Sum up these 2 chapters. Try to guess the book and its author:
Memory: Its Importance
3
Chapter I
Memory: Its Importance
I
t needs very little argument to convince the average thinking 
person of the great importance of memory, although even 
then very few begin to realize just how important is the 
function of the mind that has to do with the retention of mental 
impressions. The first thought of the average person when he 
is asked to consider the importance of memory, is its use in the 
affairs of every‑day life, along developed and cultivated lines, as 
contrasted with the lesser degrees of its development. In short, 
one generally thinks of memory in its phase of “a good memory” 
as contrasted with the opposite phase of “a poor memory.” But 
there is a much broader and fuller meaning of the term than 
that of even this important phase.
It is true that the success of the individual in his every‑day 
business, profession, trade or other occupation depends very 
materially upon the possession of a good memory. His value in 
any walk in life depends to a great extent upon the degree of 
memory he may have developed. His memory of faces, names, 
facts, events, circumstances and other things concerning his 
every‑day work is the measure of his ability to accomplish his 
task. And in the social intercourse of men and women, the 
possession of a retentive memory, well stocked with available 
Memory
4
facts, renders its possessor a desirable member of society. And 
in the higher activities of thought, the memory comes as an 
invaluable aid to the individual in marshalling the bits and 
sections of knowledge he may have acquired and passing them 
in review before his cognitive faculties—thus does the soul 
review its mental possessions. As Alexander Smith has said: “A 
man’s real possession is his memory; in nothing else is he rich; 
in nothing else is he poor.” Richter has said: “Memory is the 
only paradise from which we cannot be driven away. Grant but 
memory to us, and we can lose nothing by death.” Lactantius 
says: “Memory tempers prosperity, mitigates adversity, controls 
youth, and delights old age.”
But even the above phases of memory represent but a 
small segment of its complete circle. Memory is more than 
“a good memory”—it is the means whereby we perform 
the largest share of our mental work. As Bacon has said: “All 
knowledge is but remembrance.” And Emerson: “Memory is a 
primary and fundamental faculty, without which none other 
can work: the cement, the bitumen, the matrix in which the 
other faculties are embedded. Without it all life and thought 
were an unrelated succession.” And Burke: “There is no faculty 
of the mind which can bring its energy into effect unless the 
memory be stored with ideas for it to look upon.” And Basile: 
“Memory is the cabinet of imagination, the treasury of reason, 
the registry of conscience, and the council chamber of thought.” 
Kant pronounced memory to be “the most wonderful of the 
faculties.” Kay, one of the best authorities on the subject has 
said, regarding it: “Unless the mind possessed the power of 
treasuring up and recalling its past experiences, no knowledge 
of any kind could be acquired. If every sensation, thought, or 
emotion passed entirely from the mind the moment it ceased 
to be present, then it would be as if it had not been; and it 
could not be recognized or named should it happen to return. 
Such an one would not only be without knowledge,without 
experience gathered from the past,—but without purpose, 
Memory: Its Importance
5
aim, or plan regarding the future, for these imply knowledge 
and require memory. Even voluntary motion, or motion 
for a purpose, could have no existence without memory, for 
memory is involved in every purpose. Not only the learning of 
the scholar, but the inspiration of the poet, the genius of the 
painter, the heroism of the warrior, all depend upon memory. 
Nay, even consciousness itself could have no existence without 
memory for every act of consciousness involves a change 
from a past state to a present, and did the past state vanish 
the moment it was past, there could be no consciousness of 
change. Memory, therefore, may be said to be involved in all 
conscious existence—a property of every conscious being!
In the building of character and individuality, the memory 
plays an important part, for upon the strength of the 
impressions received, and the firmness with which they are 
retained, depends the fibre of character and individuality. 
Our experiences are indeed the stepping stones to greater 
attainments, and at the same time our guides and protectors 
from danger. If the memory serves us well in this respect we are 
saved the pain of repeating the mistakes of the past, and may 
also profit by remembering and thus avoiding the mistakes 
of others. As Beattie says: “When memory is preternaturally 
defective, experience and knowledge will be deficient in 
proportion, and imprudent conduct and absurd opinion are 
the necessary consequence.” Bain says: “A character retaining a 
feeble hold of bitter experience, or genuine delight, and unable 
to revive afterwards the impression of the time is in reality the 
victim of an intellectual weakness under the guise of a moral 
weakness. To have constantly before us an estimate of the things 
that affect us, true to the reality, is one precious condition for 
having our will always stimulated with an accurate reference to 
our happiness. The thoroughly educated man, in this respect, 
is he that can carry with him at all times the exact estimate 
of what he has enjoyed or suffered from every object that has 
ever affected him, and in case of encounter can present to 
Memory
6
the enemy as strong a front as if he were under the genuine 
impression. A full and accurate memory, for pleasure or for 
pain, is the intellectual basis both of prudence as regards self, 
and sympathy as regards others.”
