Memory Part 2

From the foregoing, it will be seen that it is of great importance that we correlate our impressions with those preceding and following. The more closely knitted together our impressions are, the more closely will they cohere, and the greater will be the facility of remembering or recollecting them. We should endeavor to form our impressions of things so that they will be a.s.sociated with other impressions, in time and s.p.a.ce. Every other thing that is a.s.sociated in the mind with a given thing, serves as a "loose end" of memory, which if once grasped and followed up will lead us to the thing we desire to recall to mind.

a.s.sociation by similarity is the linking together of impressions of a similar kind, irrespective of time and place. Carpenter expresses it as follows: "The law of similarity expresses the general fact that any present state of consciousness tends to revive previous states which are similar to it.... Rational or philosophical a.s.sociation is when a fact or statement on which the attention is fixed is a.s.sociated with some fact previously known, to which it has a relation, or with some subject which it is calculated to ill.u.s.trate." And as Kay says: "The similars may be widely apart in s.p.a.ce or in time, but they are brought together and a.s.sociated through their resemblance to each other. Thus, a circ.u.mstance of to-day may recall circ.u.mstances of a similar nature that occurred perhaps at very different times, and they will become a.s.sociated together in the mind, so that afterwards the presence of one will tend to recall the others." Abercrombie says of this phase of a.s.sociation: "The habit of correct a.s.sociation--that is, connecting facts in the mind according to their true relations, and to the manner in which they tend to ill.u.s.trate each other, is one of the principle means of improving the memory, particularly that kind of memory which is an essential quality of a cultivated mind--namely, that which is founded not upon incidental connections, but on true and important relations."

As Beattie says: "The more relations or likenesses that we find or can establish between objects, the more easily will the view of one lead us to recollect the rest." And as Kay says: "In order to fix a thing in the memory, we must a.s.sociate it with something in the mind already, and the more closely that which we wish to remember resembles that with which it is a.s.sociated, the better is it fixed in the memory, and the more readily is it recalled. If the two strongly resemble each other, or are not to be distinguished from each other, then the a.s.sociation is of the strongest kind.... The memory is able to retain and replace a vastly greater number of ideas, if they are a.s.sociated or arranged on some principle of similarity, than if they are presented merely as isolated facts. It is not by the mult.i.tude of ideas, but the want of arrangement among them, that the memory is burdened and its powers weakened." As Arnott says: "The ignorant man may be said to have charged his hundred hooks of knowledge (to use a rude simile), with single objects, while the informed man makes each hook support a long chain to which thousands of kindred and useful things are attached."

We ask each student of this book to acquaint himself with the general idea of the working features of the law of a.s.sociation as given in this chapter for the reason that much of the instruction to be given under the head of the several phases and cla.s.ses of memory is based upon an application of the Law of a.s.sociation, in connection with the law of Attention. These fundamental principles should be clearly grasped before one proceeds to the details of practice and exercise. One should know not only "how" to use the mind and memory in certain ways, but also "why" it is to be used in that particular way. By understanding the "reason of it," one is better able to follow out the directions.

CHAPTER VIII.

PHASES OF MEMORY.

One of the first things apt to be noticed by the student of memory is the fact that there are several different phases of the manifestation of memory. That is to say, that there are several general cla.s.ses into which the phenomena of memory may be grouped. And accordingly we find some persons quite highly developed in certain phases of memory, and quite deficient in others. If there were but one phase or cla.s.s of memory, then a person who had developed his memory along any particular line would have at the same time developed it equally along all the other lines. But this is far from being the true state of affairs. We find men who are quite proficient in recalling the impression of faces, while they find it very difficult to recall the names of the persons whose faces they remember. Others can remember faces, and not names.

Others have an excellent recollection of localities, while others are constantly losing themselves. Others remember dates, prices, numbers, and figures generally, while deficient in other forms of recollection.

Others remember tales, incidents, anecdotes etc., while forgetting other things. And so on, each person being apt to possess a memory good in some phases, while deficient in others.

The phases of memory may be divided into two general cla.s.ses, namely (1) Memory of Sense Impressions; and (2) Memory of Ideas. This cla.s.sification is somewhat arbitrary, for the reason that sense impressions develop into ideas, and ideas are composed to a considerable extent of sense impressions, but in a general way the cla.s.sification serves its purpose, which is the grouping together of certain phases of the phenomena of memory.

