realize how great is the influence of sug- 
 gestion upon the memory. A thought by itself 
 ' is not easily called up ; but some other thought 
 in no way related to it is brought to the mind 
 by a friend, by reading, or some incident, and, 
 lo, the forgotten one comes to mind instantly. 
 If any one will watch the processes of his own 
 mind for even one day, he will be astonished 
 to see how much the course of his thoughts 
 has been determined by some little thing that 
 suggests something else, and so on. 
 
 To illustrate. This morning I received a let- 
 ter from an entire stranger. It so happened 
 that it bore the postmark of a town near which 
 I lived in my youth. On seeing this mark, it 
 
SUGGESTION. 45 
 
 immediately suggested to my mind and called 
 up a whole train of youthful memories that had 
 not been thought of for years. One after an- 
 other visions of old friends and scenes came 
 flowing back again in rich abundance. Why 
 was this ? Simply because the little postmark 
 suggested a thought which led to them. 
 
 Since I have been studying this subject I 
 have observed, time and again, how one story 
 told by a friend at the dinner-table suggests 
 another, and so on for a whole hour ; how one 
 remark will often decide the whole course of 
 conversation for a long time, simply because 
 the idea seemed to be so related to what fol- 
 lowed as to suggest it. Indeed, one may be 
 almost certain that one's thoughts and acts of 
 any day have been largely determined by his 
 preceding acts and the acts of those with whom 
 he has come in contact. Our memories are ^.- 
 matter of suggestion, associations, links and 
 chains of thought, so related to each other that 
 one brings up another, and so on indefinitely. 
 It is by taking advantage of this bond of asso- 
 ciation of ideas that we form all rational meth- * 
 ods of strengthening the memory. Dr. An- 
 drew Wilson says on this subject : 
 
46 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 "A 'first principle' in the education of the 
 memory consists in the cultivation of habits of 
 mental association as part of our daily practice 
 of thought. All systems of mnemonics utilize 
 this principle of association in the culture of 
 the recoUective powers. Their aim is the en- 
 deavor to instil, by one means or another, the 
 habit of linking together those thoughts that 
 are naturally related. The more easily this is 
 accomplished, the more readily does the mem- 
 ory become available for its work. The differ- 
 ence between one system of memory-education 
 and another lies in the more or less natural 
 method in which the teacher seeks to group the 
 thoughts of his pupils, and to accustom them to 
 arrange their ideas. It is the want of such a 
 natural system of 'linkage' which frustrates 
 most of the educative efforts of our day. Masses 
 of facts are presented to the minds of boys and 
 girls at school, in a crude, undigested form. 
 They are left to acquire them without the 
 1 slightest attempt at making an arrangement or 
 i formulating a method of remembrance. Mem- 
 ory-powers are not encouraged, but the reverse, 
 in our system of education. I say this because 
 I have been engaged for years in the practice 
 
SUGGESTION, 47 
 
 of teaching, and because I have been a daily 
 witness of the defects of education in this 
 respect. 
 
 "It is desired, say, in teaching botany, to 
 impress on the pupil's mind the parts of a 
 flower. Science teachers find that notwith- 
 standing abundant demonstration and repeti- 
 tion of names, the facts taught are forgotten 
 in a few days or even hours. The pupil having 
 been shown the parts of the flower, having 
 heard them named, having named them him- 
 self, and having written them down in his note 
 book, might be regarded as fully supplied by 
 eyes, ears and intellect with the knowledge it 
 is desired he should remember. Yet, on being 
 questioned next day respecting his lesson, his 
 mind is often a blank regarding half of the 
 facts. The reason of his teacher's disappoint- 
 ment is not far to seek. The facts were sup- 
 plied to the pupil without any attempt at asso-f 
 elating them. Even in ' learning ' the multi- 
 plication table there is association of numbers, 
 so often repeated, that the mere rythm of the 
 table fixes the details on the mind ; but in the 
 botanical lesson, and with all its demonstration 
 of the object with which it deals, there has 
 
48 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 been no 'linkage' of ideas, except a simple 
 and natural association of one with the other. 
 
 "In the practice of teaching, it is easy, I 
 think, to better this state of matters., I have 
 found, as a matter of experience, that without 
 using any artificial stimuli to memory in the 
 shape of links or clues, the facts presented say, 
 by a flower, may be made to dwell permanent- 
 ly in the mind. Thus, supposing I am dealing 
 with the green calyx of a buttercup, forming, 
 as does the calyx, the outer circle of leaves in 
 in the flower. The pupil sees the five green 
 leaves, he calls them sepals, and he knows they 
 form the calyx. Now, if I allow him to think 
 of calyx alone, or of sepals alone, I feel toler- 
 ably certain he will not recollect one or the 
 other. But if I insist on his never thinking of 
 one {calyx) without at the same time thinking 
 of the other (sepals), I am almost confident 
 both will be remembered. So is it with other 
 parts of the fiower, and so it is with other 
 studies. We do not require artificial links 
 when, as it seems to me, nature has, in the 
 majority of cases, supplied natural ones in the 
 ordinary associations of the objects we think 
 about. If I am content to allow a pupil to think 
 
SUGGESTION. 49 
 
 of the parts of the pistil of a flower as three 
 separate and distinct items — ovary, style and 
 stigma — the chances are that when he desires 
 to recollect the parts of the pistil, his memory 
 will fail him, simply because the parts have 
 never been associated in his mind. But if, on 
 the other hand, he is taught from the first to 
 think of ovary, style and stigma as three con- 
 nected ideas and parts, he can no more avoid 
 remembering all three than he can think of 
 a man without thinking of his head. 
 
 " This natural association of thoughts serves 
 our turn in the acquirement of the memory- 
 powers which stand us in good stead when we 
 gain the power of repeating poems and other 
 compositions, involving, it may be, many hun- 
 dreds of lines aad ideas. As a matter of per- 
 sonal experience most of us know that we re- 
 collect the gist of the poem and the succession 
 of its verses most readily when the association 
 of the events it describes is clearly kept in 
 mind. I know an actor who, without possess- 
 ing a good memory in the ordinary sense of 
 that term, always seems letter-perfect in his 
 parts. His method of acquiring his part illus- 
 trates the natural memory I advocate for all. 
 3 
 
50 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOEY. 
 
 Instead of contenting himself with his part, 
 cut up, as usual, into the disconnected sen- 
 tences which the cues of the other characters 
 suggest, he procures the entire play, reads it 
 over carefully, and gains a clear idea of the 
 succession of events depicted therein. A nat- 
 ural association or hroad outline of connected 
 nature is thus suggested in the first place to 
 his mind. Thereafter he studies his own part, 
 and the detached sentences of which it consists, 
 as that part remains in the entire book of the 
 play. He thus strengthens the natural associ- 
 ation of ideas which have been gained by his 
 perusal of the entire play in the first instance. 
 Then, having so far educated his mind in the 
 complete production, he proceeds to con over 
 his own detached part as usually supplied, and 
 finds that the otherwise meaningless sentences 
 of the ' cut part ' have already set in his mind 
 into a harmonious connection, easy of remem- 
 brance. This is only another illustration of 
 the natural method of memory, practiced with- 
 out the aids of links and associations other 
 than those the subject in hand very naturally 
 supplies." 
 These suggestions from Dr. Wilson we regard 
 
EXAMPLE OF MEMORY CULTUKE. 61 
 
 as of the highest importance, and should be 
 thoroughly mastered by the teacher who would 
 teach successfully, and by the pupil who is en- 
 deavoring by self-culture to strengthen his 
 memory. 
 
 A STRIKING EXAMPLE OF MEMORY CUL- 
 TURE. 
 
 In my long acquaintance and friendly rela- 
 tions with Norton S. Townshend, M. D., now 
 Professor of Practical Agriculture in the Ohio 
 University, it had occurred to me I had rarely 
 known a man with so good a memory. He 
 seemed to have at the end of his tongue about 
 everything that he had ever read or experi- 
 enced. How did he come by such a memqry ? 
 Was it a birthright, or had he trained it by 
 years of discipline ? This is the story he told 
 me; it is full of interest and may serve as a 
 stimulus to others : 
 
 "When I was about five years of age, I 
 was thrown from a horse. Inflammation of the 
 brain followed, and for many weeks convul- 
 sions were of frequent occurrence. There was 
 
52 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 partial recovery after a time, but the memory 
 remained seriously affected; almost all knowl- 
 edge previously acquired was lost, including the 
 use of language, only two words being retained 
 through and after the illness. When the gene- 
 ral health was restored words were re-learned, 
 and facts previously known were regained 
 singly or in groups. For years afterward, how- 
 ever, the memory continued unreliable. When 
 a lesson had been thoroughly learned at school, 
 sometimes no part of it could be recalled when 
 the time came for recitation. If sent upon an 
 errand it was very often necessary for me after 
 starting to go back and be told over again what 
 was wanted. This weakness became not only 
 troublesome, but very humiliating, and, finally, 
 a fixed determination was formed to overcome 
 this serious defect. The means adopted were 
 as follow : 
 
 CLOSE ATTENTION. 
 
 " It was found that what was seen or heard 
 in an easy, careless sort of a way was not re- 
 tained, but when by an effort of will the atten- 
 tion was aroused and fixed upon whatever it 
 was desirable to remember, and a distinct con- 
 
EXAMPLE OF MEMORY CULTURE. 53 
 
 ception obtained, there was then a good pros- 
 pect of its being remembered. Gradually, as 
 this fixing of the attention became habitual, it 
 required less and less of effort. 
 
 CAREFUL OBSERVATION AND REFLECTION. 
 
 "In the acquisition of knowledge from per- 
 sonal observation, conversation or reading, it 
 was often found necessary to deepen the impres- 
 sion by reflection. Questions something like 
 these were silently asked : What is this ? What 
 is its name ? What are its properties and uses ? 
 With what is it associated ? What have I been 
 told, and by whom ? What have I been read- 
 ing, and from what author ? Such questions 
 with their answers cleared up imperfect concep- 
 tions and left instead definite forms not apt to 
 be forgotten. This plan also afforded a useful 
 exercise in verbal expression. When the habit 
 of uniting careful observation with refiectipn 
 had become established it was comparatively 
 easy, and greatly aided the memory. 
 
 METHODICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 " The linking of things together in the mind, 
 so that when one member of a series is called 
 
54 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 up the others will be at command, I found to 
 great value. Association is said to be of three 
 kinds : incidental, classified or methodical and 
 artificial. 
 
 "Incidental association is seen where things 
 are connected in the mind as they may have 
 happened together in time or place, without re- 
 gard to any intimate relationship. This casual 
 or incidental association leaves our mental ac- 
 quisitions in a promiscuous and ill-assorted con- 
 dition; it was therefore as much as possible 
 avoided. 
 
 "Methodical association is the orderly ar- 
 rangement, or putting together of things which 
 have some natural relation. As an illustration 
 of such method, take a good business man's 
 office desk, where there are separate books for 
 different kinds of entries, and special pigeon- 
 holes for all classes of papers, so that anything 
 can be found the instant it is wanted. This 
 classifying or arranging of facts was secured 
 from time to time by a few questions, such as. 
 Here is a fact, to what is it related ? What 
 have I previously learned which belongs to the 
 same subject ? Or, Here is an incident, . how 
 can it be explained? What will it serve to 
 
EXAMPLE OF MEMORY CULTURE. 55 
 
 illustrate ? Questions asked in this manner 
 and answered made it possible to store away 
 all sorts of items so that they would be forth- 
 coming when required. 
 
 "Artificial association was used for remem- 
 bering isolated facts where no natural connec- 
 tion was evident. An example of this is the 
 familiar acrostic, v i b g y o r, which so many, 
 employ to recall in their order the seven pri- 
 mary colors : violet, indigo, blue, green, yel- 
 low, orange and red. Another example is the 
 association of facts about some center one 
 which it is easy to remember. The date of the 
 Great Fire in London is A. D. 1666 ; this is very 
 easily remembered from the repetition of the 
 figure 6. This date enables one ^;o name the 
 time of the 'Great Plague, which was the year 
 previous ; it also serves to indicate the begin- 
 ning of fire insurance, which sprang like a phe- 
 nix from the ashes of the city. Other items 
 may be clustered about the same date, as, for 
 example, the year of the fire in London was 
 that in which tea was introduced from China 
 into England. There are many dates which 
 might be associated with these facts were it 
 necessary; I only mention a few by way of 
 
56 HOW TO STEENGHEN THE MEMOEY. 
 
 illustration, the memory student can extend 
 them to suit his own needs. 
 
 ^/^ MENTAL EMPLOYMENT. 
 
 "Steady mental work had much to do with 
 keeping not only the mi^mory, but other facul- 
 ties in working order. Teaching in Sunday-' 
 school, membership in a lyceum and other so- 
 cieties, required the constant use of whatever 
 knowledge had been already gained, and com- 
 pelled frequent resort to new sources of infor- 
 mation. By such measures the memory was 
 aided and strengthened greatly, and a laborious 
 and successful professional life was made possi- 
 ble. 
 
 . " My case affords evidence that by systematic 
 and persistent effort a defective memory may 
 be greatly improved; but, as will be noticed, 
 this improvement was not secured by taxing, 
 and still less by overtaxing, an enfeebled fac- 
 ulty. Its improvement was secured by close at- 
 tention, repetition, careful observation, frequent 
 reflection, methodical association and steady 
 mental labor. Early in the effort I have de- 
 scribed, two small books were purchased and 
 thoroughly studied ; these were The Improve- 
 
MEMORY CULTURE IN SCHOOLS. 67 
 
 ment of the Mind, by Watts, and The Intellec- 
 tual Powers, by Abercrombie. The success ob- 
 tained was, I now think, in large measure due 
 to the valuable suggestions found therein. 
 
 "The pleasure which I have derived from the 
 training of the memory, and, at the same time, 
 the intellectual faculties, has been very great ; 
 but in addition it may be said that I do not 
 see how it would have been possible for me 
 to have followed the varied occupations of my 
 life, that of an extensive farmer, a physician 
 and surgeon, politician, college professor and 
 lecturer had I not first restored my memory by 
 careful training and discipline." 
 
 MEMORY CULTURE IN SCHOOLS. 
 
 There are two methods used in schools for 
 learning the lessons assigned to the pupils : 
 one consists in having them commit every word 
 of the lesson ; the other is in having them mas- 
 ter its chief contents, and allowing the pUpil to 
 give these in his own language. Both have 
 value as means of strengthening the memory, 
 and both should be assiduously cultivated if the 
 3* 
 
58 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOBY. 
 
 instruction is to produce its best effects. Com- 
 mitting to memory word by word, however, 
 should never be carried to excess in early 
 youth, and it should never be practiced to the 
 exclusion of mastering the chief contents of a 
 lesson, unless it is desirable to have the mind 
 degenerate into a mere machine with no spon- 
 taneity and no originality. Besides, a pupil 
 may learn a lesson by rote and be able to re- 
 peat every word of it, and yet have very little 
 comprehension of its sense. 
 
