The nerves connecting the eye with the brain are many times larger than
the nerves of any of the other sense organs and can make an impression
which is many times stronger than the impression made by any of the
others. Without your conscious knowledge this fact has been operating
all your life. The things which you have seen are the things which you
have most easily remembered. For this reason the memory of your youth
consists principally of things which you saw, or impressions made upon
your brain by the use of your eye.
Prove this fact; recall some of your earliest recollections; how did
your brain accept these impressions? Was it through feeling, hearing,
or through seeing? It is an eye impression and is recalled in your
mind as a picture. You will find that most of the past which you can
remember is based upon the visual impression. The poet says, "How dear
to my heart are the scenes of my childhood." The scenes of childhood
are the memory of childhood.
"Travel is the greatest of educators." Why? One reason is because you
are gathering a group of eye impressions which are the most lasting.
One psychologist defines memory, "as the act of recalling the picture
of a past experience." The fact that the visual memory is most lasting
has been known for generations, but we have failed to take proper
advantage of the fact. In making a comparison of the eye and ear
impressions upon the brain Robert Mudie wrote in 1832: "That which is
told us we may forget because of the weakness of the impressions made,
but that which we see with our own eye is proof against accident,
against time and forgetfulness."