Memory of Sense Impressions of course includes the impressions received from all of the five senses: sight; hearing; taste; touch; and smell.

But when we come down to a practical examination of sense impressions retained in the memory, we find that the majority of such impressions are those obtained through the two respective senses of sight and hearing. The impressions received from the sense of taste, touch and smell, respectively, are comparatively small, except in the cases of certain experts in special lines, whose occupation consists in acquiring a very delicate sense of taste, smell or touch, and correspondingly a fine sense of memory along these particular lines. For instance, the wine-taster and tea-tasters, who are able to distinguish between the various grades of merchandise handled by them, have developed not only very fine senses of taste and smell, but also a remarkable memory of the impressions previously received, the power of discrimination depending as much upon the memory as upon the special sense. In the same way the skilled surgeon as well as the skilled mechanic acquires a fine sense of touch and a correspondingly highly developed memory of touch impressions.

But, as we have said, the greater part of the sense impressions stored away in our memories are those previously received through the senses of sight and hearing, respectively. The majority of sense impressions, stored away in the memory, have been received more or less involuntarily, that is with the application of but a slight degree of attention. They are more or less indistinct and hazy, and are recalled with difficulty, the remembrance of them generally coming about without conscious effort, according to the law of a.s.sociation. That is, they come princ.i.p.ally when we are thinking about something else upon which we have given thought and attention, and with which they have been a.s.sociated. There is quite a difference between the remembrance of sense impressions received in this way, and those which we record by the bestowal of attention, interest and concentration.

The sense impressions of sight are by far the most numerous in our subconscious storehouse. We are constantly exercising our sense of sight, and receiving thousands of different sight impressions every hour. But the majority of these impressions are but faintly recorded upon the memory, because we give to them but little attention or interest. But it is astonis.h.i.+ng, at times, when we find that when we recall some important event or incident we also recall many faint sight impressions of which we did not dream we had any record. To realize the important part played by sight impressions in the phenomena of memory, recall some particular time or event in your life, and see how many more things that you _saw_ are remembered, compared with the number of things that you _heard_, or tasted, or felt or smelled.

Second in number, however, are the impressions received through the sense of hearing, and consequently the memory stores away a great number of sound impressions. In some cases the impressions of sight and sound are joined together, as for instance in the case of words, in which not only the sound but the shape of the letters composing the word, or rather the word-shape itself, are stored away together, and consequently are far more readily remembered or recollected than things of which but one sense impression is recorded. Teachers of memory use this fact as a means of helping their students to memorize words by speaking them aloud, and then writing them down. Many persons memorize names in this way, the impression of the written word being added to the impression of the sound, thus doubling the record. The more impressions that you can make regarding a thing, the greater are the chances of your easily recollecting it. Likewise it is very important to attach an impression of a weaker sense, to that of a stronger one, in order that the former may be memorized. For instance, if you have a good eye memory, and a poor ear memory, it is well to attach your sound impressions to the sight impressions. And if you have a poor eye memory, and a good ear memory it is important to attach your sight impressions to your sound impressions. In this way you take advantage of the law of a.s.sociation, of which we have told you.

Under the sub-cla.s.s of sight impressions, are found the smaller divisions of memory known as memory of locality; memory of figures; memory of form; memory of color; and memory of written or printed words. Under the sub-cla.s.s of sound impressions are found the smaller divisions of memory known as memory of spoken words; memory of names; memory of stories; memory of music, etc. We shall pay special attention to these forms of memory, in succeeding chapters.

The second general cla.s.s of memory,--memory of ideas,--includes the memory of facts, events, thoughts, lines of reasoning, etc., and is regarded as higher in the scale than the memory of sense impressions, although not more necessary nor useful to the average person. This form of memory of course accompanies the higher lines of intellectual effort and activities, and const.i.tutes a large part of what is known as true education, that is education which teaches one to think instead of to merely memorize certain things taught in books or lectures.

The well-rounded man, mentally, is he who has developed his memory on all sides, rather than the one who has developed but one special phase of the faculty. It is true that a man's interest and occupation certainly tend to develop his memory according to his daily needs and requirements, but it is well that he should give to the other parts of his memory field some exercise, in order that he may not grow one-sided.

