The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-07-25
Memory.

a.E" Memory. .r-....E -
There are two classes of persons who
are professionally called upon for great
temporary exercises of memory, viz,
dranaatic performers and barristers. An
actor, when about to perform a new
':.part, f" not only commits it to memory,
but " studies it, SO as to make it part
of himself and all really great actors
identify themselves for the time with
the characters they are performing.
When a part" has once been thor
oughly mastered, the performer is usn-
ally able to go through with it, even
after long interval, with very little
previous preparation. But an actor Is
sometimes called upon to take a new
" paIt at very short notice; he then
simply 'learns It by heart, T" and speed
lily forgets it. A case of this kind is
cited by DIR. Abercrombie, as. having
been the experience of distinguished
actor, on being called on to prepare
himself in long and difficult part, at a
few hours notice, in consequence of the
illness Of another performer. He ae-
quired it in a very short time, and went
through it with perfect accuracy; but
Immediately after the performance for
got it to such degree that, although he
performed the character for several days
in succession, he was obliged every day
to prepare it anew, not having time to
go through the process of g studying
it, to which Mrs. Siddons used to give
weeks or even months. When ques-
toned respecting the mental process
which he employed the first time he
performed the part, he said he entirely
lost sight of the audience, and seemed
to have nothing before him but the
pages of the book from which he had
learned it and that if anything had oc-
CURED to interrupt this illusion he
should have instantly stopped.
In the case of barristers, who are
called upon to &c get up /" the " briefs /"
which are supplied to them, to master
the facts, to apply to them the principles
of law, and to present them in the court
in the form they deem most advanta-
geous to the cause" they have under
taken to plead, the very highest facul-
ties of mind are called into active exer-
else; but, in consequence, it would
seem, of the want of previous connec-
ton of the tease, " of which they know
nothing but what Is set down In their
''brief, " and of the complete cessation
of that connection as soon as the deci-
sion has been given, they very common
ly g forget all about it i" so soon as they
have transferred their attention to their
next brief. A curious instance of this
kind was mentioned to the writer a
few years ago by an eminent barrister,
since elevated to the judicial bench,
whose great scientific attainments led to
his being frequently employed in pa
tent-cases. A heavy" case of this
kind was placed in his hands, and he
was reminded of having been engaged
by the same parties in the same &c case
when it had first been brought to trial
a year previously. He had not the
slightest remembrance of its having
ever been before him none of the par.
ticulars seemed familiar to him and he
was only convinced that he really had
taken part in the previous trial by find
ing the record of his engagement in his
Textbook. For when he came to {" get
up the case again, no remembrance of
his former attention came within his
&C ''sphere of consciousness. .''-COlteBg-
pOrarg ReVietO. ..r..f ....- ---.
A SERIES of lectures on Mr.. Darwin's
philosophy of language has recently
been delivered by Professor Max Null
Ter, the distinguished philolOgist. He
maintains that there is at least one
great difficulty in the way of the theory
that man is the genealogical descendant
of some lower animal. Between the
whole animal kingdom on one side and
man even IN his lowest state on the 9TH
81, there is a barrier which no animal
has ever crossed, and that barrier is
language. Il is true that one form OF
language, the emotional, such as cries,
is common to animals and men, but "a
tional speech is the prerogative of man
/ alone. The use of emotional language
is not unfrequently retained by those
whom disease of the brain has deprived
of all power of rational speech. The
roots of words, said the lecturer, are
our oldest title deeds as rational be.
/ ings, while no trace of them, or any.
/ thing corresponding to them, has evel
been discovered among were the most
| advanced of apes.
GRACE Greenwood says q" The fact
is, there are too many of rs women.
j And there seems no relief for coming
generations except through the heroic
remedy of quietly putting all female
/ infants out of the way. Nothing could
be so good for us except long and glo-
rious succession of HerOds." And was
it the female infants that Herod dl'l
the business for