On Memory and the Rational Means of Improving it

Front matter

Dr. PICK MEMORY

ON

RATIONAL MEANS OF IMPROVING IT.

Preface

PREFACE.

This little book is intended to show what has been done hitherto in Mnemonics, and to suggest new means for improving the Memory. The artificial modes of aiding the Memory hitherto applied have been amply tested, yet have always proved a failure, the reason of which is that they were based on a misapprehension of the nature of the mind. I have therefore tried to develop in these pages, first, the true nature of that faculty of the mind which is to be the subject of our special attention. I have further endeavoured to show how those laws which regulate recollection, or in other words, the reasons why we retain certain things more easily than others, can be used to facilitate learning by heart without recurring to artificial means, and without cramming the mind with things difficult to retain, and quite foreign to the ideas they are meant to inculcate. I give, also, a few instances of the practical application of those principles. Their further adaptation to all branches of knowledge, and especially to those of general education, are reserved for separate publications. I have taught them at the leading Universities in Germany, at the highest schools in France, and continue to do so, both publicly and in schools, in this country; with what success the kind reader will see in the papers annexed to this book. I beg to say, in conclusion, that I shall have great pleasure in receiving from those who have attended my lectures any suggestions for further applications of my method.

8, Old Quebec Street, Portman Square.

History of Mnemonics

HISTORY OF MNEMONICS.

The Greek poet, Simonides (b.c. 470), is generally believed to be the inventor of Mnemonics. His discovery of the art is thus related by Cicero:

"A man named Skopas, at Kranon, in Thessalia, once gave a grand dinner in honour of a victorious gladiator. Amongst the guests was the poet Simonides, who, during the repast, recited some verses he had composed in honour of the hero of the feast. After his recitation, he was called outside, and had scarcely left the room, when the ceiling fell in, crushing Skopas and all his guests. When the relatives of the killed came to bury the remains, they found them so smashed and disfigured, that they could not distinguish one body from another. It happened, however, that Simonides had observed the place which each person had occupied; and on looking at the several places, he was able to identify all the bodies. This led him to believe that nothing could better assist the memory than to retain in the mind certain fixed places, and therein to deposit, with the assistance of the imagination, whatever we intend to keep in our memory."

Though Simonides seems to have formed a complete artificial system on this principle, and even to have taught his system, no particulars have come down to us, either about his own system, or about those of other writers on the subject among the Greeks. But the Romans have left detailed reports on Mnemonics, which undoubtedly were taken from Greek sources. The most remarkable of these are to be found in "Rhetor. ad Herrenium," iii., 16—24, in "Cicero de Oratore," lib. ii., cap. 88, "Quintilianus Instit. Orat.," lib. xi., cap. 2. The following passage out of the very minute treatise of Quintilian will give a correct idea of the Mnemonics of the ancients:

"This is the way to make the art of Mnemonics practical. You choose a very spacious and diversely arranged place—a large house, for instance, divided into several apartments. You impress on the inind with care whatever is remarkable in it; so that the mind may run through all the parts without hesitation or delay; for the essential is not to hesitate before the objects, as remembrances destined to help other remembrances should be more than sure. Moreover, for recalling to mind what you have written or simply meditated, you help yourself with any sign borrowed from the matter you have to treat of—if the object should be one of war, navigation, or the like; or with some word, for a word suffices to refresh the memory, as soon as it begins to fail. If the object is navigation, the sign will be an anchor; if it is war, it will be a weapon. Then you proceed as follows: you place the first idea in the hall, the second in the parlour, and so on with the rest, going over the windows, the chambers, to the statues and similar objects. This done, if the object is to apply that proceeding to the memory, you look over every apartment, beginning with the first, and recalling at every picture the idea which was confided to it; so that, howsoever numerous the things may be which are to be kept in mind, they are put in a row, and form a sort of chain, which prevents the confusion to which you are exposed when bound to learn by heart. You can even create for yourself imaginary places. It is, therefore, necessary to have real or imaginary places, as well as pictures or phantoins, which are always arbitrary. The pictures are signs which serve to mark what you wish to retain; so that, as Cicero says, the places can be compared to wax, and the phantoms to letters," etc.