 I will now give some hints for training the 
 memory which may be useful in schools, and 
 the same suggestions are also applicable to 
 persons who have passed the period of student 
 life. 
 
 Let the teacher give to his pupil any object 
 with which he is well acquainted, some animal 
 or an article of household furniture, for in- 
 stance, and ask him to think over what he 
 knows about it, out of school hours, and repeat 
 it in his own way when there is a suitable 
 opportunity. Or, better still, let him take a 
 walk through some field or wood, where there 
 are many objects of interest, with the idea in 
 his mind that he is to remember and write 
 
MEMORY CULTURE IN SCHOOLS. 69 
 
 down or relate what has interested him most, 
 to some one who is willing to listen to him. 
 This not only exercises the memory, but also 
 the faculties of observation. 
 
 Let the pupil frequently give, in words of his 
 own, the chief points in some short, agreeable 
 and instructive story. 
 
 The teacher must seek to impress on the 
 mind of the pupil the exact meaning of all 
 that he learns, so that it may be understood, 
 and all the senses should be brought into ex- 
 ercise as much as possible ; the greater the 
 number of senses employed in observing any 
 object the naore firmly will it be held in the 
 mind. Eyes, ears, touch, taste and smell com- 
 municate to the brain some special knowledge, 
 and each has a memory of its own. 
 
 The teacher seeks to have unknown things 
 and universal truths learned in connection with 
 known things and truths ; this helps to impress 
 them more intelligibly on the brain and ren- 
 der them more easy to remember. 
 
 The teacher aims to impress on the pupil's 
 mind useful knowledge. Important facts may 
 be remembered by using them for writing les- 
 sons. They should be copied off from the 
 
60 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 teacher's dictation into the pupil's copy-book. 
 
 The teacher endeavors to excite and please 
 
 .the mind while he at the same time cultivates 
 
 Ithe memory, well knowing that this faculty 
 
 i 
 
 ' is strengthened best by agreeable impressions. 
 
 This -is done by relating important truths and 
 
 principles to the pupil, with the instruction 
 
 that he shall remember as much as he can. 
 
 At the conclusion of a lesson let the teacher 
 call upon one of the pupils to give a brief 
 I synopsis of what has been gone over. This 
 will help to impress firmly the whole subject 
 on the minds of the other members of the 
 class and answer the purpose of a review. 
 The truths of religion and morality, and the 
 rules of life should, on all appropriate occa- 
 sions, be brought before the children in order 
 that they may become fixed in their memories. 
 
 This kind of training, with special reference 
 to strengthening the memory, need not, in th.e 
 case of very young children, be carried to such 
 an extent as to strain their little minds and 
 injure their health. Memory lessons should be 
 short and never, under any circumstances, 
 over-tax the brain. 
 
 There are some things that must be learned 
 
MEMORY CULTURE IN SCHOOLS. 61 
 
 by heart ; it will not do to give only a synop- 
 sis of the multiplication table. The rules of 
 arithmetic, algebra and geometry must be com- 
 mitted to memory word by word with exact- 
 ness ; so must many other things taught in 
 schools. The good teacher leads his pupils 
 in this respect by pleasant paths if he would 
 have them attain the objects sought by instruc- 
 tion. A few suggestions may help both teach- 
 ers and pupils in this respect. 
 
 The teacher should endeavor to have the 
 children trained quite early in committing to 
 memory. This is a faculty which may be de- 
 veloped at a very young age. Indeed, after the 
 power of perception the memory is the first 
 faculty of the mind to be unfolded. The longer 
 this mental power is neglected the more diffi- 
 cult it will be to develop it ; on the other hand, 
 the earlier it is brought into rational use the 
 more easily will it become strong, the more 
 readily will it hold in mind things to be re- 
 membered. 
 
 The first and most important rule is never 
 to give too much to be committed at one time. 
 Nothing is so much opposed to the true theory 
 of education as to overload the faculties of a 
 
62 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 child. It takes away all the pleasure of edu- 
 cation ; nothing is maintained thoroughly, and 
 correctness is almost impossible when the les- 
 son is too long. 
 
 The teacher should only give to the pupil 
 what he can understand ; or, at least, what he 
 can understand when it has been properly ex- 
 plained. Only what is understood is grasped 
 by the faculties of the mind and thus made 
 useful ; all else is so much mental rubbish. 
 
 Nearly all the youth in schools find it difficult 
 to remember the names of countries, towns, 
 rivers, mountain chains, population, etc. The 
 teacher should recognize the fact that the 
 youthful brain is not strong enough to master 
 all such details, and he may wisely leave 
 many of them to be acquired later in life, 
 through the reading of newspapers and books. 
 I To master a difficult name without connecting 
 ■ it with an idea is an almost impossible thing to 
 do ; but it may often be made much easier by 
 connecting a number of them together, and 
 having them sung to some simple melody. For 
 instance, the names of all the States of our own 
 country, together with their respective capitals, 
 may be thus easily committed to memory. In 
 
MEMORY CULTURE IN SCHOOLS. 63 
 
 like manner, the names of the counties of the 
 State in which the pupils reside, "with those of 
 their county seats, may be learned with com- 
 parative ease. The same method will apply to 
 the arranging of the names of the principal 
 rivers of a country, \vith the bodies of water 
 and the mountain ranges, thus at one and the 
 same time cultivating the memory and the 
 youthful voice, and furnishing for the pupils 
 agreeable recreation. 
 
 It is important to choose the right matter to 
 be conamitted to memory. The following are 
 some of the things to be learned at the proper 
 time: such rules of behavior, morality and 
 worldly wisdom as all ought to know ; the 
 forms of all kinds of business letters and ac- 
 counts ; letters of thanks, apology and con- 
 gratulation; letters of advice, power of attor- 
 ney, contracts, proclamations, etc. Songs of 
 patriotism are most easily learned, and will be 
 more durably remembered if committed during 
 school life. It will be well, however, to give 
 the pupil considerable liberty to change the 
 wording of naany forms, as in too many cases 
 they are much too formal. It is quite wonder- 
 ful how this kind of knowledge becomes fixed 
 
64 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORT. 
 
 in the memory, even though there be unfre- 
 quent opportunity to use it. 
 
 The history of one's own country, at least the 
 main facts of its history, should be acquired 
 with exactness. In geography, one should 
 know the boundaries of the different countries ; 
 the names of the important rivers, mountains 
 and cities ; the chief products, both animal, 
 vegetable and mineral ; the principal divisions 
 of land and the chief geometrical forms may 
 be learned also. The teacher should not forget 
 to explain all these subjects so clearly that they 
 will be readily understood; this makes com- 
 mitting to memory much easier and more ef- 
 fective. 
 
 The teacher should give his pupils suitable 
 instruction as to how they should master 
 a subject. It will be an advantage when 
 giving this instruction to set them something 
 to learn, asking them to commit to memory 
 the first sentence thoroughly ; then have them 
 learn another sentence in the same way ; when 
 the sentences have been learned let both be 
 repeated a few times. After this, let them 
 take a third sentence, and when it is learned 
 let it be repeated also, and so on till the whole 
 
MEMORY CULTURE IN SCHOOLS. 65 
 
 lesson is mastered. If the example be a poem, 
 then let one verse be committed first, then an- 
 other, and the second repeated, and so on till 
 the last has been learned and that, too, can be 
 correctly repeated. In learning a poem, each 
 line should be thought of in connection with 
 the one that follows, so that the first may 
 suggest the second, the second the third, and 
 so on, and each verse should be thought of in 
 connection with the one that follows. In this 
 way, after a little practice of association, every- 
 thing becomes easy and natural. 
 
 The teacher should not forget that it is very 
 important to have his pupils repeat in a very 
 clear voice what has been learned, giving em- 
 phasis, infiection, due regard to punctuation 
 and such other points as may be requisite to 
 bring out the sense of the author in the best 
 manner. By this method the pupil strength- 
 ens his memory and his voice at the same time, 
 and also improves his elocutionary powers. 
 
 The teacher should impress it on the minds 
 of his pupils that the value of a good memory 
 cannot be over-estimated. He may mention 
 the fact that nearly all great men have excel- 
 lent memories, giving as an illustration the 
 
66 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 case of William CuUen Bryant, of whom it 
 has been said that he knew every one of his 
 poems well, and could have reproduced them 
 had they been destroyed. 
 
 The teacher should remember that the mem- 
 ory cannot be disciplined to advantage when 
 the mind of his pupil is distracted by feelings, 
 sensations and thoughts foreign to the subject 
 of study. It may also be said that if a child 
 is badly fed, insuflficiently clothed, or suffering 
 from some inward complaint ; if the lungs and 
 circulatory system be oppressed by the foul 
 atmosphere of a crowded schoolroom; if the 
 nervous energy be suppressed by imperfect 
 oxidation of the blood ; if the eye be deprived 
 of the natural stimulus of a good light, the nos- 
 trils assailed by disagreeable odors, and the 
 ears confused with an incessant tumult of 
 noises ; if one set of muscles be kept in a state 
 of constant tension, and others in a state of 
 abnormal r-elaxation by sitting in a con- 
 strained position hour after hour, a condition 
 must be induced very unfavorable to the cul- 
 ture of memory. 
 
 The true method of education reverses all 
 this. It consults the health and comfort of 
 
SELF-CULTUEE OF THE MEMORY. 67 
 
 the child; it saves the mind from the distrac- 
 tions and pain arising from bodily discomfort, 
 and from the annoyance of scenes which some- 
 times prevail in schoolrooms, and gently directs 
 the spontaneous movement of children's minds, 
 rather than attempts to force them into move- 
 ments repugnant to their best feelings, and 
 quite as profitless as they are repugnant. 
 
 SELF-CTJLTURB OF THE MEMORY. 
 
 It is often the case that persons who have 
 passed the age for attending school, or persons 
 whose early advantages for study were limit- 
 ed, have a hungering and thirsting for knowl- 
 edge, and a strong desire to improve their 
 intellectual nature by taking advantage of such 
 leisure as they may have at their disposal. 
 The number of these persons is large, and not- 
 withstanding our educational facilities, always 
 must be. There is no more hopeful sign of 
 human progress than tha^ which we see in the 
 efforts of individuals, busy much of the day 
 with their vocations, spending their leisure in 
 self-culture rather than in low social and con- 
 
68 HOW TO STBENGHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 vivial pleasures. This class of students would 
 make greater progress by first developing their 
 memories so as to make their minds more re- 
 tentive and capable of retaining any desirable 
 mental acquirement. The perplexing and in- 
 exorable cares of daily life in some degree 
 blunt the faculties for retaining knowledge, 
 therefore they will need special culture to keep 
 them in good condition. 
 
 ^ I counsel such persons to begin by learning 
 poetry so that it can be accurately repeated. 
 The memory is strengthened more easily and 
 quickly by this method than by learning prose. 
 After a while easy prose sentences should be 
 tried ; then lectures and discourses, and, finally, 
 more difficult scientific works. 
 
 Every day, the student in this department 
 of mental culture should master something 
 which he can repeat correctly ; it may be very 
 little, but let it be something. He may begin 
 with a few words and increase his task, if only 
 one line each day. In a short time it will be- 
 come sufficient without any further increase, 
 and make his daily lesson quite enough for 
 his strength. 
 V'Committing- to memory takes place most 
 
SELF-CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 69 
 
 rapidly when it is done in silence ; but if other 
 thoughts press in on the brain, a low voice aids 
 the student in holding his mind to its work. 
 The two-fold mental action, that of hearing 
 and speaking at the same time, assists to 
 arouse the slumbering faculties, though the 
 voice be only a whisper. 
 
 One should frequently test himself to see that 
 that which he has gone over is really acquired , 
 or only comprehended, and that which has been 
 lost should again be impressed on the mind. 
 
 It is not to be expected that in exercising the 
 memory one shall have the time, or even be 
 able to memorize everything; but it is neces- 
 sary to do this in the beginning, and always on 
 a few things, and this is especially desirable 
 for the young. Learning accurately every 
 word is a very useful exercise for those who 
 have weak memories. 
 
 It is important that the memory student un- 
 derstands thoroughly what he undertakes to 
 retain in his mind. What is not understood is' 
 soon lost ; what is thoroughly understood is not 
 easily forgotten. 
 
 The most suitable time to cultivate the mem- 
 ory is in the evening, when the light is low, 
 
70 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 and the mind not readily drawn off by other 
 thoughts, or in the early morning, soon after 
 awakening, and after the morning bath, when 
 the intellectual faculties are fresh. Cato and 
 Cicero practiced on this plan and strengthened 
 their memories by repeating, either in the even- 
 ing or the following morning, the events of the 
 preceding day. 
 
 The memory should be exercised at regular 
 periods of time ; but these periods should not 
 be too far apart nor of too long duration, nor 
 should they be too frequent. The danger in 
 violating these rules is, that the mind becomes 
 confused and the things to be remembered en- 
 tangled one with another. 
 
 To remember a series of things most easily 
 and correctly, they should be very carefully 
 arranged in the mind, and their natural con- 
 nection with each other be made as perfect as 
 possible. In this way the one suggests the 
 other, and the whole can be taken in, as it 
 were, at one glance. 
 
 Things that are difficult to fix in the mind 
 we may look at in connection with -some ex- 
 ternal sign, as a line under the word or sen- 
 tence, a note on the margin of the page, Writ- 
 
SELF-CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. , 71 
 
 ten with a red, green or black pencil, and a 
 special kind of fact associated with a particular 
 color, and thought of in connection with it. 
 Sometimes we raay remember a difficult thing 
 by picturing in the mind's eye the first letter, 
 syllable or word, or, if there are several things, 
 by connecting the first letter of each sentence | 
 into a word, or the first word into a sentence, 
 and committing this to memory. 
 
 If one is to deliver an unwritten discourse in a 
 strange place, it will make it easier for him to 
 connect in his mind the different parts of his ^ 
 discourse with some of the more prominent 
 features of the town or building, and, taking 
 them in their order, proceed to the end. 
 
 If a recitation is to be made from any 
 author, not only commit it to memory, but 
 listen to it attentively as another reads it, and 
 guard against making additions which may be 
 suggested by the author's words, but are not 
 his. This is a serious error, and one to which 
 many well educated persons are prone. They 
 read or hear some statement, and instead of 
 repeating it correctly, mix their own thoughts 
 with it and make a story the author would 
 never recognize. 
 
73 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 In committing to memory a poem, if one 
 I wishes to do it quickly, read each verse care- 
 fully over several times, and then endeavor to 
 write it down correctly. If not successful in 
 this, write down the first word of each line, 
 or even the first letter, one under the other 
 in order, and then repeat the whole verse, if 
 need be, glancing at the first word or letter 
 when the memory fails, and the whole will 
 generally be suggested. . 
 
 In copying anything from an author, it is 
 advisable to read an entire sentence once care- 
 fully, and then hold all of it in the mind till 
 it has been written down. 
 
