Memory Systems New and Old

Front matter

New and Old

by

A. E. MIDDLETON

Prefatory Note

PREFATORY NOTE.

Part First of this little work, under the title of "All About Mnemonics," has already passed through two editions in England.

Part Second explains the suppression of "Loisette Exposed," giving in full the injunction granted by the New York Supreme Court, together with extracts from the affidavits presented in the case of Loisette vs. Fellows.

Special attention is called to Loisette's agreement and the balance-sheet.

The Bibliography of Mnemonics gives titles in full, and in this respect is superior to the Bibliography appended to "Loisette Exposed," which gave, in most cases, only abstracts of titles.

Every student of the "Loisette" system is requested to send his address to the publisher, together with his opinion of "Loisette" and his system. Students of the Pick, White, and other systems will confer a favor by doing likewise.

Washington, D. C., September, 1888.

Chapter 1

MEMORY may be termed the diary of the mind; and truth compels me to add that, generally, the faculty is treated in much the same manner as are those stiffly bound, carefully-ruled annuals that deluge the world in January. As a rule the entries in these diaries are hurriedly scribbled in pencil, easily read and understood at the time of writing; but when required to be afterwards referred to are found to be blurred and unintelligible. It is true that some make their entries elaborately and carefully, converting the diary into a tasteful specimen book of beautiful penmanship—but that is all. So with our mental diary—we hurriedly and carelessly imprint our best thoughts Memory's tablet, trusting it to preserve them intact, inevitably to be disappointed; and, on the other hand, we just as frequently take the greatest pains in burdening it with things of little or no value. Those who are neither careless nor inattentive in matters memorial, are, as a rule, compelled by the hurry and scurry of a busy life to rely to a great extent on what is proverbially a wayward and treacherous faculty, and are thus perpetually learning only to forget. The man who possesses a good healthy memory is so scarce as to be almost a phenomenon, and when found is regarded as one specially gifted.

In a little work published a few years since, Dr. Mortimer Granville very appositely compared memory to a phonograph—once in action it receives every impression conveyed to it; though the record may be dormant yet it is indelible; and under suitable conditions the recorded impression can be reproduced. Brain substance is capable of being impressed by mental or nerve force as the tinfoil of a phonograph is impressed by physical force; attention and interest deepen the impression; and a healthy brain will take in and register a great number of such impressions. The secret of a good memory is in one word—attention. The object should be to obtain a vivid first impression of the idea or fact to be remembered by perfectly and intelligently understanding it, noting its most important particular, and associating it with other vivid impressions. Attention to this principle, with a constant and moderate use of the faculty, will be found to materially strengthen a weak memory, and to develop a good one. Thoroughly look after the little details and the chief points will take care of themselves.

The cause of a bad memory is mainly the want of method in storing ideas. Memory's food is supplied through the channels of sight and sound, and the mode of "taking in" differs greatly with different persons. Some persons can better recollect an idea or fact by means of a sound impression associated with it, than they can by a mental picture or sight impression of the idea or fact itself. In a similar manner others, and they form the larger proportion, recollect best by mental pictures or impressions conveyed through the eye. In the little work referred to, Dr. Granville brings out this point very clearly, and suggests a test by which any one can readily ascertain whether his memory is dependent on impressions received through the eye or through the ear. He suggests that an independent person should write out plainly some sentence which the one who wishes to apply the test has not previously seen. The latter should then read it carefully once, lay it aside, and, after an interval, write the sentence from memory. To test his sound memory, he should get a friend to read to him distinctly once, a different sentence, which, after an interval, should also be written out. By repeating this, and lengthening the interval between the hearing and seeing and the writing out, he will be able to judge, from the comparative correctness of the results, whether it is by sound or by sight he can better recollect. If by sound, the object should be to associate the things to be recollected with sounds which are familiar to him, as notes of music, rhyme, jingle of bells, language, and any familiar form of sound. If, as is generally the case, the memory is chiefly dependent on sight, vivid mental pictures should be made of the objects, facts, and ideas—ideas can be symbolized—which it is desired to recollect. A good deal of stress is often laid on the importance of reiteration the frequent repetition by writing out, reading, or speaking of the thing to be remembered, and this method obtains very largely in schools. Dr. Grey, in his "Memoria Technica," recommends frequent repetition, as by it the most uncouth sounds become familiar. Another writer says, in respect to writing out what is to be learnt, that the act of writing itself distracts the thoughts, and adds that what is read twice is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed. Frequent repetition of language does certainly deepen the impression, particularly if the aid of rhyme or rhythm is added.