This principle has been followed and applied by nearly all writers on Mnemonics, from Simonides down to the last century. They differ only in the choice of the places. Some take real, others imaginary places, some compartments fitted up, others empty ones, etc., etc. Generally, they have taken any limited space, such as a room in a house, and have retained in the memory a series of fifty or a hundred objects in fixed positions in this room. They afterwards combined with these objects the series of names, phrases, etc,, which they intended to keep in mind, and each of which had previously been converted into a picture.

If the application had to be made to larger numbers of names, etc., the mnemonist had to multiply his positions by constructing an imaginary town, divided into ten districts, each containing ten houses, and each house having ten rooms.

Among Roman authors on Mnemonics, we may cite further Plinius, "Hist. Natural," lib. vii, cap. 24; Martianus Capella, lib. v., cap. De Memoria; and Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xvi., cap. 5.

After the downfall of Rome, Mnemonics disappeared entirely from view, remaining concealed in the darkness of the monasteries.

The celebrated English monk, Roger Bacon (born 1214, in the county of Somerset), is one of the first who brought Mnemonics again to light.

He wrote a "Tractatus De Arte Memorativa," which has never been printed, but still exists in MS., at Oxford. Not having seen this MS., nor found in any author any particulars of it, we cannot say whether Bacon's method differs from that of other writers.

Those who have paid particular attention to the literature of Mnemonics, Aretin and Count Mailath, for instance, enumerate a great number of tracts on Mnemonics, belonging to the thirteenth century, but which are all valueless to us, being compilations from the above-cited Roman authors, or from one another.

About the middle of the fifteenth century, other works on Mnemonics appeared, namely one by a physician, at Perugia, enlitled, "Tractatus Artis Memorative," in which, of course, among other means of strengthening the memory, certain drugs or pills are strongly recommended. Conrad Celtes, a German poet of some renown, born in 1459, made the great discovery that the alphabet could be substituted in Mnemonics for the places or pictures used by his predecessors. The historians of Mnemonics, especially Aretin, Reventlow, and the learned and famous bibliographer, Edward Marie Oettinger, in Leipzic, to whom I owe the above-mentioned and some of the following details on the history of Mnemonics, give a dozen other names of authors on Mnemonics belonging to this epoch. But we will here point out only the most important writers who really introduced new ideas, or rendered themselves otherwise famous.

Among the public teachers of Mnemonics, one of the first was Petrus de Ravenna, who made his appearance at the end of the fifteenth century, and excited great enthusiasm by his public experiments. He was the disciple of the celebrated lawyer, Alexander de Imola.

He travelled all over Italy, and was everywhere enthusiastically received. His contemporaries called him Petrus a Memoria, and several princes gave him licence to pass through their countries toll-free. These licenses exist still. When scarcely twenty years old, he recited at Padua all the Leges Codicis and all the sermons, word for word, which the magister Antonius Eremita had delivered during Lent. He once played a game of chess, and dictated at the same time two letters on stated subjects, while another person played at dice, and a fourth wrote down all the throws. When the game was finished, Ravenna recited from memory all the moves of the game of chess in the order that they had been played, all the words of the two letters backwards, and each throw of the dice in any order. The Duke Boguslaw, of Pomerania, per- suaded him to leave Italy, and to come to Greifswalde. From thence he went to Wittenberg and then to Cologne. Cornelius Agrippa de Nettesheim, tells us that Petrus was expelled from Cologne by the Dominicans, because they believed him to be a necromancer. From that time it is related that he wandered about without any settled place of abode, until he died at an advanced age, in 1512. His work, entitled "Ars Memorativa," went through nine editions, viz., "Phoenix Artis Memoriæ, s. Introductio ad Artificiosam Memoriam," Venetiis, 1491, vols. 4; Norimbergæ, 1501, vols. 8; Coloniæ, 1506, vols. 4; Parisiis, 1516, vols. 4; Venetiis, 1565, vols. 8; Vincentiæ, 1600, vols. 4; Coloniæ, 1608, vols. 4.