 It is an excellent practice to make an ab- 
 stract from any book being read, by taking 
 ( notes of the most important facts and most 
 beautiful passages, and then reading the ab- 
 stract occasionally to impress it firmly on the 
 mind. The beautiful passages of any book 
 may sometimes be committed to memory with 
 exactness, as an abstract is likely to be un- 
 satisfactory. Of course one cannot commit 
 naany of these, but only those which seem to 
 have the highest moral and spiritual beauty. 
 In this way the student wiU be astonished 
 
MEMORY OF NAMES. 73 
 
 to learn into -what a small space all that is 
 really valuable in most of our books can be 
 compressed. (In this connection read Prof. 
 Townshend's letter in a previous chapter.) 
 
 MEMORY OP NAMES. 
 
 The memory of names is a subject with 
 which most persons must have more than a 
 passing interest. In our age of extensive travel 
 we are constantly meeting people we have 
 never met before. It is generally not only con^ 
 venient but desirable to remember them, so we 
 can speak their names on a second meeting, 
 or even when we are relating to others whom 
 we have seen. 
 
 The number of persons who never or rarely 
 forget a name is exceedingly small ; the num- 
 ber of those who have a poor memory for 
 them is very large. The reason for this is 
 partly a defect of mental development and 
 partly a matter of habit. In either case it may 
 be overcome by effort. 
 
 A name is, with few exceptions, an abstrac- 
 Swtion — it means nothing — and we rarely associ- 
 4 
 
74 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 ate it with an idea until we know the person's 
 business, or some of his traits and peculiarities. 
 When we first hear a new name, our attention 
 is so taken up with other matters : the face, 
 the general appearance, what the person says, 
 that the first impression may be indistinct and 
 soon fade away. 
 
 Now, to make it an easy matter to remember 
 a name, the first impression should be a ' 
 vivid one. If we are introduced to a stranger, 
 and wish to retain his name, we should insist 
 on hearing it distinctly. Those who introduce 
 people are often very careless in their artic- 
 ulation and pronounciation, and speak so low 
 that only a vague impression is conveyed, and 
 it may be well in such cases, where it would be 
 no breach of etiquette, to ask for a repetition. 
 If the first impression now is vivid, and the 
 habit of attention has been cultivated, there 
 will be little trouble. In order, however, to 
 fortify the memory, it will be advisable to 
 write new names in a book kept for the pur- 
 pose, and after the day is over to repeat them 
 a few times. When the book is opened the 
 names may be read over again, and a sec- 
 ond impression received. Each name may be 
 
MEMORY OF NAMES. 75 
 
 associated with the person's business, or some 
 peculiarity, or the place and time of meeting; 
 or if there has been no meeting, of how he be- 
 came known to us. Not unfrequently, if we 
 think of a person's business his name is at once 
 suggested. I once tried to recall the name of a 
 man I had met and could not till I remem- 
 bered that he was a reporter, when the fact 
 came quickly to mind that his name was Por- 
 ter. Such a close resemblance between name 
 and profession would, however, be extremely 
 rare. On another occasion I tried to recall a 
 name which had not been properly fixed, and 
 could not until I began to repeat the letters 
 of the alphabet. When I came to G, I felt sure 
 this was the first letter, but what was the 
 second ? Then I pronounced Ga, Gau, and the 
 whole name canae to me at once. It was Gault. 
 Some persons think they are greatly aided in 
 remenabering names by the simple act of writ- 
 ing them on a slip of paper, pronouncing them 
 a few times and then throwing the paper 
 away. This practice makes the impression a 
 vivid one, and causes the attention to be thor- 
 oughly awakened by both eyes and ears, and is, 
 no doubt, a most excellent one. 
 
76 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 When it is desirable to hold in the mind a 
 number of names in connection with each 
 other, they may be arranged in alphabetical 
 order and repeated a few times, with an occa- 
 sional repetition after a day or two, when they 
 will be found to be permanently fixed. Exam- 
 ples for practice may be had from lists of the 
 various Government officials, as, for instance, 
 the members of the cabinet of any administra- 
 tion, chief justices, the governors of States, the 
 names of city or township officials, the names 
 of the members of any boat club, or of the 
 members of any society, school or church. A 
 very pleasant evening study might be made in 
 this way. 
 
 When the memory of names is defective, the 
 person should make every possible effort to 
 cultivate it by training and discipline. It is a 
 form of mental weakness that is sometimes 
 very annoying, especially to an otherwise cul- 
 tivated and intelligent person. I have satisfied 
 myself by experience and observation that a 
 memory for names may be increased not only 
 two, but a hundred fold; but this will not be 
 accomplished by spasmodic effort. Long con- 
 tinued practice will be found necessary. After 
 
MEMORY OP FORMS AND FACES. 77 
 
 a time it becomes so much a matter of habit 
 that the effort is automatic, and the person 
 does not think of it. 
 
 MEMORY OP FORMS AND FACES, 
 
 On this subject my esteemed friend, Mr. Ed- 
 ward Spring, the sculptor, at my special re- 
 quest, has furnished me with the following val- 
 uable suggestions : 
 
 WHY THE MEMORY OF FORM SHOULD BE 
 TRAINED. 
 
 " We' all have occasion for a better trailing 
 in the memory of places and faces, in other 
 words, of forms. The knowledge of astronomy, 
 physical and political geography, topography, 
 civil engineering, and familiarity with a neigh- 
 borhood or a house, or recollection of the tools 
 in a workshop, or of words upon a page to be 
 learned by heart; all depend largely on the 
 power of memory of places. 
 
 "Memory of faces notes the differences of 
 shape between people. Facial expression is so 
 entirely a question of form that the sculptor 
 
78 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 possesses as great a range as does the painter 
 in representing it. 
 
 "The man whose calling brings him into con- 
 tact with the armies of peace or the armies of 
 war must have a memory of the face and its 
 name. Grant, like most grpat generals, was 
 a brilliant exemplification of the commander's 
 memory. So in a bank, when one of thousands 
 of customers appears at the official's little win- 
 dow, he must be identified at a glance. The 
 name alone or the face alone is not sufficient. 
 But drill will associate them correctly, and 
 often success or failure depend on this training. 
 It is said that Louis Napoleon, whose memory 
 of people was phenomenal, always wrote the 
 name of a new person, and could then recall 
 it, even though he had at once destroyed the 
 writing. The value of this consists in receiv- 
 ing the impression through two senses instead 
 of one — sight as well as hearing. 
 
 "Often much of the personal influence and 
 power gained by hack politicians, and other 
 dishonest schemers, is referable to expertness 
 in memory of people. Shall we leave to the 
 tyrants and the rogues a power with which 
 every one has been endowed, but which yields 
 
MEMORY OP FORMS AND PACES. 79 
 
 results only when fostered by a determined 
 will, and when properly trained ? 
 
 EARLY TRAINING. 
 
 "Early training in kindergarten and indus- 
 trial modeling and drawing is now acknowl- 
 edged by leaders in education to be of great 
 importance in mental development. 
 
 "The first and most difficult task of the 
 teacher of drawing or painting is to teach the 
 pupil to see correctly. 
 
 " If we look at a ball we can see only a hem- 
 isphere. What there is on the other side of that 
 visible hemisphere we can only know by mov- 
 ing either the eye or the ball. So the cube has 
 six faces, but we can only see three of them 
 at a time. Thus with all other forms — we can 
 only see a portion of each in reality, or in cor- 
 rect drawings or paintings. But the little child 
 will attempt to draw the whole of a form ex- 
 actly as it remembers it. How many times 
 have we seen such instances as the house 
 scrawled by the child, showing at once the 
 front, back and both ends ! 
 
 "BTit let the child first make a representation 
 of the house or other object in blocks or clay 
 
80 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 or pasteboard, and he will soon learn the requi- 
 site limitations of drawing, and can easily be 
 shown how to use lines or tints to aid the mera- 
 ory or to express ideas, either by maps, eleva- 
 tion, section or perspective drawing. Indeed, 
 children under ten often have a good sense of 
 perspective. Later in life things are far more 
 difficult which are as play to the little child. 
 
 "Froebel's plan of having the children in the 
 kindergarten make balls, cylinders and cubes 
 of clay is admirable. His exercise, that carries 
 the ball through a series of changes by thump- 
 ing it on the table in an orderly way, till the 
 clay that was a ball becomes a cube, teaches 
 the child by his own activity the control over 
 matter, and, moreover, that the real thing 
 sought is the ideal form realized by his effort. 
 The material, he learns, is merely a help to 
 express ball, cube or other mental conception 
 of form. How essential it is to grasp this 
 principle is known by those who have learned 
 that 'the letter killeth, but the spirit maketh 
 alive.' The modeling work was held by Froebel 
 to be rich in resource. It was not to stop with 
 the kindergarten any more than the child's 
 growth would stop then. 
 
MEMORY OF FORMS AND FACES. 81 
 
 " Every possible shape can be described in 
 language as being like some one of the elemen- 
 tary geometrical forms, or as portions or com- 
 binations of those forms. These elements are 
 few and easy to model in clay. They can also 
 be cut in wood, made in pasteboard and in 
 many other ways, or represented by working 
 drawings and by perspective drawings. 
 
 "This work of the hands presents the most 
 practical method of training the memory of 
 form. Not only this, but a household familiar- 
 ity with the names of these elements of form 
 serve as language lessons and instruction to- 
 ward geometry, arithmetic, physics, mechanics 
 and a long list of ologies. 
 
 " The little child who has done some such 
 educational work will very readily see that all 
 spheres are of the same shape, whether seeds 
 or suns ; that all cylinders are of the same 
 shape, though of different proportions. By 
 whatever name the child may call the cylinder 
 he will see the principle in a coin, a cheese, a 
 telegraph pole or a hair. The point of the leaf- 
 bud of the lilac, the top of the obelisk or the 
 Great Pyramid are all of the same principle of 
 form, and the cristalographer would describe 
 4* 
 
82 HOW TO STKENGHBN THE MEMORY. 
 
 it as the 'half octohedron.' Of course a few- 
 scattering instances like these are as meaning- 
 less as words taken at random from a page; 
 but the doing becomes of incalculable value 
 while mere words are vain. 
 
 "I have had abundant verification that the 
 question of size is no obstacle to the child's 
 understanding of form. The elephant and the 
 mouse are known at a glance by a young audi- 
 ence, though the mouse be made with many 
 times more clay than the elephant. 
 
 "If training in morphology is important 
 there is the greater need to secure and increase 
 the instinct for it, which children otherwise 
 will lose. 
 
 METHODS OF TRAINING. 
 
 "I should recommend much modeling and 
 drawing of simple forms as ' memory practice.' 
 Drawing, in fact, is always, we might say, 
 from memory. If you were to place a small 
 ball on the table and givei to some children 
 lumps of plastic clay, they could hold their 
 hands under the table, out of sight, and make 
 similar balls, almost as well as if watching the 
 clay. That would be modeling from the object. 
 
MEMORY OF FORMS AND FACES. 83 
 
 But if you ask anybody to draw a ball, or any- 
 thing else, the only way is to first look at the 
 object and then look away, and draw. If you 
 look away a second, you use a short memory pf 
 the form. If you do not look at it for four 
 seconds, your memory is four times as long. 
 If you ' get an eye full,' and go into the next 
 room to make your drawing, it becomes what 
 is generally understood by 'memory sketching.' 
 That the inventive teacher can prepare infinite 
 varieties of exercises in this field has been de- 
 monstrated, and often the fresher they are the 
 better — the brightness of the teacher finding 
 response in the pupils. 
 
 "Already in some of our cities, noticably in 
 St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and 
 Worcester, methods have been tried of exercis- 
 ing the hands and eyes of the pupils in the 
 public schools, not only in drawing to make 
 pictures, in fact little of that, but in using 
 paper and pencil, clay and sticks, knives and 
 scissors, in making forms that become a prac- 
 tical basis for orderly training of the memory 
 of form. 
 
 "The Exhibition of Children's Work, held 
 under the auspices of the Industrial Education 
 
84 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 Association of New York, in April, 1866, showed 
 that much can be done in the public schools as 
 they are now. 
 
 "In order for our school children to be prop- 
 erly trained to appreciate the truths and beau- 
 ties of the visible world, and all that apprecia- 
 tion means, modeling, drawing and painting 
 lessons will not alone suffice. There must come 
 in practice of fine differentiation, broader than 
 the field of any one trade or calling — exercises 
 that educate the faculties which are at the 
 foundation of what all persons should know 
 and enjoy. Let every child have the advant- 
 ages that the blind person or the savage can 
 have, added to those which our civilization 
 should rightly give us. 
 
 "One of the most practical ways of training 
 the memory of form is told of Houdon, whose 
 wonderful exhibitions of sleight-of-hand the 
 writer saw in Paris in 1847. Houdon and his 
 son would pass a show window, and then com- 
 pare lists of articles remembered, then pass 
 again and add to their lists. At last they be- 
 came so expert that, calling on a gentleman 
 and waiting a few minutes in his library, they 
 astounded him when ushered into his parlor 
 
MEMORY OP FORMS AND FACES. 85 
 
 by their 'magic' in repeating the titles of his 
 books. 
 
 "It is well to learn early that anything can 
 be represented approximately on a flat surface, 
 but that there may be a difference between one 
 side of the shield and the other, and that if you 
 draw you must only draw what you see. It is 
 well to learn early that to understand the whole 
 of an object one must have more than one view, 
 or niust take it for granted that the object is 
 identical with known facts in its unseen parts. 
 A simple profile likeness of a man who had lost 
 one ear, would not be a complete portrait of the 
 individual as known in life. If it showed one 
 ear gone, he would be judged without any. If 
 he showed one ear he would be supposed to 
 have two. But, as a note for aiding the mem- 
 ory of the form, three written words would be 
 quicker than a second drawing, and 'Right 
 ear wanting,' under one profile view would be 
 enough. Not for the little child, but for a con- 
 stant dependence to grown people, is the art of 
 writing, in remembering forms. 
 
 " In that remarkable book, Leonardo da Vin- 
 ci's 'Treatise on Painting,' he says any one may 
 draw a likeness from memory, by following this 
 
86 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 recipe : Keep in the pocket a list of the possible 
 forms of the parts of the face, arranged in order 
 and numbered. Then compare the person you 
 wish to remember with your list : nose, 4 ; eye, 
 7 ; mouth, 6 ; chin, 2, and so on, and by going 
 away with the correct analysis you can recon- 
 struct the likeness at any time. 
 
 " Few people have so good a general method 
 of training, in this important power, the mem- 
 ory of form, as the artist has. But even the 
 artist is apt to narrow his training to those 
 features of his work that tend toward results 
 in his special line, and may very possibly be 
 all the more deficient in cognate lines not in- 
 cluded in his narrowness. 
 
 "Deaf mutes have access to the visible and 
 tangible world; the blind have access to the 
 audible and tangible world ; and much of every- 
 body's memory of form refers to the same range 
 of impressions which a blind person can receive, 
 by bodily contact. The curious experiment of 
 rolling one marble with the crossed fingers and 
 believing there are two, is an example of the 
 force of memory of form by touch. 
 
