Dr. Abercrombie has admirably treated this subject, and I refer the reader
to his interesting work.[44] The poet Simonides is said to have been the
founder of the mnemonic art. Cicero informs us, that, supping one night
with a noble Thessalian, he was called out by two of his acquaintance, and
while in conversation with them the roof of the house fell in, and crushed
to death all the guests he had left at table. When the bodies were sought
for, they were so disfigured by the accident that they could not be
recognised even by their nearest friends; but Simonides identified them
all, by merely recollecting the seats they had held at the banquet.
Cicero and Quintilian adopted his system, connecting the ideas of a
discourse with certain figures. The different parts of the hilt of a
sword, for instance, might regulate the details of a battle; the different
parts of a tree associate the relations of a journey. Other mnemonic
teachers recommended the division of ideas to correspond with the
distribution of a house; while some of them refreshed the memory by
associations connected with the fingers and other parts of the hand.
Cicero expresses himself plainly on this subject: "Qui multa voluerit
meminisse, multa sibi loca comparet: oportet multos comparare locos, ut in
multis locis multas imagines collocemus."
The celebrated Feinagle who delivered lectures on memory had adopted the
system of aiding the memory by dates, changing the figures in the dates
into the letters of the alphabet corresponding to them in number. These
letters were then formed into a word to be in some way associated with the
date to be remembered--for instance--Henry IV., King of England, was born
in the year 1366. This date changed into letters makes _mff_ which was
very easily changed into the word _muff_--the method is not so obvious of
establishing with this a relation to Henry IV., but Hen_ry_ IV., says Mr.
Feinagle, means four hens, and we put them in a muff, one in each corner,
and no one after hearing this is in any danger of forgetting the date of
Henry IV.'s birth.
Learning poetry by heart in infancy and youth is perhaps one of the best
methods of improving memory, since it lays the early foundation of a
classification of words and ideas. Virgil has justly said, "Numeros
memini, si verba tenerem." To abridge, resume, and analyze what we have
read or heard, is another practice highly beneficial; for, the more
clearly we comprehend a subject, the deeper will it remain engraved in our
memory. Reading what we wish to recollect before going to bed will
materially assist the memory. We sleep over the impressions we have
received, and dreams alone can weaken them. From this very reason we can
write with more facility upon subjects that require much mental exertion
in the morning, fasting, when the mind has not been disturbed by the
events of the day, and when the functions of digestion have not drawn upon
our faculties, too frequently with the lavishness of a spendthrift. It is
somewhat singular, but, despite the interruption of dreams, our ideas are
matured during our sleep. Quintilian expresses himself as follows on this
subject: "Mirum dictu est quantum nox interposita adferat firmitatis, sive
quiescit labor ille cujus sibi ipsa fatigatio obstabat, sive maturatur ac
coquatur, seu firmissima ejus pars est recordatio. Quae statim referri non
poterant, contexuntur postero die, confirmatque memoriam idem illud tempus
quod esse in causa solet oblivionis."
Memory is subject to be variously disturbed in certain maladies. There is
an affection called _amnesia_, in which it utterly fails, and another
termed _dysmnesia_, when it is defective. Failure of memory is generally
more manifest on some subjects than on others. Salmuth relates the case of
a man who had forgotten to pronounce words, although he could write them.
Another person could only recollect the first syllables. An old man had
forgotten all the past events of his life, unless recalled to his
recollection by some occurrence; yet every night he regularly recollected
some one particular circumstance of his early days. A curious anecdote is
recorded of an elderly gentleman who had fallen into the meshes of an
artful courtesan, and who frequently took his own wife for this insidious
acquaintance, frequently saying to her, "Madam, I feel that I am doing
wrong by devoting to you so much of my time, for, when a man has a wife
and children, such conduct is unpardonable;" and, after this polite
observation, he took up his hat, and would have walked off, had not his
wife, wise enough not to manifest displeasure, contrived to undeceive him.
Dietrich mentions a patient who remembered facts, but had totally
forgotten words; while another could write, although he had lost the
faculty of reading. Old men are frequently met with who confound
substantives, and will call their snuff-box a cane, and their watch a hat.
