MEMORY CULTURE.
'Twas wisely said by Plato, when he called
Memory "the mother of the Intellect,"
For knowledge is to wisdom what his realm
Is to a monarch--that o'er which he rules;
And he who hath the Will can ever win
Such empire to himself--Will can do all.
There is nothing in which the might of the Will can be so clearly set
forth as in the _making_ of memory. By means of it, as is fully proved
by millions of examples, man can render his power of recollection
almost infinite. And lest the reader may think that I here exaggerate,
I distinctly assert that I never knew a man of science, familiar with
certain facts which I shall repeat, who ever denied its literal truth.
As I have already stated, there are two methods, and only two, by
means of which we can retain images, facts or ideas. One of these is
that which in many varied forms, which are all the same in fact, is
described in the old _Artes Memorandi_, or Arts of Memory. There are
several hundreds of these, and to the present day there are professors
who give instructions according to systems of the same kind. These are
all extremely plausible, being based on Association of ideas, and in
most cases the pupil makes great progress for a short time. Thus, we
can remember the French for bread, _pain_, Italian _Pane_, by thinking
of the pan in which bread is baked, or the difficult name of the
inventor, SSCZEPANIK (pronounced nearly _she-panic_) by thinking of a
crowd of frightened women, and which I remembered by the fact that
_pane_ is the Slavonian for Mr. or Sir. For there is such a tendency
of ideas to agglutinate, and so become more prominent, as we can see
two bubbles together in a pool more readily than one that we can very
soon learn to recall many images in this way.
But after a time a certain limit is reached which most minds cannot
transgress. VOLAPUK was easy so long as, like Pidgin-English, it
contained only a few hundred words and no grammar. But now that it has
a dictionary of 4,000 terms and a complete grammar it is as hard to
learn as Spanish. It invariably comes to pass in learning to remember
by the Associative method that after a time images are referred to
images, and these to others again, so that they form entire categories
in which the most vigorous mind gets lost.
The other method is that of _direct_ Memory guided by Will, in which
no regard is paid to Association, especially in the beginning. Thus to
remember anything, or rather to learn _how_ to do so, we take
something which is very easy to retain--the easier the better--be it a
jingling nursery rhyme, a proverb, or a text. Let this be learned to
perfection, backwards and forwards, or by permutation of words, and
repeated the next day. Note that the repetition or _reviewing_ is of
more importance than aught else.
On the second day add another proverb or verse to the preceding, and
so on, day by day, always reviewing and never learning another
syllable until you are sure that you perfectly or most familiarly
retain all which you have _memorized_. The result will be, if you
persevere, that before long you will begin to find it easier to
remember anything. This is markedly the case as regards the practice
of reviewing, which is invariably hard at first, but which becomes ere
long habitual and then easy.
I cannot impress it too vividly on the mind of the reader, that he
cannot make his exercises too easy. If he finds that ten lines a day
are too much, let him reduce them to five, or two, or one, or even a
single word, but learn that, and persevere. When the memory begins to
improve under this process, the tasks may, of course, be gradually
increased.
An uncle of the present Khedive of Egypt told me that when he was
learning English, he at first committed to memory fifty words a day,
but soon felt himself compelled to very much reduce the number in
order to permanently remember what he acquired. One should never
overdrive a willing horse.
Where there is a teacher with youthful pupils, he can greatly aid the
process of mere memorizing, by explaining the text, putting questions
as to its meaning, or otherwise awaking an interest in it. After a
time the pupils may proceed to _verbal memorizing_, which consists of
having the text simply read or repeated to them. In this way, after a
year or eighteen months of practice, most people can actually remember
a sermon or lecture, word for word.
This was the process which was discovered, I may say simultaneously,
by DAVID KAY and myself, as our books upon it appeared at almost the
same time. But since then I have modified my plan, and made it
infinitely easier, and far more valuable, as will be apparent to all,
by the application of the principles laid down in this book. For
while, according to the original views, Memory depended on Will and
Perseverance, there was no method indicated by any writer how these
were to be created, nor was energetic Forethought considered as
amounting to more than mere Intention.
Now I would say that having the task selected, first give energetic
forethought, or a considerate determination to master this should
precede all attempts to learn, by everybody, young or old. And when
the lesson is mastered, let it be repeated with earnestness and
serious attention before going to sleep, with the _Will_ that it shall
be remembered on the morrow. And it will be found that this process
not only secures the memory desired, but also greatly facilitates the
whole course and process.
It is to be noted that by this, or any process, we do not remember
everything, but only what is first considered and measured by
Forethought. Also that by it the Memory is never overcharged at the
expense of Intellect, for the exertion of will in any way strengthens
the mind. To explain the immense power which this all implies, I
observe:
That previous to the invention of printing, it was usual for students
to get their text-books by heart. Thus in India, according to MAX
MULLER, the entire text and glosses of PANINI'S Sanskrit grammar were
handed down orally for 350 years before being committed to writing.
This work is about equal in size to the Bible.