 "Sir Charles Bell's sixth sense, 'the muscu- 
 lar sense,' by which we estimate the degree of 
 
MEMORY OF FORMS AND FACES. 87 
 
 effort employed, as, for instance, a blindfolded 
 person holding two dishes would know when 
 some one fills one dish, often explains to us the 
 forms with which we come in contact. The 
 memory of this is capable of wonderful develop- 
 ment. All hand skill might, in fact, be referred 
 to drilled memory of the changes of form which 
 given tools can produce, and memory of the 
 place for the tools. The touch and the 'mus- 
 cular sense' are constantly employed in oper- 
 ations of skill, from music or sculpture to but- 
 toning one's collar; and the limit of human 
 skill, wonderful as that skill is, has never yet 
 been reached. 
 
 MEMORY OF FACES. 
 
 "The great power of professional responsi- 
 bility appears to be the mostiforceful incentive 
 to the memory of anything, and official mem- 
 ory of faces is frequently astonishing, as in the' 
 cases of the bank teller, the city sexton, the 
 director of labor, the hotel clerk, the police and 
 other experts who must remember. 
 
 " But, as with more and better arrows in the 
 quiver the warrior advances with a greater 
 confidence, so a previous school training, such 
 
88 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 as is mentioned above, mighi help even one of 
 these experts. Not that he should model or 
 draw each particular face, or even write out a 
 category of its form, as suggested in the quota- 
 tion above, from Leonardo da Vinci; but the 
 sense that he had done so, and could again, 
 joined with the duty and determination to re- 
 member, would strengthen even the strong. 
 Fresh from modeling and drawing faces, I my- 
 self learned in a few days to call by name a 
 hundred men when, as assistant foreman in the 
 Central Park, I watched every morning at roll 
 call as each man answered his name, with a 
 mental effort to know him again. 
 
 "It has been a useful practice to make a list 
 of the names of persons in a room, in their 
 respective places — the place, the face and the 
 name combining 4io help each other. If a few 
 lines are also drawn to indicate some peculiar- 
 ity of form, the aid to the memory is greater 
 still. Such a list recalls in after years more 
 than pages of writing alone. We might change 
 the maxim, and say : The price of memory is 
 eternal vigilance. 
 
 " Dr. Abercrombie says, in his work entitled 
 ' Inquiries Concerning the Intellectual Powers,' 
 
MEMORY OP FORMS AND PACES. 89 
 
 "In concluding this brief allusion to the sub- 
 ject of conception, I shall only add the follow- 
 ing example of another application of this men- 
 tal process. In the church of St. Peter at 
 Cologne the altar-piece is a large and valuable 
 picture by Rubens, representing the martyr- 
 dom of the apostle. This picture having been 
 carried away by the French in 1805, to the 
 great regret of the inhabitants, a painter of 
 that city undertook to make a copy of it from 
 recollection, and succeeded in doing so in such 
 a manner that the most delicate tints of the 
 original are preserved with the most minute 
 accuracy. The original painting has now been 
 restored, but the copy is preserved along with 
 it ; and even when they are rigidly compared, 
 it is scarcely possible to distinguish one from 
 the other. I am not aware that this remark- 
 able anecdote has been recorded by any trav- 
 eler; I am indebted for it to my friend Dr. 
 Duncan, of the University of Edinburgh, who 
 heard it on the spot in a late visit to the Con- 
 tinent, and saw both the pictures." 
 
 "Another incident of artistic memory I re- 
 member as follows : The Carracci brothers were 
 conversing with other artists and friends in the 
 
90 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 Vatican, before the Laocoon group. Its praise 
 was resounding loudly from all but the silent 
 Ludovico. When, however, they rallied him 
 for remaining so cold in the presence of such 
 a marvel of art, he turned away from the mar- 
 ble, and with a few rapid touches made a strik- 
 ing sketch of it. Answering them, he said, 
 ' The poet paints with words ; the artist speaks 
 by his work.' 
 
 " Hamlet looked at Ophelia's face ' as though 
 he would draw it;' and that way of looking is 
 a practical power for any to possess, and it is 
 to be hoped that the education of the newer 
 growth will continue to make these powers of 
 the mind broader and deeper and higher." 
 
 MEMORY OP PLACES AND ITS CULTTJRE. 
 
 To remember places and their relation to 
 other places and things is, with some, a gift, 
 or more properly speaking, an instinct. Many 
 animals possess it in a very high degree, the 
 carrier pigeon being a remarkable illustration. 
 Dogs, pigs and cats, among domestic animals, 
 have this faculty very strong. Among insects, 
 
MEMOKY OF PLACES AND ITS CULTURE. 91 
 
 bees are noted for their ability to find their 
 ■way to their nests with great certainty from 
 long distances. A swarm of humble bees has 
 been taken nine miles from its nest, and nearly 
 all of them found their way back again after ' 
 having been kept in confinement over night. 
 
 The Indian has this instinct so strongly de- 
 veloped that he is said to be able to find his 
 way in the trackless forest with ease, and is 
 unable to understand why the white man can- 
 not do the same. Many white men are no less 
 gifted, though perhaps not exactly in the same 
 manner; and especially is this the case with 
 explorers, travelers, engineers, naturalists, geo- 
 graphers and great generals. But there are 
 others in whom this faculty is very deficient. 
 They cannot carry the points of the compass 
 in their heads ; they are always turned around 
 when in a strange place, and lose their way 
 easily. In such individuals, however, the mem- 
 ory of places may be cultivated and greatly 
 strengthened. The following suggestions will 
 be found useful : 
 
 1. — In going to a new and strange locality, 
 fix the points of the compass well in mind first ; 
 this is very necessary. 
 
93 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 2. — In going about the place, fix upon some 
 central or conspicuous object as a point from 
 which to locate the relations of all other ob- 
 jects. It may be the leading street, a tall 
 church spire, a large building or a high hill. 
 
 3. — After the day is over, make an outline 
 map of the regions visited, putting them all in 
 their right relation to each other as regards 
 points of the compass and distance. It does 
 not matter how simple this map is ; nor is it 
 necessary that the person be skillful in the 
 art of drawing. A very rude map, which any 
 person can make in a few minutes, will answer 
 every purpose; all unimportant matter may 
 be omitted. It may be revised by the help of 
 others familiar with the place, and occasionally 
 studied so as to fix more thoroughly in the 
 mind all its important features; or, if it is a 
 large city, a map may be purchased which will 
 be more satisfactory. 
 
 4. — If the place be in the country, all the 
 finest features of the natural scenery should be 
 associated with it. If there be a river or lake 
 their location and size should be noted, with 
 such particulars as may afterwards be useful. 
 If there be any natural objects of interest, or 
 
MEMORY OF PLACES AND ITS CULTURE. 93 
 
 any relics or ruins they should all be included, 
 and firmly fixed in the mind by the laws 
 of association. Unless, however, the attention 
 is carefully directed, there is danger of associ- 
 ating things together which do not belong to 
 each other. This is most likely to be the case 
 when many things are brought to the attention 
 in quick succession before their right relation 
 has been established. 
 
 Memory of places is not altogether an out-of- 
 door matter, or one interesting only to the trav- 
 eler. There is a relation between places and 
 things to be cultivated also. We are obliged to 
 remember where a thousand objects which we 
 constantly use are; otherwise much time is 
 lost in hunting for them. In our complex life 
 it is hardly possible to remember where we put 
 every little thing used; but the memory will 
 be greatly aided by having a place for every- 
 thing and keeping it there when not in use. 
 This is not an easy habit to acquire, mainly be- 
 cause children are not well trained in it, but 
 are allowed to leave their tools and playthings 
 scattered about in the most irregular manner. 
 So great a man as Benjamin Franklin had or- 
 der as one of the virtues, and said : "Order, too, 
 
94 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOBY. 
 
 with regard to places for things, I found ex- 
 tremely difficult to acquire. I had not been 
 accustomed to method, and having an exceed- 
 ingly good memory I was not sensible of the 
 inconvenience attending want of system. This 
 cost me so much painful attention, and my 
 faults in it vexed me so much, and I made so 
 little progress in amendment and had such fre- 
 quent relapses, that I was almost ready to give 
 up the attempt and content myself with a 
 faulty character in this respect. In truth, I 
 found myself incorrigible with respect to order; 
 and now I am grown old, and my memory bad, 
 I feel very sensibly the want of it." 
 
 In addition to forming habits of order when 
 we put anything away, it will save the mem- 
 ory considerable strain if we impress the place 
 firmly on the mind. After a while this will 
 become easy to do, and we can do it without 
 thinking. 
 
 The memory for places may be strengthened 
 when reading by trying to remember in what 
 book certain facts or passages are to be found, 
 and also the page in the book. It would, how- 
 ever, be a waste of time to try to remember 
 unimportant and trivial things which have no 
 
CULTURE OF THE MUSICAL MEMORY. 95 
 
 interest or value. By such a course the mind 
 is weakened and injured. The brain is too 
 important an organ to be used as a storehouse 
 for painful impressions or worthless facts and 
 experiences; these should, if possible, be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 CULTURE OF THE MUSICAL MEMORY. 
 
 The musical memory does not seem to have 
 been discussed philosophically. Music is ac- 
 quired primarily through the sense of hearing, 
 and the memory of sounds is located in an en- 
 tirely different part of the brain from the mem- 
 ory of form and color. But as we use the sense 
 of sight as well as hearing in acquiring a knowl- 
 edge of music, there must be a connection be- 
 tween the two brain regions concerned in see- 
 ing and hearing. 
 
 The muscular sense has a very close relation 
 to the musical memory. After a piece has been 
 played a certain number of times on a violin, 
 piano, or other musical instrument, the hands 
 and fingers become so trained to make the 
 right moves that they can hardly, make any 
 
96 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 other. This, however, is only the case when 
 the discipline has been very thorough. If it 
 has not been thorough, then there may be 
 doubt as to which move to make, and this 
 would constitute a lapse of memory. 
 
 In learning to sing or play by note, the eyes 
 are used constantly to suggest the chord to be 
 sounded or the key to be touched ; and as there 
 must be accuracy to prevent discord, most mu- 
 sicians keep their notes constantly before them 
 to refresh and aid their memories. This is 
 right in learning any piece. Those who learn 
 by ear, as many do, can never play so accurate- 
 ly as those who learn by note. Even Blind Tom, 
 whose musical memory is prodigious, makes 
 mistakes. Of the thousands of men and women 
 who have so much musical talent as to be able 
 to play and sing in church and concert, and for 
 their own and their friends' pleasure, a majority 
 are helpless unless their books are before them. 
 Their musical memories have not been cultivat- 
 ed so as to make them independent of the notes. 
 While I write these words an English musician 
 is being severely blamed because he attempted 
 to play in a concerted piece from memory, and 
 suflfered a complete loss of it in the midst of the 
 
CULTUEE OP THE MUSICAL MEMORY. 9? 
 
 performance. A performer, however, who can- 
 not abandon his book and throw his whole soul 
 into his work can never be a great artist. If 
 he follows the book with his eyes his attention 
 is taken from his work, and it becomes more 
 mechanical and less an inspiration. One great 
 musician has said: "When I play from mem- 
 ory I am myself ; when I play from the book I 
 am some one else." 
 
 Even with the greatest masters the musical 
 memory sometimes plays fantastic tricks. Any 
 unusual excitement and worry, any little mis- 
 take in gesture, or some disturbing incident is 
 liable to break up the chain of orderly pro- 
 cedure and cause a loss of the musical memory. 
 And, yet, were these lapses twice as frequent 
 as they are, I should urge every musician to 
 become such a master of his divine art as to be 
 able to throw away his book, and put all his 
 soul into his performance. 
 
 The only methods I have to advise for secur- 
 ing this musical memory are self-confidence, 
 determination and practice. 
 
 I have consulted a number of excellent teach- 
 ers on this subject, and they all inform me that 
 
 there is no royal road. Some of them state 
 5 
 
98 HOW TO STEENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 that they insist that their pupils shall learn 
 every piece so that they can play or sing it 
 without their books; but they always give 
 them a reasonable time to do it, and never re- 
 gard any composition as mastered till this is 
 done. 
 
 STEENGTHENING THE MEMORY FOE FACTS 
 AND EVENTS. 
 
 The memory of politicians is generally excel- 
 lent, and, no doubt, often becomes so by the 
 special training which their lives furnish. A 
 most interesting and suggestive case is that of 
 Thurlow Weed. Being interviewed and asked 
 to tell a friend what method he had adopted to 
 strengthen this faculty, he replied: "When a 
 young man, I had to adopt a regular method 
 for strengthening my memory, and I hit on one 
 that was very effective. I will tell you all 
 about it for the benefit of other young men. 
 I got married in 1818, when I was working in 
 Albany as a journeyman printer. In a few 
 months I went into business, establishing a 
 newspaper for myself, and some of my friends 
 
MEMORY FOE FACTS AND EVENTS. 99 
 
 thought I -would succeed in politics, probably 
 because I impressed my views strongly on those 
 about me. But I saw at once that I had a fatal 
 weakness which I thought would prevent it. 
 My memory was a sieve. I could remember 
 nothing. Dates, names, appointments, faces^-' 
 everything escaped me. I said to my wife, 
 'Catherine, I shall never make a successful 
 politician, for I cannot remember, and that is 
 a prime necessity of politicians. A politician 
 who sees a man once should remember him 
 forever.' My wife told me I must train my 
 memory. So when I came home that night I 
 sat down alone and spent fifteen minutes try- 
 ing silently to recall with accuracy the prin- 
 cipal events of the day. I could remember but 
 little at first ; now I remember that I could not 
 then recall what I had for breakfast. After a 
 few days' practice I found I could recall more. 
 Events came back to me more minutely, more 
 accurately and more vividly than at first. Af- 
 ter a fortnight or so of this, Catherine said, 
 ' Why don't you relate to me the events of the 
 day instead of recalling them to yourself ? It 
 would be interesting, and my interest in it 
 would be a stimulus to you.' Having great 
 
100 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 respect for my wife's opinion, I began a habit 
 of oral confession, as it were, which was con- 
 tinued for almost fifty years. Every night, the 
 last thing before retiring, I told her everything 
 I could remember that had happened to me or 
 about me during the day. I generally recalled 
 the very dishes I had had for breakfast, dinner 
 and tea ; the people I had seen and what they 
 had said; the editorials I had written for my 
 paper, giving her a brief abstract of them; I 
 mentioned all the letters I had sent and re- 
 ceived, and the very language used, as nearly 
 as possible; when I had walked or ridden — I told 
 her everything that had come within my ob- 
 servation. I found I could say my lessons bet- 
 ter and better every year, and instead of the 
 practice growing irksome, it became a pleasure 
 to go over again the events of the day. I am 
 indebted to this discipline for a memory of 
 somewhat unusual tenacity, and I reconamend 
 the practice to all who wish to store up facts, 
 or expect to have much to do with influencing 
 men." 
 