In the second part of the sixteenth century, a new prodigy of this kind made his appearance in the Netherlands, Lamprecht Schenkel, who was born in 1547, at Herzo- genbusch, and became a schoolmaster till his twenty-fourth year. He then travelled for twenty years, as a teacher of Mnemonics, in Belgium, France, and Germany, and produced such a sensation, that at the University of Louvain he was declared a conjurer and sorcerer, and, as such, was denounced from the pulpits. John Baxius, the "Inquisitor Rerum Magicarum" at Antwerp, declared Schenkel's work on Mnemonics to be a work of the devil's. The bishop appointed a commission to examine the accusation of the inquisitor, and to hear the defence of Schenkel. This commission, after a minute examination, felt bound to give Schenkel a certificate, on the 1st of February, 1593, that his "Mnemonics" contained nothing "contra fidem Catholicam Romanam aut Republicam Christianam." But when he attempted to publish his work at Louvain, the censor of books, Henri Cuyck, refused his permission.

Schenkel subsequently collected a great number of written certificates from priests, by the aid of which he obtained the reluctant permission of the theological faculty of Douay to publish the work. His troubles were not at an end, however; for the inquisitor of Antwerp, John Baxius, called the faculty to account; but the faculty protected the poor mnemonist, who, but for their protection, would have fallen a victim to the Inquisition.

In consequence of this persecution, Schenkel contrived to keep his Mnemonics secret, and exacted an oath of eternal silence from his disciples. He went from Belgium to Paris, where, having been examined by the rector of the University, he obtained, on the 14th November, 1601, from king Henry IV., the privilege of teaching his Mnemonics all over France. It was added, that whosoever dared to trouble him, or to teach Mnemonics without his consent, should pay a fine of 4,000 francs, of which one-third should go to the state, one-third to the poor, and the rest to the proprietor of the privilege.

The works he published were: "De Memoria," lib. i. Duaci, 1593; Antwerpiæ, lib. ii., 1593; "Leodii," 1595. Further: "Brevis Tractatus de Utilitatibus et Effectibus Mirabilibus Artis Memoriæ Parisiis," 1598; "Argentorati," 1619; "Gazophylacium Artis Memoriæ Argentorati," 1610.

As we have said, he made a great secret of his method, and imposed on his pupils an oath of eternal silence. But as he could not supply all the demands for instruction he authorized one of his pupils, Martin Sommer, to teach his method on condition of paying his master a part of his earnings. The pupil was not long faithful to his master, but published his secrets in two pamphlets, which appeared at Venice in 1619, entitled: "Brevis Delineatio de Utilitatibus et Effectibus Mirabilibus Artis Memoriæ ad eum Perfectionis Gradum Perductæ, ut Amplius Nihil Restet Nisi Applicatio." And, "Gazophylacium Artis Memoriæ quo omnia ea, quæ ad absolutum ejus Cognitionem inserviunt, recondita habentur, compendiose et absolute collectum per Lampertum Schenkel, nunc autem ipsius permissu a Martino Sommero, Silesio, in diversis Germaniæ academiis traditum et illustratum Venetiis," 1619.

According to Reventlow, Schenkel's method was nothing but the pictorial system of the ancients. To the same epoch belongs Jordano Bruno, who never taught Mnemonics publicly, but published different works on the subject, among others: "Ars Memoriæ," and: "De Compendiosa Architectura et Complementa Artis Lullii," Parisiis, 1582.

Jordano Bruno, in other respects a cele- brated man in his day, being burnt at Rome as a heretic, in the year 1600, perfected the famous "Ars Lullii," a sort of philosophical system invented by Raymundus Lullus (born at Majorca, 1237,) who was ambitiously purposed to make one science of all human knowledge. Bruno endeavoured to apply this system to Mnemonics.

As a curiosity, we may indicate among the numerous works on Mnemonics published in the 16th century, a work which appeared in 1523, at Strasburg, in German, entitled: "A Short Advice, how Memory can be Wonderfully Strengthened." The author, Laurenz Fries, says in the preface, alluding to his system: "An excellent thing has been caught here, the improvement of the natural memory, vainly tried by diligence, and the wool is shorn from the ass."

This wonderful system, if not very suc- cessful, was at least not disagreeable in application, for after explaining that the seat of Memory is the occiput, the learned doctor recommends as especially advantageous to that faculty, 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.

This part of the method is his own; the rest is copied from the ancients.

It is well known that many nations have had no particular signs for numbers, as we have, but applied the letters of their alphabet as arithmetical signs or figures, as the Romans, the Greeks, the Hebrews, etc.