The term "artificial memory" is now used as a synonymous term for mnemonics (from the Greek mneme, memory), the art of memory; but this term no more applies to mnemonics than it does to the science of optics or acoustics. Just as a proper knowledge of optics frequently enables one to perceive an object more clearly, so does a knowledge of mnemonics and the application of method enable one to perceive more clearly the impression stored in the mind; and although artificial objects may be utilized to assist a methodical arrangement, they in no way affect the natural principles of the science itself.

Memory consists of remembrance and recollection. Remembrance is passive memory—to remember without effort; recollection is active and requires effort, and may be described as seeking for the different ideas which are likely to recall, by association, the desired idea. The fundamental principle of mnemonics is therefore association—to associate or link together one object, idea, or fact with another, so that to recall the one is to recall the other. This principle is well illustrated in the fairy story of the prince who sought to release a beautiful princess kept captive in a dark and deep cave, the condition being that if he could find her, release her, and discover his way out, he should marry her. All who had previously attempted the feat had lost their way in the dark cave and never returned. This prince, warned by the failure of others, sought the aid of his fairy godmother, who gave him a bag of beautiful white stones, which he was to drop as he went along, so that after releasing the princess he could find his way back by re-collecting the stones. Similarly, by method, many a bright thought buried in the cave of forgetfulness can be released; but care must be taken to have the links indelible. Those who, like the children in the story book, who when going into the forest to gather flowers strewed the way with bread crumbs to guide them home, use evanescent links, may find that they, when wanted, like the children's crumbs, have disappeared.

Remembrance, it should be observed, is distinctly different to recollection, the former being the power of retaining ideas, and the latter the power of recalling them. Some persons possess a good retentive memory, but experience great difficulty in awakening it into action or recollection; but if we note the fact that some ideas are more easily retained or recalled than others, we shall be able, with a little thought, to considerably improve the power of both retention and recollection. It will be found that ideas produced by sensation are always more easily retained and reproduced, and we may thus guard against relying too much upon one abstract idea to suggest another. If we desire to recollect an abstract idea, we should carefully associate it with one of sensation, and we shall invariably find that the one connected with the senses will more effectually "jog the memory," than the other. Although the memory of some persons depends mainly on sensation impressions conveyed through the ear, yet those conveyed through the eye will, as a general rule, be found to be more vivid and lasting. It is, however, for each individual to ascertain for himself the weak and the strong points in his memory, and to use the stronger in such a way as to improve the weaker. In carrying out the principle of association it will be found that if one idea is not quickly and very closely connected with another and that an interval takes place, be it ever so slight, there is a tendency of irrelevant ideas to spring up in the mind, interfering with those which it is desired to connect. Just as, by the law of similarity and contrast, Coleridge's mackerel reminded him of gooseberries, and the gooseberries of a goose, and the goose of a swan, so will the same law mix up the original idea with others foreign to the subject. The closer, ser, therefore, the ideas are brought together, and the quicker they are connected with each other, the stronger will they be associated and the greater will be their power of reproducing each other. And it may be added that the more familiar the ideas are the better.

It should be noted that a solitary idea cannot remain in the mind it will either associate with some other idea or disappear. No idea can be recalled except there be another by means of which it is recalled. Ideas associate themselves together by virtue of a natural law—the law of mental affinity. Place two ideas, and two alone, together before the mind and they will naturally combine, and will exclude foreign ideas. The strength of the association depends upon the strength with which the ideas first came to the mind, and upon the connection which exists between them. Ideas which have no natural connection with each other may be associated by means of intermediate ideas which have some connection or properties in common with both the others. Ideas should be brought as closely as possible together so as to allow comparison, and only two ideas should be associated at one time.