 Judge Ranney, M. C, and formerly Speaker 
 of the House of Representatives, aids his mem- 
 ory in a different way. When he is looking up 
 
MEMORY FOR FIGURES AND DATES. 101 
 
 a case and reading the papers in it, he notices 
 nothing going on around him ; when he conies 
 to a fact which he wants to remember he writes 
 it down on a slip of paper. He does not keep 
 the slip or pay any further attention to it. The 
 writing of it down fixes it as indelibly in his 
 mind as though he had stencilled it upon his 
 brain. After he has been reading through the 
 different parts of the House one may find his 
 footprints in the notes of memoranda on the 
 members' desk at which he has been sitting. 
 He makes notes in all sorts of places and al- 
 ways leaves them untouched. 
 
 MEMORY FOR FIGURES AND DATES. 
 
 The memory for figures is, with some persons, 
 natural and easy ; with others it is very diffi- 
 cult. The former do not need to strengthen 
 their memories in this respect so much as to 
 discipline them, that their energies be spent 
 only on what is important, and not wasted on 
 what is trivial. They generally excel in mathe- 
 matics, and as engineers, surveyors, or book- 
 keepers and accountants, or, if they have not 
 
102 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 been educated, their natural memories serve 
 them exceedingly -well, and they are able to 
 carry accounts in their head, even if numerous 
 and complicated. 
 
 The latter class need special training for the 
 development of the memory of figures, and I 
 know of nothing so useful for them as the 
 study of mathematics. This may seem to many 
 as impracticable, but I do not think so. It is 
 not necessary to go into the study of the higher 
 mathematics ; the study of mental arithmetic 
 and of the first principles of algebra and ge- 
 ometry are quite sufficient. The rudimentary 
 books designed for beginners, where every- 
 thing is so simplified as to be perfectly easy 
 and plain, are the best. A leisure hour given 
 ;to them every day, or even every other day, 
 will not only strengthen the memory of figures 
 but form a most excellent means of disciplining 
 the mind. 
 
 In addition to this, the faculties should be 
 exercised daily in recalling such matters as 
 involve figures. The amounts of money spent 
 daily for trifles or for important purchases may 
 be written down at night from recollection. 
 The prices for all articles in daily use in mar- 
 
MEMORY FOR FIGURES AND DATES. 103 
 
 ket may be held in the memory as a matter of 
 mental gymnastics. If a note is given or taken, 
 the amount of it, the timie it was given and the 
 date of its maturity, together with the rate of 
 interest, can be held in mind with little diffi- 
 culty. The number of the street on which a 
 friend lives; the number of the postoffice box 
 at which he receives his letters ; the number of 
 apple, peach and pear trees in your orchard, if 
 you are so fortunate as to have one, and the 
 number of bushels of fruit they produce yearly, 
 together with the money for which they were 
 sold may be used as memory lessons. The in- 
 debtedness of each State and of the various 
 governments are also suitable subjects on which 
 to exercise the memory for figures, and so are 
 the times of the revolution on their axes and in 
 their orbits of each planet, and the distances of 
 each from the sun and from the earth. 
 
 It would be a mistake, however, to load the 
 mind with too much at first ; a little each day 
 is quite enough. If attention is paid to the 
 subject and the pupil does not falter after a 
 short trial, it is interesting to notice how re- 
 tentive the memory for figures will at last be- 
 come. Here, however, as elsewhere, the im- 
 
104 
 
 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 portance of determination and a vivid first im- 
 pression are necessary. It is carelessness and 
 want of attention that causes so many to have 
 weak and debilitated memories, not only for 
 figures, but for names, dates and facts. 
 
 THE FIGURE ALPHABET. 
 
 Numbers have from a very early time been 
 indicated by some of the letters of the alpha- 
 bet. More recently the figure alphabet has 
 been used in every system of mnemonics, and 
 by it the most extended series of numbers can 
 be recalled at any moment ; but the machinery 
 of the figure alphabet is so complicated and 
 cumbrous that it will never be extensively 
 adopted. 
 
 The following is the figure alphabet as used 
 by modern teachers of nanemonics : 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 n 
 
 m 
 
 r 
 
 1 
 
 sh 
 
 g hard 
 
 f 
 
 t> 
 
 s 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 ch 
 g soft 
 
 k 
 
 hard 
 
 V 
 
 p 
 
 z 
 
 soft 
 
THE FIGURE ALPHABET. 105 
 
 The vowels are never used in the figure al- 
 phabet, nor any other consonants. All silent let- 
 ters are omitted, and if two consonants come to- 
 gether in a word with no letter between them 
 they are regarded as one. To illustrate : f = 8 ; 
 f f, however, would not be 8 8, but also 8. 
 Where some other letters are used which have 
 the same sound as the consonant they have the 
 same value. For instance, in the word phos- 
 phorus the ph has the sound of f, and, there- 
 fore, = 8. The pupil must be very careful, for 
 this reason, to see if the consonants in a word 
 have their proper sounds before using them. 
 To gain familiarity with the figure alphabet 
 the pupil should take a spelling-book or diction- 
 ary and convert the letters of a large number 
 of words into figures, as follows : Nile, 3 5 ; 
 Victoria, 8 7 14; name, 3 3 ; fish, 8 6 ; man, 3 3 ; 
 hour, 4. In the word Victoria, it will be seen 
 that the c has the sound of k, and so = 7. In 
 the word hour, only the r has any value, and 
 that = 4. The figure alphabet may be learned 
 in a single lesson, but it requires practice to 
 fix it in the mind, and this can be had best by 
 converting whole pages of words into figures, 
 
 and also by using it when opportunity offers. 
 6» 
 
106 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 I urge my readers, however, against the folly 
 of using it to the exclusion of more natural 
 methods and rules inculcated on every page. 
 
 The practical use of the figure alphabet, as 
 illustrated by most teachers of mnemonics, is 
 so absurd that I will not go into any details 
 concerning it. I think it can only be used to 
 the injury of the mind. It may, however, have 
 a limited value. Suppose, for instance, you 
 wish to remember the length of the Ohio River, 
 which is, say, 1,213 miles long, you have simply 
 to choose a word, phrase or sentence which will 
 contain in regular order the letters represent- 
 ing these figures, and remember this word, 
 phrase or sentence in connection with the Ohio 
 River. The phrase at no time contains the cor- 
 
 12 13 
 
 rect numerals. In order to fix them in the 
 mind it will be necessary to repeat them to- 
 gether a number of times, so that when you 
 think of the Ohio River you will also think 
 of the phrase, at no time. Pupils preparing 
 for an examination may find this useful. The 
 height of mountains, the length of rivers, the 
 population of countries, and many other things 
 can be remembered in this way, providing the 
 pupil can find suitable words containing the 
 
TKICKS OF MEMORY. 107 
 
 letters to represent the figures. The figure al- 
 phabet may also be used to call the specific 
 gravities of bodies, and, indeed, there is no 
 end to its application; but I have found in 
 practice that it really costs as much as it is 
 worth. One who uses it, except where it comes 
 in naturally, only lumbers the mind with 
 methods of little or no value. 
 
 TRICKS OF MEMOR"?. 
 
 The figure alphabet for tricks of memory 
 may, however, be found to serve a useful pur- 
 pose. The knight's tour is an illustration of 
 it. The chessboard contains 64 squares. The 
 knight's tour consists in placing the knight on 
 the first square and making him go through 
 all the other squares, only making legitimate 
 moves, and never going over the same squares 
 twice. It is said to have cost an eminent math- 
 ematician years of study to discover the cor- 
 rect order of moves. It is as follows : 1, 11, 5, 
 15, -62, 47, 64, 54, 60, 50, 35, 41, 36, 9, 3, 13, 7, 24, 
 39, 56, 62, 45, 30, 20, 37, 22, 28, 38, 21, 36, 19, 
 25, 10, 4, 14, 8, 23, 40, 55, 61, 51, 67, 42, 59, 
 
108 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 53, 63, 48, 31, 16, 6, 12, 2, 17, 34, 49, 43, 58, 53, 
 46, 29, 44, 27, 33, 18, 1. 
 
 Any one who will take the trouble to draw 
 on a piece of paper an outline chessboard, 
 place the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., ' in the 
 square, from the left to the right to the last 
 one, and then draw a straight line from the 
 center of square 1 to the center of square 11, 
 from here to 5, and so on in the order of the 
 figures given above, until he has returned to 
 square 1 again, will be surprised at the pic- 
 ture his outline chessboard exhibits. I will not 
 give a list of words representing the letters for 
 the figures for the knight's tour, but leave it 
 for each pupil to do this himself. I will only 
 hint that the first word should be one in which 
 there is a letter to represent the figure 1, as, 
 for instance, the word hot, and no other ad- 
 ditional figure; the second, 11, and so on. 
 When the list of words has been selected and 
 written down in their order, they should be 
 committed to memory exactly as they stand. 
 If this is not done, the experiment will be a 
 failure. When once mastered, one may enter- 
 tain his friends by making the tour from mem- 
 ory, simply converting the letters in each word 
 
HOW TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. 109 
 
 as they come one after another, back into fig- 
 ures. Beyond being a mere trick of the mem- 
 ory, however, I do not regard this feat as of 
 any value, and am surprised at the attention 
 teachers of mnemonics bestow on it. 
 
 I could give a hundred other tricks of the 
 memory, but I refrain, as the object of this 
 work is to teach the pupil how to cultivate 
 the faculty of recollection in a perfectly natural 
 manner. 
 
 HOW TO LEAKN A NEW LANGUAGE. 
 
 In 1860, Dr. Edward Pick created a profound 
 impression in England, France and Germany 
 by his lectures on "Memory and a Eational 
 Means of Improving It." In 1862 he published 
 a revised edition of a little work on the subject, 
 which contains many valuable ideas, the most 
 important of which I shall now reprint. They 
 will be found of special use to all students of 
 languages. He begins by saying that 
 
 "The surest and most effectual way to en- 
 sure an easy and accurate reproduction of ideas 
 is to deal with the first impression; that is to say, 
 to impart to it strength and vivacity. If this 
 
110 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 be done, the process of reproduction will accom- 
 plish itself with little or no effort. Now, ex- 
 perience teaches us that it is quite in our own 
 power to greatly strengthen the original im- 
 pressions. One of the most familiar modes, 
 and one of those most in use, is attention. It 
 need scarcely be remarked, that if attention 
 has been paid to any object or subject the mind 
 will receive a more powerful original impres- 
 sion than if we had been absent or inattentive. 
 
 ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. a. ANALOGOUS OR OPPO- 
 SITE. 
 
 " The consideration next arises as to the most 
 effectual means of forcing or fixing our atten- 
 tion, so as to produce a vivid and strong im- 
 pression. Such means will be found to consist 
 in Comparison. 
 
 "With respect to comparison itself, a few ex- 
 planatory remarks may be useful. We can 
 only compare those ideas with one another 
 which have some connection, that is to say, 
 analogous or opposite ideas. When we thus 
 compare two ideas, we search out and place 
 side by side the qualitites which they possess 
 in common, and those on the other hand, by 
 
HOW TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. Ill 
 
 which they are distinguished from each other. 
 Now, this operation involves an effort of the 
 mind, and produces an attention which inevit- 
 ably strengthens the impression. And if at 
 a subsequent period either one of the two ideas 
 which have thus been compared and analysed 
 presents itself to the mind, it will recall the 
 other immediately and distinctly, 
 
 "From this it follows, that if there be two 
 ideas which have any relation or analogy with, 
 each other, and which it is desired to retain in 
 the mind, it is only necessary to compare them. 
 The attention required by this act of compari- 
 son is sufficient to ensure their mutual and al- 
 most simultaneous reproduction; inasmuch a? 
 when one presents itself it will recall the othei. 
 " Now, if there be a series of such analogous 
 or opposite ideas, which it is desired to retain 
 by heart, the rule just described still holds 
 good, and the task will be found easy if set 
 .about with care and deliberation. We shall 
 here merely compare the first idea with the 
 second, the second with the third, and so on; 
 no more than two ideas, however, being taken 
 up at the same time, without paying any atten- 
 tion to the preceding or the succeeding ideas. 
 
113 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 This rule must be rigidly attended to, in order 
 to avoid confusion and perplexity. By this 
 means the operation will always continue sim- 
 ple; there will be always two ideas, and only 
 two, to compare at one and the same time, not- 
 withstanding the length and number of the 
 whole series. The reproduction of the whole 
 is, therefore, the more certain; while, at the 
 same time, the first idea will recall but the 
 second, the second but the third, the third only . 
 the fourth, and so on in the consecutive series 
 throughout. Thus none will fail, and the ideas 
 will occur in order whenever it is desired to 
 recall them. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 "As an example and practical illustration of 
 the foregoing remarks, and a test of the mode 
 of mental exercise suggested, we may compare 
 the following ideas ; but we must take care to 
 confine our attention, from step to step, to the 
 two ideas which we have to compare, without 
 paying attention at the timS either to those 
 which precede or those which follow them. 
 
 England .... navigation 
 navigation . . . steam 
 
HOW TO LEAEN A NEW LANGUAGE. 
 
 113 
 
 steam , 
 
 . railway 
 
 railway 
 
 . telegraph 
 
 telegraph . 
 
 . electricity 
 
 electricity . 
 
 . thunder 
 
 thunder 
 
 . storm 
 
 storm . 
 
 . blow 
 
 blow . 
 
 . windpipe 
 
 windpipe . 
 
 . pipe 
 
 pipe . 
 
 . music 
 
 music . 
 
 . harmony 
 
 harmony . 
 
 . alliance 
 
 alliance 
 
 . peace 
 
 peace . 
 
 . tranquility 
 
 tranquility 
 
 . silence 
 
 silence 
 
 . meditation 
 
 meditation 
 
 . faith 
 
 faith . 
 
 . honesty 
 
 honesty 
 
 . merchant 
 
 merchant . 
 
 . India 
 
 India . 
 
 . hot 
 
 hot . . . 
 
 . summer 
 
 Slimmer 
 
 . vegetation 
 
 vegetation 
 
 . rock 
 
 rock . 
 
 . mountain 
 
 mountain . 
 