Figures being generally most difficult to be retained, and the picture-mnemonics being of very difficult application to figures, it is surprising that this circumstance did not sooner strike the men who made a special study of Mnemonics, and who took so much trouble to accommodate the Mnemonics of the ancients to their own practice.

Stanislaus Mink von Wenusheim seems to have been the first who availed himself of this circumstance, and applied it to Mnemonics. In a periodical called "Parnassus," published in 1648, at Marburg, he gave to the world a paper entitled "Relatio Novissima ex Parnasso de Arte Reminiscentiæ." This was republished at Giessen, 1661. He applied the pictures and localities of the ancients. But, besides that, he gave, "as the most fertile secret," the combination of the letters with figures, to express numbers by words. The following is his alphabet:

| 1 | | P, W O, | | 3 | | F, V

| 2 | | C, K, Q, Z (X) | | 4 | | G

| 5 | | L | | 8 | | R

| 6 | | M | | 9 | | S

| 7 | | N | | 0 | | T

The vowels and the H serve to form the words. To express 1648, he forms the phrase—

aBeo iMo aGoR.

Ho says of his invention, "Inventum hoc centum bonum mactatione dignum celebrabit posteritas. Plus habet in recessu, quam in prima fronte promittit, sed res, ætas, labor, usus, in dies docent aliquid novi."

We extract these details from the "History of Mnemonics," by J. Ch. Baron von Aretin, whom we shall mention later, and who gives no other details about the application of this alphabet; but as Winkelman had likewise pictures and localities, he seemed to have proceeded in the same way as his successors, Feinaigle, etc.

We know that one of the most renowned philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, G. W. Leibnitz (born 1646, died 1716) has also written on Mnemonics, inasmuch as the Library of Hanover possesses a manuscript of this great man, which contains, "a secret how numbers, especially those of chronology, etc., can be conveyed to the memory so as never to be forgotten."

The substance of the secret is this; the alphabet has twenty-four elements, divided into vowels and consonants. The consonants are

B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, etc.

The figures are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0.

As nothing is more difficult for the memory than figures, which we must, nevertheless, keep in mind, take consonants for figures, viz.:

1, | 2, | 3, | 4, | 5, | 6, | 7, | 8, | 9, | 0.

B, | C, | F, | G, | L, | M, | N, | R, | S, | D,

P, | K, | V, | T,

W, | Z.

Aretin gives, in his "History of Mnemonics," the original text of this very choice manuscript in Latin, with instances in German.

The first English work in which application was made of this idea, to express figures by syllables, seems to be Dr. Richard Grey's "Memoria Technica; or, A New Method of Artificial Memory," of which the first edition appeared in 1730.

The principal part of his method "is briefly this: to remember anything in history, chronology, geography, etc., a word is formed, the beginning whereof being the first syllable or syllables of the thing sought, does, by frequent repetition, of course draw after it the latter part, which is so contrived as to give the answer. Thus, in history, the Deluge happened in the year before Christ two thousand three hundred and forty-eight. This is signified by the word Deletok: Del standing for Deluge, and etok for 2348."

The first thing to be done is to learn exactly the following series of vowels and consonants, which are to represent the numerical figures:

a | e | i | o | u | au | oi | ei | ou | y

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0

b | d | t | f | l | s | p | k | n | z

These letters are assigned arbitrarily. In order to facilitate the keeping in mind such barbarous words as were formed with this alphabet, they are brought into verses, of which we will give here one or two specimens:

Chronological Miscellanies since the Conquest.

Jerusalem regained from the Turks, and Godfrey of Bouillon made king of it, 1099.

The Inquisition first erected against the Albigenses, 1222.

The confirmation of Magna Charta by King Henry III., 1225.

Wat Tyler's Rebellion suppressed, 1381.

Jack Cade's Rebellion suppressed, 1450.

Martin Luther began to preach in Germany against Indulgences, and other errors of the Church of Rome (Mar-luthlap), 1517.

The name of Protestants first began, etc., (Protalen), 1529.

The Smalkalden League, etc., (Smalcalloz), 1540.

The Council of Trent began, 13th December, 1545.

(Tren-decat-alfu.) The Memorial Lines.