As Halleck has said: "Many persons think that memory is mainly due to sight; but we have as many different kinds of memory as we have senses.

To sight, the watermelon is a long greenish body, but this is its least important quality. Sight alone gives the poorest idea of the watermelon.

We approach the vine where the fruit is growing, and in order to decide whether it is ripe, we tap the rind and judge by the sound.

We must remember that a ripe watermelon has a certain resonance. By pa.s.sing our hands over the melon, we learn that it has certain touch characteristics. We cut it open and learn the qualities of taste and smell. All this knowledge afforded by the different senses must enter into a perfected memory image. Hence we see that many complex processes go to form an idea of a thing. Napoleon was not content with only hearing a name. He wrote it down, and having satisfied his eye memory as well as his ear memory, he threw the paper away."

In this book we shall point out the methods and processes calculated to round out the memory of the student. As a rule his strong phases of memory need but little attention, although even in these a little scientific knowledge will be of use. But in the weaker phases, those phases in which his memory is "poor," he should exert a new energy and activity, to the end that these weaker regions of the memory may be cultivated and fertilized, and well stored with the seed impressions, which will bear a good crop in time. There is no phase, field, or cla.s.s of memory that is not capable of being highly developed by intelligent application. It requires practice, exercise and work--but the reward is great. Many a man is handicapped by being deficient in certain phases of memory, while proficient in others. The remedy is in his own hands, and we feel that in this book we have given to each the means whereby he may acquire a "good" memory along any or all lines.

CHAPTER IX.

TRAINING THE EYE.

Before the memory can be stored with sight impressions--before the mind can recollect or remember such impressions--the eye must be used under the direction of the attention. We think that we see things when we look at them, but in reality we _see_ but few things, in the sense of registering clear and distinct impressions of them upon the tablets of the subconscious mind. We _look at_ them rather than _see_ them.

Halleck says regarding this "sight without seeing" idea: "A body may be imaged on the retina without insuring perception. There must be an effort to concentrate the attention upon the many things which the world presents to our senses. A man once said to the pupils of a large school, all of whom had seen cows: 'I should like to find out how many of you know whether a cow's ears are above, below, behind, or in front of her horns. I want only those pupils to raise their hands who are sure about the position and who will promise to give a dollar to charity if they answer wrong.' Only two hands were raised. Their owners had drawn cows and in order to do that had been forced to concentrate their attention upon the animals. Fifteen pupils were sure that they had seen cats climb trees and descend them. There was unanimity of opinion that the cats went up heads first. When asked whether the cats came down head or tail first, the majority were sure that the cats descended as they were never known to do. Any one who had ever noticed the shape of the claws of any beast of prey could have answered the question without seeing an actual descent. Farmers' boys who have often seen cows and horses lie down and rise, are seldom sure whether the animals rise with their fore or hind feet first, or whether the habit of the horse agrees with that of the cow in this respect. The elm tree has about its leaf a peculiarity which all ought to notice the first time they see it, and yet only about five per cent of a certain school could incorporate in a drawing this peculiarity, although it is so easily outlined on paper. Perception, to achieve satisfactory results, must summon the will to its aid to concentrate the attention. Only the smallest part of what falls upon our senses at any time is actually perceived."

The way to train the mind to receive clear sight-impressions, and therefore to retain them in the memory is simply to concentrate the will and attention upon objects of sight, endeavoring to _see_ them plainly and distinctly, and then to practice recalling the details of the object some time afterward. It is astonis.h.i.+ng how rapidly one may improve in this respect by a little practice. And it is amazing how great a degree of proficiency in this practice one may attain in a short time. You have doubtless heard the old story of Houdin, the French conjurer, who cultivated his memory of sight impressions by following a simple plan.

He started in to practice by observing the number of small objects in the Paris shop windows he could see and remember in one quick glance as he rapidly walked past the window. He followed the plan of noting down on paper the things that he saw and remembered. At first he could remember but two or three articles in the window. Then he began to see and remember more, and so on, each day adding to his power of perception and memory, until finally he was able to see and remember nearly every small article in a large shop window, after bestowing but one glance upon it. Others have found this plan an excellent one, and have developed their power of perception greatly, and at the same time cultivated an amazingly retentive memory of objects thus seen. It is all a matter of use and practice. The experiment of Houdin may be varied infinitely, with excellent results.