 . Switzerland 
 
 Switzerland 
 
 . travel 
 
 "Here, then, is a chain of ideas to be associ- 
 ated link by link so as to be capable of being 
 recalled to the mind whenever it is desired to 
 
114 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 do SO. Now, if we have taken care, in going 
 through the list, always to compare only two 
 ideas together, or at the same time, without for 
 the moment paying any attention to the rest, 
 the reader is requested to try whether he knows 
 the list sufficiently well to go through it in the 
 above order. If he has paid sufficient attention 
 to, and distinctly understood, the simple prin- 
 ciple and method of practice which has been 
 laid down, he will be able to do so. When the 
 first word or idea is taken, it will immediately 
 reproduce the second, the second will reproduce 
 the third, and so on, with astonishing facility, 
 through the series, which,, with diligence and 
 intelligence, may be extended to almost any 
 length. But this is not all. Not only can all 
 the ideas be recalled by going on consecutively 
 from the beginning ; but if any one of them be 
 taken, all the others can be recalled when one 
 has adequate experience in this practical sys- 
 tem of mnemonics. Again, if, instead of be- 
 ginning with the first word, the student begins 
 with the last, and thus proceeds inversely, he 
 will find that he can remember and recite the 
 words or ideas with equal facility. The cause 
 of this facility and certainty of result is, that 
 
HOW TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. 115 
 
 no more than two words have been compared 
 in the mind at the same moment. And thus, 
 as the first can only recall the second, and the 
 second the third, and so on, none can fail. 
 And again inversely, the thirtieth will recall 
 the twenty -ninth, the twenty -ninth will recall 
 the twenty -eighth, until all the ideas have been 
 recalled. 
 
 "We cannot too strongly insist on the im- 
 portance of completely isolating each couple of 
 ideas at the moment of comparing them, and 
 confining our attention solely to them until the 
 comparison be made throughout the series. An 
 essential advantage of such isolation is, that it 
 prevents obscurity and perplexity ; the mind is 
 not overloaded, because the difficulty of the 
 task does not increase with the number of 
 ideas, there never being more than two to com- 
 pare at one and the same moment. 
 
 "A very usual recommendation made by 
 some writers on mnemonics is to learn a series 
 of words by heart, or commit them to memory, 
 by combining them together. But it should be 
 considered that a combination of this kind is 
 effected, not by reflection, but by imagination, 
 which is a very different thing. To take an ex- 
 
116 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOEY. 
 
 ample. This process of combining ideas by im- 
 agination, applied to the foregoing series, would 
 take place in this way : England is the country 
 of navigation, which is performed by the aid of 
 steam; steam impels locomotives upon rail- 
 ways, which railways possess telegraphs, which 
 telegraphs are worked by electricity, etc., etc. 
 But this mode of combining ideas can never 
 perfectly attain the desired result, because it 
 contains the inherent defect of there being no 
 intrinsic necessity or certainty that the primi- 
 tive impression is strengthened ; whilst, on the 
 contrary, in a simple isolated comparison of 
 two ideas, there is a complete certainty of that 
 effect being produced. Moreover, in this pro- 
 cess of imaginary combination, the more ideas 
 there are to be combined the more difficult and 
 confused becomes the task ; which objection is 
 not applicable to the system of comparing, by 
 reflection, two isolated ideas at a time before 
 passing to any further comparison. 
 
 ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. b. NEITHER ANALOGOUS 
 NOR OPPOSITE. 
 
 "When we desire to retain or to insure the 
 power of recalling two ideas which are neither 
 
HOW TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. 117 
 
 analogous nor opposite, we find that they can- 
 not be combined directly. But the object can 
 be accomplished in an indirect manner. 
 
 "This will be readily apparent. Each idea 
 has some relation with a great number of other 
 ideas. We must look amongst the ideas con- 
 nected with those two which we desire to re- 
 tain, for the purpose of finding points of com- 
 parison. For example : If we have to compare or 
 combine paper and youth, we must look for one 
 or more ideas which by their insertion will es- 
 tablish a chain of relative or connecting ideas be- 
 tween the two which are to be combined. This 
 process is, in some respects, an arbitrary one ; 
 and each particular person will establish his 
 own chain of connecting links, according to his 
 tastes or experience. Thus, one will say that 
 paper can be compared with white color, this 
 with pure, and pure with youth. Another will 
 work out the combination in this way : paper — 
 engine — force — youth. Another will compare : 
 paper — book — imagination — youth. Thus the 
 process of combination will vary with different 
 persons ; but in every case the comparison will 
 be found easy ; and such comparison once es- 
 tablished, the idea of paper will, by means of 
 
118 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 either of those processes of thought so gone 
 through, always recall that of youth. There 
 are different ideas, which have been so often 
 present together in the mind, that they recall 
 each other instantly, e. g., steam and boat, hoy 
 and man, Mack and white, light and dark, etc. 
 In these cases no intermediate ideas are re- 
 quired. 
 
 "By this means a combination, sufficient to 
 insure the power of recalling any two given 
 ideas only one being presented to the mind, can 
 always be obtained. It is, no doubt, desirable 
 that the combination of two different ideas 
 should be made by only one, but, at all events, 
 by as few intermediate ideas as possible. Yet 
 the number of these intermediate combining 
 ideas does not materially prejudice the facility 
 of their reproduction, which, indeed, often takes 
 place with such rapidity that we are scarcely 
 conscious of the presence or nature of the in- 
 termediate idea, so quickly does it come upon 
 us. This is especially the case with ideas which 
 are familiar to us. 
 
 "As an illustration of these remarks, let us 
 suppose that we are to retain the following 
 series of ideas: Garden, hair, watchman, phi- 
 
HOW TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. 119 
 
 losophy, copper, cloth, workman, apple, eclipse, 
 dream, coal, balloon, microscope, idleness, silk, 
 fountain, coast, watch, snow, etc. 
 
 "We can combine the ideas in this manner: 
 Oar den, plant, hair of plant — hair; hair, bon- 
 net, watchman; — watchman, wake, study— jj^t- 
 losophy; philosophy, chemistry — copper; copper, 
 cover — cloth; cloth, tailor — workman; workman, 
 gardener, garden — apple ; apple, earth or moon 
 — eclipse; eclipse dark, night — dream; dream, 
 nightmare, suffocation — coal; coal, gas — bal- 
 loon; balloon, distance — microscope; micro- 
 scope, study, labor — idleness; idleness, hot, 
 thirst — fountain; fountain, dying — silk; silk, 
 China, sea — coast; coast, navigation, compass 
 — watch; watch, Switzerland— snow, etc. 
 
 " Thus, by the exercise of ordinary ingenuity 
 and attention (in itself a beneficial mental ex- 
 ercise), combinations can be effected to any ex- 
 tent. 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE ABOVE RULES. 
 
 "The procQss of the mental operation just 
 described for the reproduction of a series, or of 
 several series of ideas, can be applied in every 
 case, where any series of words are to be re- 
 
120 HOW TO STEBNGTHBN THE MEMOEY. 
 
 tained in the memory; and the object can be 
 accomplished, with certain differences of detail, 
 according to different circumstances. For in- 
 stance : In some cases it is necessary to know 
 and retain a series of words in precisely the 
 same order in which they were given ; in other 
 cases, the order of the words is not of essential 
 importance, 
 
 " In natural history, where there are particu- 
 lar and distinct classification of animals, plants 
 and other objects, it is necessary to observe the 
 order of the words as given ; but there are 
 many cases in which it is not so necessary. 
 
 " In cases of the latter kind, what we have to 
 do is to arrange the ideas ourselves, so as al- 
 ways to combine and take together those ideas 
 which have any relation to each other, and 
 which, consequently, can be compared directly. 
 
 "To make this remark clear, it will be ad- 
 visable to look over any ordinary grammar — 
 the French graromar, for instance. In the 
 grammar, under a general rule, we often find 
 a series of words forming an exception to the 
 rule, and which it is required to retain in the 
 memory. Here it is, of course, essential to 
 know all the words forming the exception ; but 
 
HOW TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. 121 
 
 the order in which they are given is of no im- 
 portance. 
 
 " Sometimes the exceptional words or devia- 
 tions from the rule are arranged in verses, and 
 sometimes in alphabetical order ; these arrange- 
 ments being adopted for the purpose of aiding 
 their retention by the memory. 
 
 "Now, if instead of adopting the metrical or 
 alphabetical plan, we arrange the series so as 
 to call in reflection, i. e., so as to take together 
 the words and ideas which have any natural 
 relation, it will be found that they will become 
 perfectly familiar, and that the mind will re- 
 tain them after only two or three attentive 
 perusals. 
 
 "The French irregular verbs, for instance, 
 with their English significations, are given in 
 the French grammar as follow : 
 
 acquerir, to acquire. 
 aller, to go. 
 s'en aller, to go away. 
 s'asseoir, to sit down. 
 battre, to beat. 
 boire, to drink. 
 boulllir, to boil. 
 conclure, to conclude. 
 confire, to pickle. 
 6 
 
 eoudre, to sew. 
 courir, to run. 
 croire, to believe. 
 ceuillir, to gather. 
 dire, to say. 
 ^crire, to write. 
 envoyer, to send. 
 fulr, to shun. 
 ha'ir, to hate. 
 
123 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 lire, to read. 
 mettre, to put. 
 moudre, to grind. 
 mourir, to die. 
 mouvoir, to move. 
 naltre, to be born. 
 ouvrir, to open. 
 plaire, to please^ 
 pouvoir, to be able. 
 prendre, to take. 
 revfetir, to bestow. 
 
 rire, to laugh. 
 rompre, to break. 
 savoir, to know. 
 suivre, to follow. 
 traire, to milk. 
 tressailUr, to startle. 
 vaincre, to vanquish. 
 valoir, to be worth. 
 vivre, to live. 
 voir, to see. 
 vouloir, to be willing. 
 
 T^BOudre, to dissolve. 
 
 " Now the object of the scholar, in reference 
 to the above words, is to be able always to re- 
 cognize them as exceptions to the general rule, 
 and to do this without reference to the order in 
 which they occur. For this purpose, we have 
 but to select sets of two words bearing analogy 
 with each other, and to compare, viz., 
 
 sew -w 
 
 ith sit dowr 
 
 sit down 
 
 " move 
 
 move 
 
 go 
 
 go 
 
 ' go away 
 
 go away 
 
 send 
 
 send 
 
 ' follow 
 
 follow 
 
 run 
 
 run ' 
 
 ' shun 
 
 shun ' 
 
 break 
 
HOW TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. 
 
 133 
 
 break 
 
 with 
 
 open 
 
 open 
 
 " 
 
 put 
 
 put 
 
 " 
 
 bestow 
 
 bestow 
 
 K 
 
 take 
 
 take 
 
 " 
 
 acquire 
 
 acquire 
 
 11 
 
 vanquish 
 
 vanquish 
 
 tt 
 
 beat 
 
 beat 
 
 14 
 
 startle 
 
 startle 
 
 (I 
 
 die 
 
 die 
 
 (t 
 
 live 
 
 live 
 
 (i 
 
 be bom 
 
 be bom 
 
 It 
 
 laugh 
 
 laugh 
 
 t( 
 
 please 
 
 please 
 
 H 
 
 hate 
 
 hate 
 
 " 
 
 say (calumny) 
 
 say- 
 
 (I 
 
 read 
 
 read 
 
 tt 
 
 write 
 
 ■write 
 
 it 
 
 see " 
 
 gee 
 
 It 
 
 be able 
 
 be able 
 
 (1 
 
 know 
 
 know 
 
 tl 
 
 conclude 
 
 conclude 
 
 tl 
 
 be willing 
 
 be willing 
 
 (( 
 
 believe 
 
 believe 
 
 (t 
 
 be worth 
 
 be worth 
 
 " 
 
 gather 
 
 gather 
 
 (1 
 
 drink 
 
 drink 
 
 t( 
 
 milk 
 
 milk 
 
 (t 
 
 boil 
 
 boil 
 
 tt 
 
 pickle 
 
 pickle 
 
 it 
 
 dissolve 
 
124 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOKY. 
 
 "Now if this series of words be studied in 
 the manner which we have recommended, and 
 of which the list last given furnishes an exam- 
 ple, namely, by comparing, or bringing before 
 the mind at the same time, only two words, 
 and these the ones which have a definite afiin- 
 ity, one or two attentive perusals will suflSce to 
 fix them in the mind for ever. But if an at- 
 tempt is made to learn such a series by heart in 
 the ordinary mode, that is to say, by repeating 
 it over and over, without any reference to anal- 
 ogy, until by such repetition it remains in the 
 mind, not only will vastly longer time be ex- 
 pended in the task, but the great probability is, 
 that the whole of them will never be known 
 perfectly, for there is no principle of connec- 
 tion. And should occasion arise to make use of 
 any one of the words, it will often be necessary 
 to repeat the whole list in order to ascertain 
 whether the particular word needed be amongst 
 the exceptions. This is a great difficulty and 
 discouragement to students. But if the task of 
 retaining or committing the words to the mind 
 has been effected in the manner indicated in 
 the example, not only is their reproduction or 
 recall at any future time rendered more cer- 
 
HOW TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. 135 
 
 tain, but on any one of the words or ideas oc- 
 curring, it will immediately recall the others ; 
 and there can be no doubt or uncertainty ; for 
 if a given word is not comprised in a series (as 
 of the exceptional words just cited), it is at 
 once known that it is not amenable to the ob- 
 servations which apply to that series; for in- 
 stance, in the particular example given, that 
 it does not form one of the exceptions to the 
 general rule. 
 
 " It is here presumed that the meaning of the 
 French words is known, or, in other words, 
 that they are ideas available to the reader. 
 Words belonging to foreign languages not 
 known to us, or, indeed, any words of which 
 we do not know the meaning, are, of course, 
 no more than mere sounds, so far as we are 
 concerned. 
 
 "If a series of words has to be retained in 
 the order in which they are presented, that is 
 to say, if we cannot group together those words 
 which have a connection, then we have only to 
 compare the first with the second, the second 
 with the third, without any further regard to 
 the first, and so on. The comparison will be 
 made directly where any connection exists, in- 
 
136 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 directly where different ideas are given, ac- 
 cording to the above rules." 
 
 WORD MEMORY. 
 
 At my request Prof. J. D. Gaillard, the emi- 
 nent teacher of languages, has given some valu- 
 able hints upon the acquisition of word mem- 
 ory. He writes : 
 
 It is of primary importance for the thinker, 
 the philosopher, and even the conversationalist 
 to have always at hand a large number of 
 words with which to express his thoughts, and 
 never to be at a loss for the proper expression 
 of his ideas. 
 
 The study of a copious vocabulary ought, 
 therefore, to form an integral and important 
 part of the education of the young. But is this 
 special study necessary, and cannot every one 
 of us find out and assimilate the words we 
 want for our own use by reading good books ? 
 Every one of us reads more or less, and yet 
 how few have the command of a large and 
 well-chosen vocabulary. It is true to say that 
 great writers and gifted orators have always 
 
WORD MEMOEY. 137 
 
 had a perfect command of words without having 
 made any special efforts to acquire them ; they 
 have probably gathered them almost uncon- 
 sciously in their intercourse with superior 
 minds, or in reading their favorite books. But 
 these are exceptional cases, because genius is 
 not subject to ordinary laws. Men of average 
 capacity are not so prompt in their assimilation 
 of words, and need help, discipline and method 
 for the training of their memories of words. 
 Besides, their ideas are naore or less limited, 
 and every new word they acquire brings with 
 it a new idea, and necessarily increases their 
 mental powers, being, in fact, a new seed 
 which will bring forth fruit in due tinae. 
 