God-bulnow, Inquisded Chartecl Tylika, Mar-luthlap, Protalen, Smalcalloz, Cadefly, Tren-decat-alfu., etc., etc.

This is the application to history.

The application to geography is similar:

The memorial line for France, as it was before the Revolution.

Fra-P Nor-I-cham; Bret-O-BouL Gui-La-Da-P.

P Nor-I-cham denotes the four northern governments, viz., P-icardy, Normandy, I-sle of France, and Cham-pagne. Bret-O-BouL denotes the four middle governments, viz., Bretagne, O-rleanois, Bourgogne, and L-ionnois.

These extremely difficult, nay more, stultifying means of aiding the memory are still applied in this country in many schools, though it seems evident that it must be more difficult to keep in mind such monstrous words than the figures they represent. Another greater evil is, that cramming the mind with such materials, reduces us to parrot-like exercises, and suppresses all reasoning and all development of the mental faculties.

These dangerous features of Grey's "Memoria Technica" were soon perceived; and the first who modified Dr. Grey's plan, in forming words which had a signification, was Gregor von Feinaigle, a monk from Salem, near Constanz (Baden).

He did not, like Dr. Grey, take the letters arbitrarily, but took t for 1, "because t, like the figure 1, is a perpendicular or down stroke, and differs only from it in the addition of the small horizontal line drawn across the upper part of it; n, is the appropriate letter to represent 2, as there are two down strokes in it."

"c, k, g, q. The figure 7, with a slight curvature, may be made to resemble a crooked stick, and as we shall remember this stick the better if something be hung upon it, a cage shall be suspended there. In the word cage, we obtain the consonants c and g, etc."

"In the figure 8, there are two oughts, or two round things; these may be converted into beehives, and if one be placed upon the other there will be a tolerably accurate idea of the figure 8. In the word beehive, are obtained b, h, v; and w, may be added, for it is compounded of vv."

"p, f. The figure 9, is not unlike a pipe, and as a pipe is seldom without a puff of smoke issuing from it, we have the pand the f in these two words; they are inseparably connected, and cannot easily be forgotten."

"These letters and the figures which they are intended to represent should be impressed strongly upon the memory, as the letters must be converted into words by the introduction of vowels."

His alphabet is as follows: 1 = t; 2 = n; 3 = m; 4 = r; 5 = l; 6 = d; 7 = c, k, g, q; 8 = b, h, v, w; 9 = p, f; 0 = s, x, z.

To this alphabet he joined a complemen tary system of localities. He divides the walls of a room into places; each wall into nine places, so that a room gives thirty-six places. Then he divides the floor equally into nine parts. The first wall is for the units; the second, for the tens; and so on; so that e.g. the 6th place of the 4th wall is 36. "As one room will not supply us with sufficient numbers, a second room must be provided."

In order to remember a series of words, they are put in the several squares or places.

"As: apple, monkey, man, ship, pipe, cage, etc., being given, the ideas of these images must be connected together, and it will then be almost impossible to forget the order in which they are arranged. The first is an apple; the second, a monkey; this monkey takes the apple, eats, and offers it to the man, who is in the third place; the man is just going to embark on a long voyage, and for this purpose a ship will be in the fourth place; but he will smoke his pipe before he leaves his native country, the pipe is in the fifth place, etc."

For the application to chronology the places are filled up with symbols, about fifty in each room; on the first place the tower of Babel; the second, a swan; the third a mountain, and so on.

If the pupil will apply the system to chronology he is supposed to have fixed all the symbols in his mind.

Now for the application.

"1. William the Conqueror. A word must now be made from William; the first half wil, is taken, and to this is added low, by which willow is obtained; this enables us to remember William. The willow is fixed upon the tower of Babel, our first symbol. We have then William the I. But another circumstance remains; he was the con- queror. We hang some laurel, the reward of valour and the crown of conquest, upon the willow tree. The date is yet wanting; we say the laurel is dead; in the word dead are d d, 6 6 the 1,000 being understood through the whole series."

The application to geography is so complicated that it would be impossible to understand it, without diagrams.

Feinaigle travelled about Germany and France to teach his method. But his pupils were forced to sign a paper, "whereby they pledged their honour and their property that they would not teach his method to any one before two years had elapsed, unless they had obtained, previously, the express permission of the professor; that they never would betray anything of the art in presence of foreigners, and only speak about it with those whom they know to be pupils of the professor, or his assistants."