In other cases letters are transposed, and a musician has called his
_flute_ a _tufle_. Dr. Abercrombie relates the case of a gentleman who
uniformly called his snuff-box a hogshead. In Virginia he had been a
trader in tobacco, so that the transition from snuff to tobacco, and from
tobacco to a hogshead seemed to be natural. Another person, affected in a
similar manner, always called for paper when he wanted coals, and coals
when he needed paper. Others are known to invent names and unintelligible
words. Some curious anagrams have been made by these irregularities. John
Hunter was suddenly attacked with a loss of memory, which is thus related
by Sir Everard Home: "He was at the time on a visit at the house of a
friend. He did not know in what part of the house he was, not even the
name of the street when he was told, nor where his own house was. He had
not a conception of anything existing beyond the room in which he was, and
yet he was perfectly conscious of the loss of memory. He was sensible of
impressions of all kinds from the senses, and therefore looked out of the
window, although rather dark, to see if he could be made sensible of the
situation of the house. The loss of memory gradually went off, and in less
than half an hour his memory was perfectly recovered." Such momentary
accidents I have frequently observed in gouty patients; and for a second
or two I have myself experienced the sensation, which was for the moment
of a most alarming nature. Hunter was subject to arthritic attacks.
Corvinus Messala lost his memory for two years, and in his old age could
not remember his own name. This is an occurrence by no means uncommon; and
I knew a person in perfect health who could only recollect his name by
writing it. We frequently see individuals who, although they are generally
correct orthographers, cannot sometimes spell a simple conjunction. An
anecdote is related in the Psychological Magazine of a German statesman,
who having called at a gentleman's house, the servants of which not
knowing him, was asked for his name, which he had, however, so totally
forgotten, that he was under the necessity of turning round to a friend
and saying with great earnestness, "Pray tell me who I am, for I cannot
recollect."
Cases are recorded of the forgetfulness of a language constantly spoken,
while one nearly forgotten from want of practice was recovered. A patient
in St. Thomas's Hospital, who had been admitted with a brain-fever, on his
recovery spoke an unknown language to his attendants. A Welsh milkman
happened to be in the ward, and recognised his native dialect; although
the patient had left Wales in early youth, had resided thirty years in
England, and had nearly forgotten his native tongue. Boerhaave relates a
curious case of a Spanish poet, author of several excellent tragedies, who
had so completely lost his memory in consequence of an acute fever, that
he not only had forgotten the languages he had formerly cultivated, but
even the alphabet, and was obliged to begin again to learn to read. His
own former productions were shown to him, but he could not recognise them.
Afterwards, however, he began once more to compose verses, which bore so
striking a resemblance to his former writings, that he at length became
convinced of his having been the author of them.
Dr. Abercrombie relates the case of an aged gentleman, who, in an attack
of the head, had almost forgotten the English language, and expressed
himself in a mixed dialect of French, Italian, Spanish, German, and
Turkish. Having been some time afterwards severely burnt about the head,
by setting fire to the curtains of his bed, he was observed to make use of
some English words; this being followed by a course of blistering, he
continued to speak more English, but only occasionally and in very short
sentences. These were sometimes correctly applied, but at other times most
erroneously; for instance, having been taken to see a small house, he
observed, "it is very neat, but it is a very little child."
Dr. Beattie mentions the case of a clergyman who, on his recovery from an
apoplectic attack, had exactly forgotten a period of four years; and Dr.
Abercrombie records a lady who had thus forgotten ten or twelve years of
her life. Wepfer mentions a gentleman, who on recovery from an apoplectic
attack, was found to know nobody and remember nothing. After several weeks
he began to know his friends, to remember words, to repeat the Lord's
Prayer, and to read a few words of Latin, rather than German, his native
language. When urged to read more than a few words at a time, he said that
he formerly understood those things, but now did not. After some time he
began to pay more attention to what was passing around him, but while thus
making slight and gradual progress, he was, after a few months, suddenly
cut off by another attack of apoplexy. Dr. Beattie relates the case of a
gentleman who, after a blow on the head, lost his knowledge of Greek, and
did not appear to have lost any thing else.