 If we admit the usefulness of a large vocab- 
 ulary for speaking or writing with power our 
 mother tongue, we must consider it a most in- 
 dispensable acquisition, and one of primary im- 
 portance for the study of a foreign language; 
 and if we can find a means of alleviating this 
 otherwise arduous task, it would be most valu- 
 able to the student. But the question arises: 
 Is it possible, without straining the memory 
 and without monotonous labor, to lay to heart 
 and to completely assimilate a large number of 
 
128 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOEY. 
 
 words which may always be readily found to 
 express our thoughts and ideas ? 
 
 This work will become an easy and pleas- 
 ant pastime by the application of the following 
 principles : 
 
 1.— By making the subject matter interest- 
 ing and instructive. 
 
 2. — By establishing a powerful and logical 
 link between the words we desire to commit to 
 memory. 
 
 If the attention and interest are gained by 
 the introduction of scientific, artistic and even 
 romantic subjects, and the chain or group of 
 ideas is naturally associated in the mind, the 
 words which denote them quickly follow the 
 same law, and fix themselves in the memory 
 with a surprising rapidity, producing such a 
 strong impression, both by the scenes described 
 and the close association of the words employed, 
 that there is a good chance they will never be 
 forgotten. 
 
 It is evident that if the mental pictures are 
 lively and graphic, they will almost uncon- 
 sciously recall to mind the words of which they 
 are formed. But the words themselves should 
 first be learned, and here we must see if psy- 
 
WORD MEMORY. 139 
 
 chology affords us a hint towards lightening 
 this grievous task. It does, in that natural con- 
 nection in the mind of the ideas of things in 
 themselves related to one another, whereby 
 one of these related ideas calls up to our con- 
 sciousness others of them, with an ease and 
 quickness proportioned to the strength and 
 closeness of this connection; in short, one of 
 these related ideas tends to suggest the other 
 almost unconsciously, at any rate, without 
 mental effort. This is the doctrine of associa- 
 tion of ideas. 
 
 As ideas are to the human mind the sym- 
 bols of things, so words are to it the symbols 
 of ideas ; and it follows that words suggesting 
 associated ideas will, in like manner, tend to 
 suggest each other with a quickness and ease 
 proportionate to the tenacity with which the 
 ideas themselves may become associated in the 
 mind. Further, it is a cardinal point of the 
 doctrine that the association of certain words 
 may, by repetition of this connected order, soon 
 acquire a strong hold on the mind as the sym- 
 bol of the ideas which they denote. 
 
 We can compare the ideas which we form 
 of internal objects to a number of bells of a 
 6* 
 
130 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 sensitive metal, hanging on a wire. If we ring 
 any one of them there arises a vibration of 
 the one next to it (or the two between which 
 it is placed), and this influences the next, and 
 so on to the end, the vibration gaining strength 
 and vigor in proportion to the frequency and 
 power which the bells have been rung together. 
 On these principles, then, the vocabularies 
 which I have compiled are constructed; each 
 representing one or more scenes in the life of 
 an individual. Thus, in describing the beauty 
 and harmony of nature — ^the human body and 
 its movements — we take the first man created, 
 and place him walking in ecstasy among the 
 splendors of the material world, and the daz-' 
 zling, luxuriant, fruitful, earthly paradise in 
 which he finds himself. The words denoting 
 those portions of the structure of the human 
 body, which intelligent people ought to under- 
 stand, are given in the form of a lecture by an 
 old professor of anatomy, who explains to his 
 audience the circulation of the blood, digestion, 
 etc., having first wiped his spectacles, tapped 
 his snuffbox, and taken a pinch. You natur- 
 ally smile at the introduction of such apparent- 
 ly trivial ideas as these ; but I can tell you the 
 
"WORD MEMORY. 131 
 
 want of French words to express common 
 ideas may sometimes make you feel very fool- 
 ish when you are supposed to understand the 
 language. 
 
 Then for the words connected with cook- 
 ing, eating, drinking, etc., the student cannot 
 well forget them when he has fixed in his mind 
 the history of an unfortunate corpulent cook, 
 whom he has followed in all his culinary oper- 
 ations, and who tears his hair and sheds bitter 
 tears because he has seen the clumsy scullion up- 
 setting his dishes and spoiling his sweetmeats. 
 
 For the words connected with business, 
 they are strung together in the description of 
 a counting-house, and the names of the chief 
 goods exported from England and imported 
 from the Colonies are given in the description 
 of the loading of a ship at Liverpool, which 
 the learner will follow in her voyage round the 
 world, and see her return and discharge her 
 cargo. 
 
 The words connected with the Fine Arts 
 cannot fail to be imprinted on the student's 
 mind when he will have accompanied, in im- 
 agination, of course, a Japanese visitor to Paris 
 to its museums and galleries, where the differ- 
 
133 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 ent styles of painting and the characteristics of 
 the great masters have been explained to him 
 by a gifted teacher. 
 
 He cannot forget the terms connected with 
 hunting, the animals hunted, the horses, etc., 
 when he has followed a hunt in all its striking 
 scenes, and has witnessed in imagination some 
 of the accidents which that exciting sport 
 causes at times, and has been present at the 
 rather boisterous banquet which usually fol- 
 lows the return of the huntsmen. 
 
 Then for terms connected with the theater 
 and music, he will visit the opera with our 
 Japanese, and will hear and see all that takes 
 place at such representations. In the midst of 
 the opera there is an alarm of fire, and the 
 words connected with such a scene are intro- 
 duced under circumstances calculated to fix 
 them thoroughly in the learner's naemory. 
 
 Let us give a few examples. First, one of 
 our heroes, a Japanese prince, is visiting Paris, 
 and we take him to the Mus^e du Louvre. 
 
 Mus^e, Museum. 
 
 du Louvi-e, of the Louvre. 
 
 galeries, galleries. 
 
 de peintures, of painting. 
 
 peintures k I'huile, oil 
 
 paintings. 
 peintures h I'aquarelle, 
 
 water colors. 
 
"WORD MEMORY. 
 
 133 
 
 peintures h fresque, fres- 
 coes. 
 
 peintures au pastel, cray- 
 ons. 
 
 rencontrer, to meet. 
 
 artistes, artists. 
 
 peindre, topaint. 
 
 chevalet, easel. 
 
 canevas, canvas. 
 
 esquisses, sketches. 
 
 crayons, pencils. 
 
 pinceaux, brushes. 
 
 palettes, pallettes. 
 
 mflanger, to mix. 
 
 coukurs, colors. 
 
 arc-en-ciel, rainiow. 
 
 violet, violet. 
 
 indigo, indigo. 
 
 bleu, hlue. 
 
 vert, green. 
 
 jaune, yellow. 
 
 orangS, orange. 
 
 rouge, red. 
 
 sept couleurs, seven colors. 
 
 r^unies, united. 
 
 dans le blanc, in white. 
 
 contraire, contrary. 
 
 noir, hlacTc. 
 
 absence, absence. 
 
 de couleurs, of colors. 
 
 costume, costume. 
 
 exciter, to excite. 
 
 la curiosity, the curiosity. 
 
 des visiteurs, of the visit- 
 ors. 
 
 se con tenter, to be satisfied 
 with. 
 
 de Jeter, easting. 
 
 coup d'oeil, a glance. 
 
 a, la derobfie, on the sly. 
 
 de peur de, for fear of. 
 
 blesser, wounding. 
 
 la susceptibility, the sus- 
 ceptibility. 
 
 de I'^tranger, of the for- 
 eigner. 
 
 de violer, to violate. 
 
 les lois, the laws. 
 de 1' hospitalite, of hospi- 
 tality. 
 et de manquer, and to fail. 
 aux covenanoes, in propri- 
 eties. 
 d^licatesse, delicacy. 
 de sentiment, of feeling. 
 toucher, to affect. 
 le prince, the prince. 
 se plalre k, to take delight. 
 reconnaltre, to recognize. 
 1' affability, the affability. 
 
134 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY, 
 
 la courtoisie, the courtesy. 
 
 des Parisiena, of the Paris- 
 ians. 
 
 causer aveo, to talk with. 
 
 connaisseurs, connoiseurs. 
 
 faire remarquer, to point 
 out. 
 
 diff^rents genres, different 
 kinds. 
 
 de peintures, the paint- 
 ings. 
 
 peinture d'histoire, histor- 
 ical painting. 
 
 peinture de genre, life 
 studies. 
 
 peinture de portraits, por- 
 trait. 
 
 peinture de marines, sea 
 subjects. 
 
 peinture de paysage,Zomt?- 
 scapes. 
 
 peinture de fleurs, flowers. 
 
 6coles de peinture, schools 
 
 Romaine, Roman. 
 
 remarquable, remarkable. 
 
 par le dessin, by the design. 
 
 V6nitienne, Venetian. 
 
 par la couleur, by the color- 
 ing. 
 
 Le P4rugin, Le Perugin. 
 
 maltre, master. 
 
 de Raphael, of RapTiael. 
 
 V Homfere, the Homer. 
 
 de la peinture, of paint- 
 ing. 
 
 fresques, frescoes. 
 
 du Vatican, of the Vatican. 
 
 rival de, rival of 
 
 Michel-Ange, Michael An- 
 gelo. 
 
 peintre, painter. 
 
 soulpteur, sculptor. 
 
 pofete, poet. 
 
 arohltecte, architect. 
 
 basilque, basilioo. 
 
 de St. Pierre, of St. Peter. 
 
 Rome, Borne. 
 
 of painting. 
 
 Or one of the incidents in the voyage of a 
 captain : 
 
 passager, passenger. 
 faire les cents pas, to walk 
 leisurely. 
 
 sur le pont, on the deck. 
 bateau i vapeur, steamer. 
 Boudain, suddenly. 
 
"WORD MEMORY. 
 
 135 
 
 entendre, to hear. 
 
 cri lugubre, mournful cry. 
 
 un hoinme, a man. 
 
 I. la mer, overboard. 
 
 ^mu, moved with. 
 
 de compassion, compas- 
 sion. 
 
 danger, danger. 
 
 de niort, of death. 
 
 resolution, resolution. 
 
 de sauver, to save. 
 
 la vie, the life. 
 
 de son semblable, of his 
 fellow creature. 
 
 se dfibarrasser, to get rid, 
 
 de ses vfetements, of his 
 clothing. 
 
 se pr6cipeter, to rush. 
 
 dans les flots, into the waves 
 
 nager, to swim, 
 
 plonger, to dive, 
 
 saisir, to seize. 
 
 Or again, an incident 
 traveler : 
 admirer, to admire. 
 Notre-Dame, Ifotre Dame. 
 cath^drale, cathedral, 
 de Paris, of Paris, 
 vaisseau, building. 
 
 le noy6, the drowning one, 
 efforts, efforts. 
 surhumains, superhuman. 
 1 utter eontre, to struggle 
 
 against. 
 les vagues, the waves. 
 agit^es, foaming, 
 h bout de forces, exhausted 
 canot, canoe. 
 force de rames, to row vig- 
 
 ously. 
 ramener, to bring back, 
 k bord, on board. 
 sauveur, rescuer. 
 remettre, to restore. 
 I'enfant, the child, 
 entre les bras, to the arms, 
 de sa mfere, of his mother. 
 eprouver, to feel, 
 une joie, a joy, 
 cfileste, heavenly, 
 inexprimable, unutterable, 
 
 in the experience of a 
 
 Gothique, Gothic. 
 fllou, pickpocket, 
 s'approcher, to approach. 
 a pas de loup, stealthily: 
 s'emparerde, to get hold of. 
 
136 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 porte-feuille, pocketbooJc. 
 montre, watch. 
 au voleur ! thief. 
 agents de police, police 
 
 men. 
 courir aprfis, to run after. 
 auteur, the perpetrator. 
 du laroin, of the theft. 
 attraper, to seize. 
 par le collet, iy the collar. 
 86 d^battre, to struggle. 
 niettre lea meiiottes to 
 
 handcuff. 
 
 oonduire, to take. 
 en prison, to the jail. 
 lendemain, on the morrow. 
 comparaitre, to appear. 
 devant, 'before. 
 le magistrat, the magis- 
 trate. 
 entendre, to hear. 
 deposition, evidence. 
 t^moins, witnesses. 
 A charge, against. 
 et h, d^charge, and for. 
 
 But notwithstanding the interest of the 
 subject-matter and the close connection of the 
 words, it is not to be expected that a set of 
 entirely new symbols can be thoroughly mas- 
 tered by repeating them only once or twice in 
 their natural order. If they are to become 
 ready tools of the mind, and always at hand 
 for the expression of thought, they must be 
 repeated in different order several times, i. e., 
 a leading word being given, others in connec- 
 tion with it occur to the mind at once. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Costume ? Exciter la curiosite des visiteurs. Pein- 
 tures ? A I'huile, k I'aquarelle, h fresque, au pastel. 
 
WOED MEMORY. 137 
 
 Couleurs ? Are-en-ciel, violet, indigo, bleu, vert, jaune, 
 orange, rouge. Diff^rents genres de peintures ? Pein- 
 ture d'histoirS, peinture de genre, peinture de portrait, 
 peinture de marine, peinture de paysage, peinture de 
 fleurs. Raphael ? L'Homfere de la peinture, fresques 
 du Vatican, rival de Michel Ange. 
 
 Or, Entendre? Cri lugubre : un homme h la mer! 
 8e d^barrasser ? De ses vfetements, se precipiter dans 
 les flots, nager plonger. Danger de mort ? Resolution 
 de sauver la vie de son semblable. 
 
 Or again, Filou ? S'approcher 3, pas de loup, s'em- 
 parer de, porte-feuille, montre. Notre Dame ? Cathfi- 
 drale de Paris, vaisseau Gothique. Au voleur ? Agents 
 de police, courir aprfes I'auteur du larcin. 
 
 This kind of exercise will certainly make 
 newly acquired words thoroughly familiar to 
 the mind of the learner ; but in order to render 
 the impression still more lasting two other 
 exercises may be successfully employed, as 
 follow : 
 
 CONVBBSATIOS-. 
 
 Que f aut-il aux artistes pour peindre ? 
 
 II leur faut un ohevalet, un canevas, des pinceaux, 
 une palette et des couleurs. 
 
 Quelles sont les sept couleurs primitives ? 
 
 Le violet, 1' indigo, le bleu, le vert, le jaune, 1' orange, 
 et le rouge. 
 
 Qu'est-ce que le noir ? 
 
138 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 C'est le contraire du blanc et I'absence de toute 
 coTileur. 
 
 CoMPOsiTioir. 
 
 Le prince rencontra un connaissear dans les galeries 
 du Louvre. Celui-ci lui fit remarquer les dififfirents 
 genres de peintures qui s'y trouvenfc ; les peintures d'his- 
 toir, les tableau:;^ de genre, les paysages, etc. 
 