So, we see that the cultivation of the memory is far more than 
the cultivation and development of a single mental faculty—it 
is the cultivation and development of our entire mental being—
the development of our selves.
To many persons the words memory, recollection, and 
remembrance, have the same meaning, but there is a great 
difference in the exact shade of meaning of each term. The 
student of this book should make the distinction between the 
terms, for by so doing he will be better able to grasp the various 
points of advice and instruction herein given. Let us examine 
these terms.
Locke in his celebrated work, the “Essay Concerning Human 
Understanding” has clearly stated the difference between the 
meaning of these several terms. He says: “Memory is the power 
to revive again in our minds those ideas which after imprinting, 
have disappeared, or have been laid aside out of sight—when 
an idea again recurs without the operation of the like object 
on the external sensory, it is remembrance; if it be sought after 
by the mind, and with pain and endeavor found, and brought 
again into view, it is recollection.” Fuller says, commenting on 
this: “Memory is the power of reproducing in the mind former 
impressions, or percepts. Remembrance and Recollection are 
the exercise of that power, the former being involuntary or 
spontaneous, the latter volitional. We remember because we 
cannot help it but we recollect only through positive effort. 
The act of remembering, taken by itself, is involuntary. In other 
words, when the mind remembers without having tried to 
remember, it acts spontaneously. Thus it may be said, in the 
narrow, contrasted senses of the two terms, that we remember 
by chance, but recollect by intention, and if the endeavor be 
Memory: Its Importance
7
successful that which is reproduced becomes, by the very effort 
to bring it forth, more firmly intrenched in the mind than ever.”
But the New Psychology makes a little different distinction 
from that of Locke, as given above. It uses the word memory 
not only in his sense of “The power to revive, etc.,” but also in 
the sense of the activities of the mind which tend to receive and 
store away the various impressions of the senses, and the ideas 
conceived by the mind, to the end that they may be reproduced 
voluntarily, or involuntarily, thereafter. The distinction between 
remembrance and recollection, as made by Locke, is adopted 
as correct by The New Psychology.
It has long been recognized that the memory, in all of 
its phases, is capable of development, culture, training and 
guidance through intelligent exercise. Like my other faculty of 
mind, or physical part, muscle or limb, it may be improved and 
strengthened. But until recent years, the entire efforts of these 
memory‑developers were directed to the strengthening of that 
phase of the memory known as “recollection,” which, you will 
remember, Locke defined as an idea or impression “sought after 
by the mind, and with pain and endeavor found, and brought 
again into view.” The New Psychology goes much further than 
this. While pointing out the most improved and scientific 
methods for “recollecting” the impressions and ideas of the 
memory, it also instructs the student in the use of the proper 
methods whereby the memory may be stored with clear and 
distinct impressions which will, thereafter, flow naturally and 
involuntarily into the field of consciousness when the mind is 
thinking upon the associated subject or line of thought; and 
which may also be “re‑collected” by a voluntary effort with far 
less expenditure of energy than under the old methods and 
systems.
You will see this idea carried out in detail, as we progress with 
the various stages of the subject, in this work. You will see that 
the first thing to do it to find something to remember; then to 
impress that thing clearly and distinctly upon the receptive 
Memory
8
tablets of the memory; then to exercise the remembrance 
in the direction of bringing out the stored‑away facts of the 
memory; then to acquire the scientific methods of recollecting 
special items of memory that may be necessary at some special 
time. This is the natural method in memory cultivation, as 
opposed to the artificial systems that you will find mentioned 
in another chapter. It is not only development of the memory, 
but also development of the mind itself in several of its regions 
and phases of activity. It is not merely a method of recollecting, 
but also a method of correct seeing, thinking and remembering. 