These remarks on the principles of mnemonics are merely prefatory to the details which are given in the succeeding chapters. All the efforts of mnemonists, ancient and modern, have been directed to the formulating of systems which would do away with the arbitrary character of numerals, and render more easy the labor of association and retention; and all the many systems that have been produced are more or less based upon the principles just detailed.

Chapter 2

OWING to the fact that the faculty of memory has always been more neglected than any other, attention has from the earliest times been directed to devising methods to assist it. As one of the earliest instances of such aids I may cite the erection of memorial stones to the children of Israel, described in Exodus xxviii., v. 9 to 12, and in Joshua iv., v. 1 to 24. Others will readily occur to the Biblical student. The numerals of Pythagoras were purely mnemonical. "They were," says Porphyry, "hieroglyphical symbols, by means whereof he explained all ideas concerning the nature of all things." Among the Jews it was the practice to abbreviate words, and also to form words of the initial letters of other words, as memory-aids, as Rambam for "Rabbi Moses Ben Maimom." The Jews also made use of natural words to represent numbers, similar to the Roman numerals, and used them for the purpose of dating their Bibles. At the corner of the veil used in the Jewish synagogue during prayer were strings, each with five knots to suggest the five books of Moses, from which, perhaps, has been derived the old-fashioned custom of tying a knot in a handkerchief, or a thread round the finger as a reminder. "When this you see remember me," is another memory-aid, generally used as a ring-posy, and we find it thus used in 1673, by the Rev. Giles Moore, who records in his diary the fact that he presented Ann Brett with a ring bearing this inscription. In the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries the custom was also common, and is thought to have originated with the Romans, who gave their lady-loves gems with "Remember" and other mottoes cut upon them.

The earliest attempt to assist the memory by a methodical system was made by Simonides, the Greek poet of Cos, who flourished about 500 B.C., and who invented what is termed the topical or locality memory. Simonides was engaged to recite a poem at a banquet, given by one of his patrons, and after doing so the room fell in, burying all in its débris, and disfiguring the bodies so as to render identification impossible. Simonides, however, had noted the position each guest had occupied, and was thus able to point out the remains of each. Cicero and Quintilian both refer to his system and advocate its use; and we may add that it is the basis of many modern methods. Simonides found that to fix a number of places in the mind in a certain order was a great help to the natural faculty. His plan was to form in the mind a building divided and subdivided into distinct parts arranged in a certain order. The order of these parts was to be thoroughly learnt. As many words as there were parts were then symbolized by the images of living creatures, and when a number of things were to be committed to memory in certain order, mental images representing them were to be placed regularly in the several parts of the building. Thus, the porch, the hall, parlor, rooms, walls, and objects in the building were arranged consecutively, and objective images, representing persons and things, were connected with them. From this system we are said to take the phrases used in dividing a discourse—"In the first place," "in the second place," &c.

In the middle ages various attempts were made to systematize the powers of memory, the earliest being by Roger Bacon, the learned monk, who wrote a treatise on the subject. ct. This was never published, but exists in MS. at Oxford. The next attempt was made by Raymond Lully, the "illuminated doctor," who originated what was termed the "Lullian Method" of teaching. This method was developed in a work published at the time by Lully. By his system, "anyone was enabled mechanically to invent arguments and illustrations upon any subject." The system is described as "a general instrument for assisting invention in the study of every kind of science. For this purpose, certain general terms which are common to all the sciences, but principally those of logic, metaphysics, ethics, and theology, are collected and arranged according to the caprice of the inventor. An alphabetical table of such terms was provided; and subjects and predicates taken from these were respectively inscribed in angular spaces upon circular papers. The essences, qualities and relations of things being thus mechanically brought together, the circular papers of subjects were fixed in a frame, and those of predicates were so placed on them as to move freely, and in their revolutions to produce various combinations of subjects and predicates; whence would arise definitions, axioms, and propositions, varying infinitely, according to the different applications general terms to particular subjects." The use of Lully's method, it is said, would enable any person to argue for a whole day upon any subject without knowing anything of it. Morhof in his dissertation on the subject gives an elaborate account of the system; Athanasius Kircher, in 1669, devoted a book of five hundred pages to an exposition of Lully's method; and a few years previously Jean Belot, in his "L'Oeuvre des Oeuvres," published what purported to be an enlargement of Lully's art of memory, which was said to be superior to the original. Jordano Bruno, in 1582, attempted to perfect Lully's art, publishing several works on the subject; and in 1653 a work on memory was written by one Saunders, who dealt mainly on Lully's art. The subject is also treated in Enfield's "History of Philosophy," from which the particulars given above are taken.