 Or, Un passager qui faisait les cents pas sur le pont 
 du bateau a vapeur entendit sondain ce cri lugubre : 
 un bomme i la mer. II fut-^mu de compassion et prit 
 aussitot la resolution d'exposer ga vie pour sauver celle 
 de son semblable. 
 
 " Exercises arranged in this manner, far from 
 being tedious, are very interesting, as they are 
 varied, thus bringing into action the highest 
 qualities of the human mind— the conceptive, 
 logical, constructive, and imaginative facul- 
 ties—and so while the student is learning a 
 language, his mind undergoes a thorough dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 LAWYERS' MEMORIES. 
 
 Lawyers require strong memories, and the 
 
 most able men in the profession are very gifted 
 
 in this respect. Indeed, it is partly owing to 
 
 this that they rise above the level of their 
 
lawyers' memories. 139 
 
 fellows. I have made considerable enquiry 
 among this class of persons to discover if they 
 have any method of training their powers of 
 recollection, and find that in a majority of, 
 cases they have none. Their memories grow 
 in strength by the natural exercise they receive 
 in the daily course of their work.* 
 
 I can hardly conceive of any discipline of the 
 mental powers nor of 4>h.e memory so thorough 
 and exacting as that which a lawyer receives 
 while trying a great case. If. he forgets any 
 point of importance it may be lost, so he must 
 depend partly on system, notes and briefs ; but 
 previous discipline, according to the rules of 
 this work, and a thorough training of the mem- 
 ory, will be of the greatest advantage. I have 
 known lawyers to ruin their memories by too 
 great anxiety over a case, by going %ithout 
 sleep, by keeping up their strength with stimu- 
 lants, and by the excessive use of tobacco. I 
 cannot think of anything more injurious to this 
 faculty than such a course. 
 
 I have found in my investigations among 
 lawyers what I did not expect: that in large 
 cities there is a class of them whose memories 
 actually deteriorate. They are generally young • 
 
140 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOET. 
 
 men of' fair ability, who begin in offices as 
 assistants, on a very small income. Their 
 round of duties is monotonous ; they work early 
 and late, occupSng, it may be, the worst venti- 
 lated rooms; bend over their tasks at their 
 desks, taking little or no exercise ; they smoke 
 and drink, it may be, sit up late nights, 
 and perhaps dissipate some. Their health suf- 
 fers, their brains grow weak and their mem- 
 ories become less and less. Instead of rising in 
 their profession they fall. Nothing can be done 
 for them unless they cultivate their bodily 
 strength and adopt more natural and robust 
 methods of living. "When they do this they 
 need only to persistently follow the rules laid 
 down in previous pages of this work to double 
 and quadruple their powers of remembrance, 
 and at the same time increase their intellectual 
 strength. Why a young man should allow his 
 brain power to deteriorate in the early part of 
 his career, by bad habits and lack of discipline, 
 has always been a mystery to me. As age 
 comes on, the decay of the faculties and dimi- 
 nution of their force cannot be prevented alto- 
 gether ; but the young have no such excuse. 
 I have sometimes thought that if the early 
 
lawyers' memories. 141 
 
 education of young men who expect to become 
 lawyers, and, indeed, of all young men, were 
 more natural and consisted of less book learn- 
 ing and more out-of-door life, there would be a 
 better foundation for more powerful memories 
 and stronger intellects. The case of Chancellor 
 Kent will illustrate what I mean. Of his early 
 education he wrote : 
 
 "I was brought up among the highlands and 
 hilly parts of Connecticut, and was never kept 
 on the high-pressure plan of instruction. It 
 was not then the fashion. I went to school, 
 and studied in the easy, careless way until I 
 went to college. I was daily, and sometimes 
 for a month or more, engaged in juvenile play, 
 and occasional efforts on the farm. I was 
 roaming over the fields, and fishing, and sail- 
 ing, and swimming, and riding, and playing 
 ball, so as not to be but very superficially 
 learned, when I entered college. I was not in 
 college half the time. I was at home, at leisure, 
 or at gentle work, and much on horseback, but 
 never in the least dissipated. I easily kept pace 
 with my class, for it was in the midst of the 
 American War, and there were few scholars, 
 nor much stimulus to learn. Silent leges inter 
 
142 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 arina\l. When I went to study law, I had my 
 my own leisure, and great exercise and relax- 
 ation in enchanting rides, and home visits, un- 
 til I got to the bar. I lived plainly — drank 
 nothing but water, ate heartily of all plain, 
 wholesome food that came in my way — was 
 delighted with rural scenery, and active and 
 healthy as I could be. Here I laid the basis of 
 a sound constitution, in which my brain had 
 not been unduly pressed or excited, and only 
 kept its symmetry with the rest of the animal 
 system. It was not until I was twenty-four 
 that I found that I was very superficially 
 taught, and then voluntarily betook myself to 
 books, and to learn the classics, and everything 
 else I could read. The ardor and rapidity with 
 which I pursued my law and literary course 
 were great and delightful, and my health and 
 spirits were sound and uniform, and neither 
 has faltered, down to this day." 
 
 I suppose we shall never educate all our 
 young men and women after this fashion. 
 Parents are too eager and desirous that their 
 sons shall improve their youthful days in ac- 
 quiring knowledge rather than the developiflg 
 of strong bodies, and they often sacrifice their 
 
SUGGESTIONS FOR CLERGYMEN. 143 
 
 health, and sometimes their lives, in this vain 
 desire. It is very desirable that our youth 
 have their intellectual faculties well trained; 
 it is absolutely necessary that their moral in- 
 stincts be as well developed; but best of all it 
 is when the intellect, moral nature, and the 
 physical part of our being are harmoniously 
 blended together in one individual. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR CLERGYMEN. 
 
 The profession of a clerygyman does not re- 
 quire such sudden and powerful exercise of the 
 memory as that of the lawyer when pleading a 
 great case, but he has opportunities for its 
 more natural development, providing he will 
 use them. 
 
 The habit of writing and reading sermons is 
 detrimental to this faculty, hoWever valuable it 
 may be in a literary point of view. If preach- 
 ers would form the habit of extemporaneous de- 
 livery, and at the same time use as much care 
 in the preparation of their discourses as when 
 writing them, they would be much more forci- 
 ble. I do not say that a preacher cannot read a 
 
144 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 finely written sermon effectively, but as a rule 
 they do not. For this reason I urge all members 
 of this profession to early form the habit of 
 delivering their discourses extempore. This will 
 require that they learn to think on their feet, 
 which is a gift well worth making great effort 
 to attain. It will also form most excellent 
 means of training the memory. If the dis- 
 course has been written out in full, it may be 
 committed by heart, or after the matter has 
 been well worked up, the principal divisions 
 and main points may be written, and the filling 
 up left to the inspiration of the moment. This 
 latter is, on most occasions, Mr. Beecher's 
 method, and it certainly works well in his case. 
 
 Ministers who have a ritual and much of 
 the service prepared for them become lazy in- 
 tellectually, unless they keep a close watch, 
 of themselves. In such cases the memory must 
 suffer. There is no royal road by which it can 
 be kept strong, except by right use; and by 
 right use I do not mean constant use. 
 
 Some clergymen keep their brains on a con- 
 
 ■ tinual strain. The result is, this organ loses its 
 
 ■ elasticity, which is as injurious to the memory 
 as to all the other faculties. In such cases 
 
SUGGESTIONS TO CLERGYMEN. 145 
 
 relaxation, the throwing off of cares and re- 
 sponsibilities, and allowing the mind to remain 
 fallow for a while, is most beneficial. Multi- 
 tudes of forgotten things often come back to 
 the mind without effort after a long-continued 
 strain has been taken from the nervous sys- 
 tem. The annual vacations which clergymen 
 take must prove of the greatest advantage as 
 a means of relaxation ; but there should also be 
 a certain amount of daily relaxation besides. 
 There are many ways in which this may be 
 done, according to individual tastes and re- 
 quirements. Dr. John Todd made his machine 
 shop furnish a change, and he wrote me an 
 elaborate account of this room and what it had 
 done for his intellectual health, which I pub- 
 lished some years ago in a little work entitled 
 " Hygiene of the Brain." Others, who have no 
 mechanical genius, take to horseback riding, 
 gardening, out-of-door sports and various forms 
 of athletics, each and all of which are useful, 
 not only for the general health but for thej 
 memory. 
 
 Some will think I have gone out of my way 
 to give general hygienic advice in a book writ- 
 ten to show how the memory may be strength- 
 7 
 
146 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOEY. 
 
 ened ; but I have seen so many memories de- 
 bilitated from the violation of hygienic laws 
 that it seems to me these suggestions are not 
 out of place. 
 
 MASTERING THE CONTENTS OF A BOOK. 
 
 One of the most useful and yet one of the 
 most diflScult things to do is to master the con- 
 tents of a good book. As a method of training " 
 the memory it has special use. Of course not 
 every book is worthy of so much attention. 
 One should be chosen which is really valuable, 
 and, better still, if it has special reference to 
 the tastes and requirements of the individual. 
 It should be read with care. This cannot be 
 done rapidly, especially at first. The attention 
 should be so fixed on the main points as to 
 secure a vivid impression. If the reader finds 
 he is not giving close attention, and the facts 
 or thoughts are not properly impressed on the 
 brain, then he must at once stop and begin 
 again. 
 
 After a chapter has been read once the 
 reader should make an abstract of it from 
 
MASTERING THE CONTENTS OP A feOOK. 147 
 
 memory. The abstract should be very concise, 
 only what is valuable being retained. The 
 chief ideas will always suggest the less im- 
 portant ones if the attention has been carefully 
 exercised and the first impression has been 
 clear and vivid. After the synopsis of a chapter 
 has been made it should be compared with the 
 original to see if it is correct, and if it is not 
 it should be made so. Continue with the sec- 
 ond chapter in the same way. Before proceed- 
 ing to the third chapter read over the synopsis 
 of the first and second, and link them together 
 into one chain by the method most natural 
 and convenient, and proceed in this way to the 
 end of the volume. After it has been finished, 
 the complete abstract should be read over with 
 great care, and another briefer one made f roraa 
 memory. This process of condensing books is 
 a valuable intellectual exercise, and helps one 
 to understand into how little space a good work 
 may be compressed. 
 
 After all has been done which I have ad- 
 vised, the reader should repeat to his friends 
 and those who are willing to listen, the con- 
 tents of the book as he has made them in his 
 synopsis, without the assistance of his notes. 
 
148 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 This will give confidence, which is most essen- 
 tial to success. The raore times this repetition 
 is gone over the better. This process of con- 
 densing the contents of a book is almost a sure 
 cure for loose habits of recollecting, which 
 come from too much and too rapid miscellane- 
 ous reading. 
 
 THE ART OF FORGETTING. 
 
 When Simondes ofEered his services to The- 
 mistocles as a teacher of the art of memory, 
 the latter replied, "Eather teach me the art of 
 forgetting ! " There was wisdom in this reply. 
 Who would not forever forget many things he 
 has learned, especially his bad habits, his false 
 opinions, his painful experiences ? 
 
 The progress of the race is slow because we 
 cannot or will not forget those things we 
 learned in early life, which were not true ; but 
 we go on teaching them to our children simply 
 because they have become a part of our brain 
 structure and action. 
 
 The art of forgetting, it seems to me, con- 
 sists in using our reason to judge and our wills 
 
THE ART OF FORGETTING 149 
 
 to expel from the mind what is of no use, and 
 also in occupying our attention with those 
 things which are valuable. Keep the mind 
 open to new truths and the old will gradually 
 be forgotten. There are some conditions of the 
 nervous systems in which the brain seems to 
 act automatically, and to go over and over the 
 painful and trying experiences of life. Try as 
 hard as we can we cannot forget them. The 
 best advice I can give to such is to take meas- 
 ures to make new associations for the thoughts, 
 so as to call them into fresh and agreeable 
 channels. 
 
 There are some occasions which will require 
 the most powerful exercise of the will, as, for 
 instance, when we wish to prevent vivid impres- 
 sions from gaining a permanent foothold in the 
 brain. The person must resolve and insist in 
 the raost positive manner that his brain shall 
 not treasure up its painful and worthless ex- 
 perience. I remember an instance of this 
 kind in my own life. I was riding oh the 
 cars between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, 
 when one of the wheels of the engine broke, 
 and the whole train, in full motion, was 
 thrown down an embankment and turned 
 
150 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 bottom side up. I was not in the slightest 
 degree hurt or alarmed, yet for a year after 
 this I could not ride on the cars wij;h the same 
 comfort I had previously, because the memory 
 of the accident, and all its attendant circum- 
 stances, would come back to me unbidden. 
 Time, however, and determination on my part 
 restored the nervous system to its normal con- 
 dition ; and now I only remember the accident 
 long enough to relate it to illustrate the value 
 of the art of forgetting. 
 
 ABNORMAL MEMORY. 
 
 There are some instances of abnormal mem- 
 ories which have interest for the student of 
 mental science. A typical case was published 
 some years ago in the Journal of Speculative 
 Philosophy, the subject being an uneducated' 
 farm laborer, past middle life, whose memory 
 in certain directions was prodigious. Accord- 
 ing to the account he could tell instantly what 
 day any day of any month was twenty or more 
 years back, what he had done on that day, 
 what kind of weather it had been, whom he 
 
ABNORMAL MEMORY. 151 
 
 had seen, etc., etc. He had been tested by- 
 almanacs and diaries so many times and found 
 to be correct, that his word was never ques- 
 tioned by those who knew him. He had not 
 cultivated his memory, and this faculty was 
 evidently born with him. In other respects he 
 was not remarkably intelligent; indeed, his 
 memory was, without doubt, abnormal, and 
 perhaps prevented the higher development of 
 his other faculties. 
 
 Another interesting case, which was related 
 to me by a gentleman who was very intimately 
 acquainted with him, is that of a printer whose 
 employer made his naemory serve a useful 
 purpose by frequently referring to him for 
 particulars of any event which had transpired 
 connected with the practical work of the print- 
 ing oflBce. For instance, when any customer 
 sent an order to duplicate any piece of work, 
 instead of spending time in hunting through 
 his books to find the order he referred the 
 matter to this man, whose memory was so good 
 that he would promptly give every particular^ 
 the size, color and weight of paper, who printed 
 it, on what press it was worked off, the day 
 it was completed — all this correctly, although 
 
153 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 months, and in some cases years, had elapsed 
 in the meantime. His memory was equally 
 good regarding things not connected with his 
 daily work. When he was asked how he could 
 remember so long back, and such a multiplicity 
 of difficult things, and if he kept a diary, he 
 replied that he did not know how he did it, and 
 that he had no time to keep a diary. It was 
 evidently a gift of nature, and goes to show 
 how much more capable human beings may 
 some time become, when they shall be born 
 with all their faculties more fully and har- 
 moniously developed. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In concluding this little work I should like to 
 express my thanks to the many kind friends 
 who have aided me by suggestions and mater- 
 ial. They have made the labor light and a 
 pleasure. Hoping the work will do something 
 to improve the memories of those who read it 
 is all that I can wish.