This method recognizes the truth of the verse of the poet, Pope, 
who said: “Remembrance and reflection how allied! What thin 
partitions sense from thought divide!”
9
Chapter II
Cultivation Of The Memory
This book is written with the fundamental intention and 
idea of pointing out a rational and workable method 
whereby the memory may be developed, trained and 
cultivated. Many persons seem to be under the impression 
that memories are bestowed by nature, in a fixed degree or 
possibilities, and that little more can be done for them—in 
short, that memories are born, not made. But the fallacy 
of any such idea is demonstrated by the investigations and 
experiments of all the leading authorities, as well as by the 
results obtained by persons who have developed and cultivated 
their own memories by individual effort without the assistance 
of an instructor. But all such improvement, to be real, must 
be along certain natural lines and in accordance with the well 
established laws of psychology, instead of along artificial lines 
and in defiance of psychological principles. Cultivation of the 
memory is a far different thing from “trick memory,” or feats of 
mental legerdemain if the term is permissible.
Kay says: “That the memory is capable of indefinite 
improvement, there can be no manner of doubt; but with 
regard to the means by which this improvement is to be 
effected mankind are still greatly in ignorance.” Dr. Noah 
Memory
10
Porter says: “The natural as opposed to the artificial memory 
depends on the relations of sense and the relations of thought, 
the spontaneous memory of the eye and the ear availing itself 
of the obvious conjunctions of objects which are furnished 
by space and time, and the rational memory of those higher 
combinations which the rational faculties superinduce upon 
those lower. The artificial memory proposes to substitute for 
the natural and necessary relations under which all objects 
must present and arrange themselves, an entirely new set of 
relations that are purely arbitrary and mechanical, which 
excite little or no other interest than that they are to aid us 
in remembering. It follows that if the mind tasks itself to the 
special effort of considering objects under these artificial 
relations, it will give less attention to those which have a direct 
and legitimate interest for itself.” Granville says: “The defects 
of most methods which have been devised and employed for 
improving the memory, lies in the fact that while they serve to 
impress particular subjects on the mind, they do not render 
the memory, as a whole, ready or attentive.” Fuller says: “Surely 
an art of memory may be made more destructive to natural 
memory than spectacles are to eyes.” These opinions of the best 
authorities might be multiplied indefinitely—the consensus of 
the best opinion is decidedly against the artificial systems, and 
in favor of the natural ones.
Natural systems of memory culture are based upon the 
fundamental conception so well expressed by Helvetius, 
several centuries ago, when he said: “The extent of the memory 
depends, first, on the daily use we make of it; secondly, upon 
the attention with which we consider the objects we would 
impress upon it; and, thirdly, upon the order in which we 
rannge our ideas.” This then is the list of the three essentials 
in the cultivation of the memory: (1) Use and exercise; review 
and practice; (2) Attention and Interest; and (3) Intelligent 
Association.
Cultivation Of The Memory
11
You will find that in the several chapters of this book dealing 
with the various phases of memory, we urge, first, last, and 
all the time, the importance of the use and employment of 
the memory, in the way of employment, exercise, practice 
and review work. Like any other mental faculty, or physical 
function, the memory will tend to atrophy by disuse, and 
increase, strengthen and develop by rational exercise and 
employment within the bounds of moderation. You develop a 
muscle by exercise; you train any special faculty of the mind in 
the same way; and you must pursue the same method in the 
case of the memory, if you would develop it. Nature’s laws are 
constant, and bear a close analogy to each other. You will also 
notice the great stress that we lay upon the use of the faculty 
of attention, accompanied by interest. By attention you acquire 
the impressions that you file away in your mental record‑file 
of memory. And the degree of attention regulates the depth, 
clearness and strength of the impression. Without a good 
record, you cannot expect to obtain a good reproduction of 
it. A poor phonographic record results in a poor reproduction, 
and the rule applies in the case of the memory as well. You 
will also notice that we explain the laws of association, and 
the principles which govern the subject, as well as the 
methods whereby the proper associations may be made. Every 
association that you weld to an idea or an impression, serves 
as a cross‑reference in the index, whereby the thing is found by 
remembrance or recollection when it is needed. We call your 
attention to the fact that one’s entire education depends for its 
efficiency upon this law of association. It is a most important 
feature in the rational cultivation of the memory, while at the 
same time being the bane of the artificial systems. Natural 
associations educate, while artificial ones tend to weaken the 
powers of the mind, if carried to any great length.