Another MS. on the art of memory was written by Thomas Bradwardin, who was proctor of Merton College, Oxford, in 1325, afterwards confessor to Edward III, and one of the most enlightened ecclesiastics of his age. His "Art of Memory" consists of three and a half small pages, and is an attempt to form a topical system. The MS. is in the Sloane collection.

About 1470, Jacobus Publicius, a Florentine, published his "Ars Memorativa incipit feliciter" and other tracts on memory. This is a curious and scarce book, and is said to be the earliest with wooden cuts that was printed with movable types. The volume consists of fourteen leaves, printed in the Gothic character, and with so many and complicated abbreviations as to make it difficult to peruse. It treated of the arrangement of places and the combination of images, several woodcuts of the most rude and grotesque description being used to represent the alphabet by symbols. This work suggested the publication of others, one being by Peter of Cologne, whose system resembles that of Publicius, and who also used woodcuts to represent images of particular objects, as a carpenter by a hammer, a cobbler by a shoe, &c.

In 1491, Peter Ravennas, a Paduan professor, termed by his contemporaries "Petrus a Memoria," published a work entitled "Fœnix." In this he paid the goddess of memory (Mnemosyne, who married Jupiter, and who was the mother of the nine muses) a compliment by choosing the most beautiful maidens his mind could conceive to symbolize the alphabet. Such fair symbols, he considered, were best calculated to excite the memory. He was probably not far wrong. About this time (1492) Conrad Celtes, a German poet, published a system in which the alphabet was substituted for the places used in the old topical method; and in 1515 two other works elaborating the system of Ravennas were published. In 1523 Laurenz Fries issued at Strasburg a German work entitled "A Short Advice: How Memory can be wonderfully Strengthened," in which he prescribes roasted fowls, small birds or young hares, and other delicious things for dinner, with apples and nuts for dessert. The disciple is allowed to enjoy good red wine, but otherwise he must be sober and moderate.

John Romberch de Krypse, in 1533, issued "Congestorium Artificiosœ Memoriœ." It abounds in woodcuts of a curious character. Taking Simonides' plan as a base, he divided a wall and a series of rooms into separate spaces, each marked with numerical, literal, and symbolical alphabets, one of the alphabets being represented entirely by birds. A figure of a naked man was used to teach grammar by symbolizing the singular number, each of the cases being placed on certain parts of his body. The plural number was represented by a clothed man, the cases being similarly disposed. The rooms were each devoted to distinct subjects. Three chapters are dedicated to gaming, explaining the application of the art to dice, cards, and chess.

Gulielmus Gratarolus published a work on the art of memory in 1555, and in 1562 an edition of it, "Englyshed by William Fulwood," and published under the title of the "Castel of Memorie," was printed in London. In the dedication and preface Fulwood drops into verse, which in the main dwells on the importance of memory, and on the merits of his book. He asks—

For what helps it good bookes to read or noble stories large: Excepte a perfecte memorie do take thereof the charge? What profits it most worthie thing to see, or else to heare, If that the same comes in at one and out at the other eare?

And, speaking of his book, he says—

Hee that hath lost his memorie, By mee may it renewe; And hee that wyll it amplifie Shall finde instructions trewe.

The "Castel of Memorie" consists of seven chapters dealing with what memory is, the chief causes whereby it is hurt, the principal "endamages" of the memory, particular helps, medicinal remedies for increasing its powers and rules of remembrance, the last chapter being devoted to local or artificial memory, in which the topical system of previous writers is elucidated. The translator concludes with the following admonition—

memorie sayeth.

To him that would me gladly gaine These three precepts shall not be vaine. The first is well to vnderstand The thing that he doth take in hand. The second is the same to place In order good and formed race. The thirde is often to repeat The thing that he would not forgeat. Adioning to this castell strong, Great virtue comes er it be long.