The Hindus train their children along these lines, by playing the "sight game" with them. This game is played by exposing to the sight of the children a number of small objects, at which they gaze intently, and which are then withdrawn from their sight. The children then endeavor to excel each other in writing down the names of the objects which they have seen. The number of objects is small to begin with, but is increased each day, until an astonis.h.i.+ng number are perceived and remembered.

Rudyard Kipling in his great book, "Kim," gives an instance of this game, played by "Kim" and a trained native youth. Lurgan Sahib exposes to the sight of the two boys a tray filled with jewels and gems, allowing them to gaze upon it a few moments before it is withdrawn from sight. Then the compet.i.tion begins, as follows: "'There are under that paper five blue stones, one big, one smaller, and three small,' said Kim in all haste. There are four green stones, and one with a hole in it; there is one yellow stone that I can see through, and one like a pipe stem. There are two red stones, and--and--give me time.'" But Kim had reached the limit of his powers. Then came the turn of the native boy.

"'Hear my count,' cried the native child. 'First are two flawed sapphires, one of two ruttes and one of four, as I should judge. The four rutte sapphire is chipped at the edge. There is one Turkestan turquoise, plain with green veins, and there are two inscribed--one with the name of G.o.d in gilt, and the other being cracked across, for it came out of an old ring, I cannot read. We have now the five blue stones; four flamed emeralds there are, but one is drilled in two places, and one is a little carven.' 'Their weight?' said Lurgan Sahib, impa.s.sively.

'Three--five--five and four ruttees, as I judge it. There is one piece of old greenish amber, and a cheap cut topaz from Europe. There is one ruby of Burma, one of two ruttees, without a flaw. And there is a ballas ruby, flawed, of two ruttees. There is a carved ivory from China, representing a rat sucking an egg; and there is last--Ah--ha!--a ball of crystal as big as a bean set in gold leaf.'" Kim is mortified at his bad beating, and asks the secret. The answer is: "By doing it many times over, till it is done perfectly, for it is worth doing."

Many teachers have followed plans similar to that just related. A number of small articles are exposed, and the pupils are trained to see and remember them, the process being gradually made more and more difficult.

A well known American teacher was in the habit of rapidly making a number of dots on the blackboard, and then erasing them before the pupils could count them in the ordinary way. The children then endeavored to count their mental impressions, and before long they could correctly name the number up to ten or more, with ease. They said they could "see six," or "see ten," as the case may be, automatically and apparently without the labor of consciously counting them. It is related in works dealing with the detection of crime, that in the celebrated "thieves schools" in Europe, the young thieves are trained in a similar way, the old scoundrels acting as teachers exposing a number of small articles to the young ones, and requiring them to repeat exactly what they had seen. Then follows a higher course in which the young thieves are required to memorize the objects in a room; the plan of houses, etc. They are sent forth to "spy out the land" for future robberies, in the guise of beggars soliciting alms, and thus getting a rapid peep into houses, offices, and stores. It is said that in a single glance they will perceive the location of all of the doors, windows, locks, bolts, etc.

Many nations have boys' games in which the youngsters are required to see and remember after taking a peep. The Italians have a game called "Morro" in which one boy throws out a number of fingers, which must be instantly named by the other boy, a failure resulting in a forfeit. The Chinese youths have a similar game, while the j.a.panese boys reduce this to a science. A well trained j.a.panese youth will be able to remember the entire contents of a room after one keen glance around it. Many of the Orientals have developed this faculty to a degree almost beyond belief.

But the principle is the same in all cases--the gradual practice and exercise, beginning with a small number of simple things, and then increasing the number and complexity of the objects.