One of his pupils, whom he sent to Frankfort to teach his method, betrayed the professor, and published, 1811: "Praktische Gedächtniss Kunst nach den Vorlesungen des Herrn Gregor v. Feinaigle." The same year Feinaigle came to England, where he taught his method with great success. He was even admitted to lecture at the Royal Institution. He published his method, 1812, with the title, "The New Art of Memory, founded upon the principles taught by M. Gregor von Feinaigle. Illustrated by engravings, 8vo., London: Sherwood."

The British Museum does not possess a copy of this work, so that we were forced to take the above extracts from M. Fauvel Gouraud's "Phreno-Mnemotechny.

The Baron Aretin published, 1810, a very large volume, entitled, "Systematische Anleitung zur Theorie und Praxis der Mnemonik, etc.;" which has the sole merit of having given the most complete history of Mnemonics, which occupies 424 pages, and whence we have taken some of the facts cited here.

His "Theory and Praxis of Mnemonics," developed in 136 pages, is nothing but the picture-system of the ancients, with some modifications, more apt to complicate than to simplify the application.

The next step in Mnemonics was made by M. Aimé Paris, a Frenchman; who taught Mnemonics in France a short time after Feinaigle. He practised in the beginning the system of the latter, but soon dropped the localities, modified a little the alphabet, and contented himself with forming phrases, in which the last word or words expressed the figures. He published his first book, 1823, under the following title; "Resumé des diverses specialités etudiées dans les cours de Mnémotechnie, dirigés par MM. Aimé Paris, et Adrien Berbrugger."

The seventh edition of this work appeared, 1832, under the title, "Principes et applications diverses de la Mnemotechnie, ou l'art d'aider la Memoire, par Aimé Paris.

He begins, without other preamble, with the transformation of figures into words. The first chapter is headed, "Transformation des chiffres, Application à la Chronologie."

He divides the words into articulations, and into sounds, which are other words for consonants and vowels; and forms his alphabet like that of Feinaigle, with some modifications, which will be seen.

Then he constructed phrases, which are to be learnt by heart. For instance:

The death of Socrates, 400, re-se-ze. rassise.

La mort de Socrate précéda de peu de temps l'epoque où la haine contre lui fut rassise.

The defeat of Varus, 9 | | pe

| be

| appui

Varus fit perdre à Auguste une armée regardée comme inébranlable appui.

The application to a series of names or words is done by a hundred words to represent the numbers from 1 to 100. Each name must then be brought into a phrase with a word which expresses the order. For instance:

Clovis I., the fifth king of France, 481. The fifth word is lieu, and 481 r-v-t. Our phrase will be:

Plus d'un homme de haut lieu perit par la volonté de Clovis I., qui tenait à voir tous ses rivaux tués.

There are other applications to geography, astronomy, chemistry, and so on; but they are all made in a similar way. We are unable to give more instances, as the British Museum does not possess this work, and we are therefore limited to the few notices we find in Mr. Otto's book.

A Pole, Jazwinsky, revived the picture system, and united it with Aimé Paris's method. This method has been published by the General J. Bem, under the title, "Exposé Général de la Methode Mnémonique Polonaise, perfectionnée à Paris, suivi d'une Application Speciale à l'Histoire," par J. Bem. Paris, 1839. The principal idea of this method, called the Polish method, is to facilitate the study of history by Mnemonic tables, divided into a hundred compartments, for one century. The facts are thus placed as points or pictures in those cases, which correspond with the year. For instance, a radiating cross for the propagation of Christianity; a cross and sword, with a torch, for the persecution of the Christians, and so on.

Major Beniowski taught Mnemonics in London, and published two little pamphlets, the first entitled, "Major Beniowski's Phrenotypics; or, a New Method of Studying and Committing to Memory Languages, Sciences, and Arts." This pamphlet, which has twenty-six pages only, gives, in twelve pages, a short history of Mnemonics, where we find that the author, in 1832, followed a course of lectures delivered at Paris by Mr. Aimé Paris, to whom he gratefully acknowledges himself to be indebted for many a Mnemonic contrivance. The other pages say nothing about his system; but mention only the results which can be obtained with it.