There is no Royal Road to Memory. The cultivation of the 
memory depends upon the practice along certain scientific 
lines according to well established psychological laws. Those 
Memory
12
who hope for a sure “short cut” will be disappointed, for none 
such exists. As Halleck says: “The student ought not to be 
disappointed to find that memory is no exception to the rule 
of improvement by proper methodical and long continued 
exercise. There is no royal road, no short cut, to the improvement 
of either mind or muscle. But the student who follows the rules 
which psychology has laid down may know that he is walking 
in the shortest path, and not wandering aimlessly about. Using 
these rules, he will advance much faster than those without 
chart, compass, or pilot. He will find mnemonics of extremely 
limited use. Improvement comes by orderly steps. Methods 
that dazzle at first sight never give solid results.”
The student is urged to pay attention to what we have 
to say in other chapters of the book upon the subjects of 
attention and association. It is not necessary to state here 
the particulars that we mention there. The cultivation of the 
attention is a prerequisite for good memory, and deficiency in 
this respect means deficiency not only in the field of memory 
but also in the general field of mental work. In all branches 
of The New Psychology there is found a constant repetition 
of the injunction to cultivate the faculty of attention and 
concentration. Halleck says: “Haziness of perception lies at the 
root of many a bad memory. If perception is definite, the first 
step has been taken toward insuring a good memory. If the first 
impression is vivid, its effect upon the brain cells is more lasting. 
All persons ought to practice their visualizing power. This will 
react upon perception and make it more definite. Visualizing 
will also form a brain habit of remembering things pictorially, 
and hence more exactly.”
The subject of association must also receive its proper share 
of attention, for it is by means of association that the stored 
away records of the memory may be recovered or recollected. 
As Blackie says: “Nothing helps the mind so much as order and 
classification. Classes are few, individuals many: to know the 
class well is to know what is most essential in the character of 
Cultivation Of The Memory
13
the individual, and what burdens the memory least to retain.” 
And as Halleck says regarding the subject of association by 
relation: “Whenever we can discover any relation between facts, 
it is far easier to remember them. The intelligent law of memory 
may be summed up in these words: Endeavor to link by some 
thought relation each new mental acquisition to an old one. 
Bind new facts to other facts by relations of similarity, cause 
and effect, whole and part, or by any logical relation, and we 
shall find that when an idea occurs to us, a host of related ideas 
will flow into the mind. If we wish to prepare a speech or write 
an article on any subject, pertinent illustrations will suggest 
themselves. The person whose memory is merely contiguous 
will wonder how we think of them.”
In your study for the cultivation of the memory, along the 
lines laid down in this book, you have read the first chapter 
thereof and have informed yourself thoroughly regarding the 
importance of the memory to the individual, and what a large 
part it plays in the entire work of the mind. Now carefully read 
the third chapter and acquaint yourself with the possibilities 
in the direction of cultivating the memory to a high degree, 
as evidenced by the instances related of the extreme case 
of development noted therein. Then study the chapter on 
memory systems, and realize that the only true method is the 
natural method, which requires work, patience and practice—
then make up your mind that you will follow this plan as far 
as it will take you. Then acquaint yourself with the secret of 
memory—the subconscious region of the mind, in which 
the records of memory are kept, stored away and indexed, 
and in which the little mental office‑boys are busily at work. 
This will give you the key to the method. Then take up the 
two chapters on attention, and association, respectively, and 
acquaint yourself with these important principles. Then study 
the chapter on the phases of memory, and take mental stock 
of yourself, determining in which phase of memory you are 
strongest, and in which you need development. Then read the 
Memory
14
two chapters on training the eye and ear, respectively—you 
need this instruction. Then read over the several chapters on 
the training of the special phases of the memory, whether you 
need them or not—you may find something of importance 
in them. Then read the concluding chapter, which gives you 
some general advice and parting instruction. Then return to 
the chapters dealing with the particular phases of memory 
in which you have decided to develop yourself, studying the 
details of the instruction carefully until you know every point 
of it. Then, most important of all‑get to work. The rest is a matter 
of practice, practice, practice, and rehearsal. Go back to the 
chapters from time to time, and refresh your mind regarding 
the details. Re‑read each chapter at intervals. Make the book 
your own, in every sense of the word, by absorbing its contents.