The faculty is not so rare as one might imagine at first thought. Take a man in a small business, and let him enter the store of a compet.i.tor, and see how many things he will observe and remember after a few minutes in the place. Let an actor visit a play in another theatre, and see how many details of the performance he will notice and remember. Let some women pay a visit to a new neighbor, and then see how many things about that house they will have seen and remembered to be retailed to their confidential friends afterward. It is the old story of attention following the interest, and memory following the attention. An expert whist player will see and remember every card played in the game, and just who played it. A chess or checker player will see and remember the previous moves in the game, if he be expert, and can relate them afterward. A woman will go shopping and will see and remember thousands of things that a man would never have seen, much less remembered. As Houdin said: "Thus, for instance, I can safely a.s.sert that a lady seeing another pa.s.s at full speed in a carriage will have had time to a.n.a.lyze her toilette from her bonnet to her shoes, and be able to describe not only the fas.h.i.+on and quality of the stuffs, but also say if the lace be real or only machine made. I have known ladies to do this."

But, remember this--for it is important: Whatever can be done in this direction by means of attention, inspired by interest, may be duplicated by _attention directed by will_. In other words, the desire to accomplish the task adds and creates an artificial interest just as effective as the natural feeling. And, as you progress, the interest in the game-task will add new interest, and you will be able to duplicate any of the feats mentioned above. It is all a matter of attention, interest (natural or induced) and practice. Begin with a set of dominoes, if you like, and try to remember the spots on one of them rapidly glanced at--then two--then three. By increasing the number gradually, you will attain a power of perception and a memory of sight-impressions that will appear almost marvelous. And not only will you begin to remember dominoes, but you will also be able to perceive and remember thousands of little details of interest, in everything, that have heretofore escaped your notice. The principle is very simple, but the results that may be obtained by practice are wonderful.

The trouble with most of you is that you have been looking without seeing--gazing but not observing. The objects around you have been out of your mental focus. If you will but change your mental focus, by means of will and attention, you will be able to cure yourself of the careless methods of seeing and observing that have been hindrances to your success. You have been blaming it on your memory, but the fault is with your perception. How can the memory remember, when it is not given anything in the way of clear impressions? You have been like young infants in this matter--now it is time for you to begin to "sit up and take notice," no matter how old you may be. The whole thing in a nut-sh.e.l.l is this: In order to remember the things that pa.s.s before your sight, you must begin to _see with your mind_, instead of with your retina. Let the impression get beyond your retina and into your mind. If you will do this, you will find that memory will "do the rest."

CHAPTER X.

TRAINING THE EAR.

The sense of hearing is one of the highest of the senses or channels whereby we receive impressions from the outside world. In fact, it ranks almost as high as the sense of sight. In the senses of taste, touch, and smell there is a direct contact between the sensitive recipient nerve substance and the particles of the object sensed, while in the sense of sight and the sense of hearing the impression is received through the medium of waves in the ether (in the case of sight), or waves in the air (in the sense of hearing.) Moreover in taste, smell and touch the objects sensed are brought into direct contact with the terminal nerve apparatus, while in seeing and hearing the nerves terminate in peculiar and delicate sacs which contain a fluidic substance through which the impression is conveyed to the nerve proper. Loss of this fluidic substance destroys the faculty to receive impressions, and deafness or blindness ensues. As Foster says: "Waves of sound falling upon the auditory nerve itself produces no effect whatever; it is only when, by the medium of the endolymph, they are brought to bear on the delicate and peculiar epithelium cells which const.i.tute the peripheral terminations of the nerve, that sensations of sound arise."

Just as it is true that it is the mind and not the eye that really _sees_; so is it true that it is the mind and not the ear that really _hears_. Many sounds reach the ear that are not registered by the mind.

We pa.s.s along a crowded street, the waves of many sounds reaching the nerves of the ear, and yet the mind _accepts_ the sounds of but few things, particularly when the novelty of the sounds has pa.s.sed away. It is a matter of interest and attention in this case, as well as in the case of hearing. As Halleck says: "If we sit by an open window in the country on a summer day, we may have many stimuli knocking at the gate of attention: the ticking of a clock, the sound of the wind, the cackling of fowl, the quacking of ducks, the barking of dogs, the lowing of cows, the cries of children at play, the rustling of leaves, the songs of birds, the rumbling of wagons, etc. If attention is centered upon any one of these, that for the time being acquires the importance of a king upon the throne of our mental world."

Many persons complain of not being able to remember sounds, or things reaching the mind through the sense of hearing, and attribute the trouble to some defect in the organs of hearing. But in so doing they overlook the real cause of the trouble, for it is a scientific fact that many of such persons are found to have hearing apparatus perfectly developed and in the best working order--their trouble arising from a lack of training of the mental faculty of hearing. In other words the trouble is in their mind instead of in the organs of hearing. To acquire the faculty of correct hearing, and correct memory of things heard, the mental faculty of hearing must be exercised, trained and developed.