There are Indian priests now living who can repeat accurately the
whole poems of the _Mahabarata_ of 300,000 _slokas_ or lines.
That these incredible feats were the result of a system of memorizing
similar to what I have explained.
That the _Guzlas_ or Slavonian minstrels of the present day have by
heart with remarkable accuracy immensely long epic poems. I have found
the same among Algonkin Indians, whose sagas or mythic legends are
interminable, and yet are committed word by word accurately.
I have heard in England of a lady ninety years of age whose memory was
miraculous, and of which extraordinary instances are narrated by her
friends. She attributed it to the fact that when young she had been
made to learn a verse from the Bible every day, and then constantly
review it. As her memory improved, she learned more, the result being
that in the end she could repeat from memory any verse or chapter
called for in the whole Scripture. The habit had marvelously developed
her intelligence as well as memory.
Now I confidently declare that if this lady had submitted what she
learned to the suggestive-will process she could have spared herself
half the labor. And it is to be observed that as in time the labor of
reviewing and the faculty of promptly recalling becomes easier and
easier till it is simply mechanical, so the memorizing by suggestion
becomes more _facile_ until it is, so to speak, only a form. And as it
becomes easier the foresight strengthens till it wields an _absolute_
power.
If the reader is interested in this subject of developing the memory,
I would refer him to my work on Practical Education in which it is
discussed with reference to recalling objects through all the Senses.
No one who has made even a very slight trial of the process of
impressing on the mind before sleep something which must be
remembered, can fail to be convinced ere long of the truth that there
is in it a marvelous power which will with easy and continued practice
enable him to recall whatever he pleases. It follows as a matter of
course, that this would be of incredible value in education, but
notwithstanding the vast discussion of this subject which is ever
going on, it does not seem to occur to a living man that we should
develop and train the mental faculties, such as memory and quickness
of perception, as well as set them to hard work.
It is also safe to say that there is not a man living who was educated
from boyhood upon this principle, and yet I am confident that no
scientist in existence, knowing the facts on which my statement is
based, will deny that it is as easy to develop the mental factors
alluded to, as to learn a language or play on the piano. It is not a
matter of theory but of facts. Millions of men have in the past
acquired the faculty of being able to repeat and remember whatever
they heard, if they earnestly attended to it. Earnest attention in
this case means a strong exercise of forethought, or determination to
an end or given purpose. In Iceland, that which has since become the
English common law, was at an early date very fully developed, without
any books or writing. And there were lawyers who had by heart all the
laws, and incredible numbers of precedents, as appears from several
sagas, among others, that of The Burnt Njall.
Our present system of Education is that of building houses without
foundations. No one suspects or dreams what mighty powers there are
latent in us all, or how easily they may be developed. It would not be
so reprehensible if men entirely neglected the subject, but they are
always working hard and spending millions on the old system, and will
not even make the least experiment to test a new theory. One reason
for this is the old belief that we are all born with a certain quantum
of "gifts," as for example memory, capacity, patience, _et cetera_,
all more or less limited, and in reality not to be enlarged or
improved. The idea is _natural_, because we see that there are very
great differences, hereditary or otherwise, in children. But it is
false. So we go to work to fill up the quantum of memory as soon as
possible by violent cramming, and in like manner tax to the utmost all
the mental faculties without making the least effort to prepare,
enlarge or strengthen them.
I shall not live to see it, but a time will come when this preparation
of the mental faculties will be regarded as the basis of all
education.
To recapitulate in a few words. When we desire to fix anything in the
memory we can do so by repeating it to ourselves before we go to
sleep, accompanying it with the resolution to remember it in future.
We must not in the beginning set ourselves any but very easy tasks,
and the practice must be steadily continued.
It has been often said that a perfect memory is less of a blessing
than the power of oblivion. Thus THEMISTOCLES (who, according to CATO,
as cited by CICERO, knew the names and faces of every man in Athens)
having offered to teach some one the art of memory, received for
reply, "Rather teach me how to forget"--_esse facturum si se oblivisci
quæ vellet, quam si meminisse docuisset_. And CLAUDIUS had such an
enviable power in the latter respect that immediately after he had put
to death his wife MESSALINA, he forgot all about it, asking, "_Cur
domina non veniret_?"--"Why the Missus didn't come?"--while on the
following day, after condemning several friends to death, he sent
invitations to them to come and dine with him. And again, there are
people who have, as it were, two memories, one good, the other bad, as
was the case with CALVISIUS SABRINUS, who could recall anything in
literature, but never remembered the names of his own servants, or
even his friends. But he got over the difficulty by naming his nine
attendants after the nine Muses, while he called his intimates Homer,
Hesiod, and so on. This scholar would truly seem to have drunk of the
two fountains sacred to Trophonius, by the river Orchomenus in
Boeotia, one of which bestowed memory and the other oblivion. And like
unto them is the power of the Will, aided by Forethought and
Suggestion, for while it properly directs and aids us to remember what
we will, it _per contra_ also helps us to forget.