Loss of memory has been observed as a frequent occurrence after the
prevalence of pestilential diseases. Thucydides relates, that after the
plague of Athens several of the inhabitants forgot their own names and
those of their parents and friends. After the disastrous retreat of the
French army in Russia, and the disease which swept away so many of their
troops at Wilna, many of the survivors had no recollection of country or
of home. Injuries of the head appear to occasion different results. This
circumstance was observed by the ancients. Valerius Maximus relates the
case of an Athenian, who, being struck on the head with a stone, forgot
all literary attainments, although he preserved the recollection of other
matters. A man wounded with a sword in the eye completely forgot Greek and
Latin, in which he had formerly been a proficient. A young man, having
fallen off his horse and contused his head, lost his memory to such an
extent, that he would repeat a question a hundred times over, although the
very first interrogation had been answered. He had not the slightest
recollection of his accident. Epileptic and paralytic attacks frequently
usher in this melancholy result, which has also been often observed after
child-birth.
Dr. Abercrombie knew a lady who was seized with an apoplectic fit while
engaged at cards; the attack took place on a Thursday evening--she lay in
a state of stupor on Friday and Saturday, and recovered her consciousness
rather suddenly on Sunday. The first words she then uttered were, "What is
trump?"
Dr. Conolly mentions a young clergyman who, when on the point of being
married, suffered an injury of the head, by which his understanding became
impaired. He lived in this condition to the advanced age of eighty, and to
the last day of his existence, spoke of nothing but his approaching
wedding, expressing impatience for the arrival of the happy day.
A singular instance of forgetfulness is related of a lady who had been
united to a man she loved, after much opposition on the part of her
family, and who lost her memory after the birth of a child. She could not
be made to recollect any circumstance that had occurred since her
marriage; nor could she recognise her husband or her infant, both of whom
she maintained were utter strangers to her. At first she repulsed them
with apparent horror, but was at last, by the entreaties of her family,
induced to believe that she was a wife and a mother; and although she
yielded to their solicitations, yet for years she could not persuade
herself that their assertions were correct, as she actually was convinced
"against her will." In this instance disease not only destroyed memory,
but affection.
The case of Dr. Broussonnet was remarkable. An accident he had met with in
the Pyrenees brought on an apoplectic attack. When he recovered, he could
neither write nor pronounce correctly any substantives or personal names
either in French or Latin, while adjectives and epithets crowded in his
mind. Thus, when speaking of a person, he would describe his appearance,
his qualities, and, without pronouncing the word "coat," would name its
colour. In his botanical pursuits he could point out the form and colour
of plants, but had not the power of naming them. A Parisian merchant,
after severe losses, experienced such a failure in recollection, that he
was constantly guilty of the most absurd anachronisms;--would talk of the
battles of Louis the Fourteenth with Alexander the Great, and describe
Charles the Twelfth ascending triumphantly Mount Valerian; and one night,
after witnessing the performance of Talma, could not be persuaded that he
had not applauded Lekain.
Sudden fright has also obliterated this faculty. Artemidorus lost his
memory from the terror inspired by treading on a crocodile. Bleeding has
produced the same effects; while, on the other hand, blood-letting has
restored an absent man to perfect recollection. Various venenose
substances have also been said to produce amnesia. History records several
instances of the kind. The soldiers of Anthony, on their return from the
Parthian war, were attacked with loss of memory after eating some
poisonous plants on their march. Bamba, king of the Goths, was suddenly
deprived of all recollection after taking a draught presented to him by
Eringius. Plater and Baldinger attributed a similar accident to the use of
hemlock and arsenic. Narcotics, no doubt, may produce similar effects, but
they will be of a transient nature; I do not know that this injurious
power has been detected in any other productions, as the cases related by
writers are not supported by sufficient authority to be entitled to
unqualified belief.
The cause of these affections will most probably ever be unknown. Equally
futile have proved all the endeavours to ascertain in what part of the
brain memory is seated, since we have found some physiologists lodging
this wonderful faculty in the posterior, and others in the anterior
portion of the cranium. I apprehend that we might torture the brute
creation, from the elephant down to the lowest reptile, for centuries,
without being able to ascertain this point; and even could we attain this
information, _cui bono_? Would it protect this privileged quarter of the
cerebral organ from the action of external agency, or restore it to its
healthy functions when diseased? The mode in which our mental faculties
are developed is an impenetrable mystery; and, instead of vainly
endeavouring to raise the mystic veil to gratify our curiosity, or rather
our vanity, let us endeavour to apply these functions to the use for which
they were intended by the allwise Creator, and exert them for the purpose
of increasing the prosperity, or at any rate in endeavouring to diminish
the sum of sufferings of his creatures, whether they be our fellow-men or
the divers races that are submitted to our capricious power.