Given a number of people whose hearing apparatus are equally perfect, we will find that some "hear" much better than others; and some hear certain things better than they do certain other things; and that there is a great difference in the grades and degrees of memory of the things heard. As Kay says: "Great differences exist among individuals with regard to the acuteness of this sense (hearing) and some possess it in greater perfection in certain directions than in others. One whose hearing is good for sound in general may yet have but little ear for musical tones; and, on the other hand, one with a good ear for music may yet be deficient as regards hearing in general." The secret of this is to be found in the degree of interest and attention bestowed upon the particular thing giving forth the sound.

It is a fact that the mind will hear the faintest sounds from things in which is centered interest and attention, while at the same time ignoring things in which there is no interest and to which the attention is not turned. A sleeping mother will awaken at the slightest whimper from her babe, while the rumbling of a heavy wagon on the street, or even the discharge of a gun in the neighborhood may not be noticed by her. An engineer will detect the slightest difference in the whir or hum of his engine, while failing to notice a very loud noise outside. A musician will note the slightest discord occurring in a concert in which there are a great number of instruments being played, and in which there is a great volume of sound reaching the ear, while other sounds may be unheard by him. The man who taps the wheels of your railroad car is able to detect the slightest difference in tone, and is thus informed that there is a crack or flaw in the wheel. One who handles large quant.i.ties of coin will have his attention drawn to the slightest difference in the "ring" of a piece of gold or silver, that informs him that there is something wrong with the coin. A train engineer will distinguish the strange whir of something wrong with the train behind him, amidst all the thundering rattle and roar in which it is merged. The foreman in a machine shop in the same manner detects the little strange noise that informs him that something is amiss, and he rings off the power at once.

Telegraphers are able to detect the almost imperceptible differences in the sound of their instruments that inform them that a new operator is on the wire; or just who is sending the message; and, in some cases, the mood or temper of the person transmitting it. Trainmen and steamboat men recognize the differences between every engine or boat on their line, or river, as the case may be. A skilled physician will detect the faint sounds denoting a respiratory trouble or a "heart murmur" in the patients. And yet these very people who are able to detect the faint differences in sound, above mentioned, are often known as "poor hearers"

in other things. Why? Simply because they hear only that in which they are interested, and to which their attention has been directed. That is the whole secret, and in it is also to be found the secret of training of the ear-perception. It is all a matter of interest and attention--the details depend upon these principles.

In view of the facts just stated, it will be seen that the remedy for "poor hearing," and poor memory of things heard is to be found in the use of the will in the direction of voluntary attention and interest. So true is this that some authorities go so far as to claim that many cases of supposed slight deafness are really but the result of lack of attention and concentration on the part of the person so troubled. Kay says: "What is commonly called deafness is not infrequently to be attributed to this cause--the sounds being heard but not being interpreted or recognized ... sounds may be distinctly heard when the attention is directed toward them, that in ordinary circ.u.mstances would be imperceptible; and people often fail to hear what is said to them because they are not paying attention." Harvey says: "That one-half of the deafness that exists is the result of inattention cannot be doubted." There are but few persons who have not had the experience of listening to some bore, whose words were distinctly heard but the meaning of which was entirely lost because of inattention and lack of interest. Kirkes sums the matter up in these words: "In hearing we must distinguish two different points--the audible sensation as it is developed without any intellectual interference, and the conception which we form in consequence of that sensation."

The reason that many persons do not remember things that they have heard is simply because they have not _listened_ properly. Poor listening is far more common than one would suppose at first. A little self-examination will reveal to you the fact that you have fallen into the bad habit of inattention. One cannot listen to everything, of course--it would not be advisable. But one should acquire the habit of either really listening or else refusing to listen at all. The compromise of careless listening brings about deplorable results, and is really the reason why so many people "can't remember" what they have heard. It is all a matter of habit. Persons who have poor memories of ear-impressions should begin to "listen" in earnest. In order to reacquire their lost habit of proper listening, they must exercise voluntary attention and develop interest. The following suggestions may be useful in that direction.