In 1583 Thomas Watson, a London poet, published a Latin treatise on the art of memory. In it he detailed a variation of the topical method. Instead of a house he used a spacious wall, which he divided into numerous compartments, each representing a certain object. What he wished to remember he connected with these objects. He dwells strongly on the importance of "connection" or association.

1602 saw the publication of two works on memory: One, "Ars Reminiscendi," by Baptist Porta, who exchanged letters and numerals for symbols, and treated on the topical system; and another by Marafortius, who devised a system of grouping all necessary reminiscences around forty-four images associated with the backs and palms of the hands.

About this time mnemonics received an impetus by some remarkable public exhibitions in Germany by Lambert Schenkel, and a few years later a number of works were published professing to elucidate his system. The "Gazophylacium Artis Memoriæ" was the most important of these. Schenkel is the first, of whom there is record, who succeeded in getting mnemonics recognized as a science by educational authorities. He was the original of the many "professors" who have come after him; and, if he taught what he professed to teach, he was certainly the best as well as the first. He travelled through Germany and France teaching his art at the universities, and winning golden opinions as to its merits from all classes. His pupils were prohibited from imparting the art under a severe penalty. One of his pupils, Martin Sommer, was authorized by Schenkel to teach his system through the continent under the same conditions. Sommer was equal to his master in elucidating the system, and in a Latin work published at Venice, in 1619, he advertises it very effectively. "A lawyer," he says, "with the assistance of my mnemonics may impress his causes so strongly on his mind that he may know how to answer each client in any order and at any hour with the same precision as if he had just perused his brief. And in pleading he will not only have all the evidence and reasonings of his own party at his finger ends, but all the grounds and refutations of his antagonist also! Let a man go into a library and read one book after another, yet shall he be able to write down every sentence of what he has read many days after at home. The proficient in this science can dictate matters of the most opposite nature to ten or thirty writers alternately! After four weeks' exercise he will be able to class twenty-five thousand disarranged portraits within the saying of a paternoster: aye, and he will do this ten times a day without extraordinary exertion, and with more precision than one ignorant of the art can do it in a year!" The course of study was completed in nine lessons of one hour each, and half-an-hour's daily exercise thereafter was enjoined. Most of Schenkel's feats consisted of repeating disconnected words, numbers, and sentences in a certain order, backward and forward. Arnold Backhusy published details of Schenkel's system in 1643 with a key, but the latter is unintelligible except to the initiated. This key is reprinted in a work on Feinaigle's art of memory published in 1813. A German translation of Schenkel's work was published in 1804. Carl Otto Reventlow, a Danish mnemonist, describes Schenkel's method as nothing but the pictorial system of the ancients. Details of this system may also be found in a French translation published in 1623, entitled "The Magazine of Sciences, or the true Art of Memory by Schenkelius, translated by Adrian Le Cuirot."

In 1610 a work was published under the title of "Simonides Redivivus," by Dr. Brux. In this he gave a mnemonical dictionary; and also devoted a good deal of space to the ars oblivionis—or the art of forgetfulness—the author rightly considering this art to be more valuable than remembrance.

The topical system found, in 1617, another exponent in Martin Ravellin, who treated the subject in much the same way as did Thomas Watson previously noticed. In the same year Fludd, the alchemist, published a volume on memory, attempting to combine Lully's system with the old fashioned topical method. Fludd's work, from the fact that it contained an excellent portrait of the great chemist, with a number of mystical woodcuts, has become extremely rare.

The following year, 1618, saw the publication of other works on this subject, including a useful compilation of the works of previous authors by Adam Naulius, and another work by John Willis. The latter was translated into English by a bookseller named Sowersby in 1661, and it now ranks as a curious and somewhat rare work. Willis admits that he has "diligently collected" the contents of his work "out of divers learned men's writings." He commences with rules for remembering common affairs, next words, then phrases, afterwards sentences and long speeches, by means of notes and writing. In the second book he treats of remembering without writing, which, he says, consists of "reposition and deposition." As a preliminary he advises the student to first "drown all unnecessary thoughts in oblivion"—by no means an easy task. Reposition he defines as "the manner of charging the memory with note-worthy things"; and advises a thorough acquaintance with the subject to be remembered, and the observance of a perfect logical method in its treatment. "Deposition" pertains somewhat to the art of forgetting, referred to by previous writers. It is the art, says Willis, of "discharging" the mind of things which we desire no longer to retain. Willis writes rather vaguely, but he evidently intends to convey the idea, that having once committed to memory a certain thing, further trouble need not be taken—it has been impressed on the memory, and may be recalled at any time. The mode of "reposition" is further elucidated by the suggested use of extempore verses, and a series of twenty-two questions, which should be applied to subjects that it is desired to remember. The questions are as follow:—

If who? what? whose? to what? whether? why? about what? How? what fashion? how much? by, of, in, and from what? How long? how often? how manifold? whence came that? Where when? how many?

These questions are, the author says, "of excellent use to invent, retain, as also to recall to minde things of great concernment and worthy memory in urgent affairs." In the third book he elaborates a system of local memory. A building of two rooms is divided into spaces, in which he mentally places symbolic objects, their consecutive order being denoted by color gold, silver, black, blue, red, yellow, green, purple, white, and cinnamon, representing one to ten. By way of illustrating the use of his system Willis instances a person visiting a town who wishes to remember that he is to inquire the price of barley, to engage a man as haymaker, to buy some spices, to consult a lawyer, and to buy some velvet. By the mental picturing of a man measuring barley into a bushel with gold handles, a haymaker sharpening a golden scythe on a whetstone; a grocer's shop with the articles required associated in different ways with silver; a lawyer in a black gown; and a piece of black velvet, the order of the things required is impressed on the memory. Rules are also given for the better recalling of ideas, which consist of the application of a series of questions relative to kind, subject, quantity, sight, and attributes. The volume concludes with a treatise on the art of cherishing natural memory, dealing in a large measure with the questions of health, diet, and medicine.

From 1620 to 1680 a number of works were published on the art, but of these only one was in English—that by Henry Herdson, a Cambridge professor, entitled "Ars Memoriœ: the art of memory made plaine." Feinaigle's compiler describes this work as scarce and rare, and reprints it. The method partakes to a great extent of the topical arrangements advocated by Willis and other earlier authors. Consecutiveness in the arrangement, and the remembrance of figures were obtained by placing in position symbols representing numerals, "for 1 a candle, a fish, a staf, a dart, &c.; for 2, a swan, a duck, a goose, a serpent; for 3, a triangle, a trident, or anything with three legs; for 4, a quadrangle, a die, or any four-square thing; for 5, a foot of a man, an hand, a glove, a sickle, a peircer, a shoemaker's knife; for 6, a tobacco pipe; for 7, a carpenter's iron square, a raizer bent thus 7; for 8, a pair of spectacles, a sea crab, twin apples, &c.; for 9, a burning glass, a riding stick (twisted at the upper end thus 9), long peares, &c.; 10, 20, 30, &c., to a thousand, may be formed from these figures, taking anything round for the ciphers, 000, as an orange, a ball, &c.; for a candle run through an orange is ten, a swan with an orange in her mouth is twenty." In a brief chapter devoted to "shorthand writing," he details an ingenious method of reading by ideas, although it would be difficult to imagine the utility of it. "There is," he says, "a kind of a Shorthand writing in this Art, by the Ideas of letters objected to the eye of the fancy, as the Alphabet is objected to the sight of the bodily eye. Now for brevity sake, using colors instead of vowels, the eye of a nimble fancy will read anything by Ideas thus figured, as readily as if it were written in a book, and will retain what thus is written. Now the Ideas of this alphabet be these, and such like as your fancy best pleaseth to make choice of; A, a pair of Compasses so made; b a Lute, B, a Bow bent with an arrow in it; C, an Horn, &c., and so in like manner take instruments or any kind of Ideas for the rest of the letters which be like the letters, and instead of vowels use these colours—A for white, for E blew or green, for I red, for O black, for U yellow." The volume is a small one, and nothing but the barest suggestions of the system are given. As, however, he advertised that he might be consulted on the subject "at the Green Dragon, over against Saint Antholin's Church, in London," he probably had good reasons for his brevity.