Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-07-03

MARvELs OF MEMoRr Instances Oi re-
markahle memory, generally supposed 10 be
assisted by mnemotechny. have been given
| from the time of Cicero. who concludes that
memory i not, therefore. of the heart blood,
brain. or atoms whether of air or fire he
is NOT. like the rest, ashamed to say he Is
| ignorant he undertakes, however, TO
swear that it is divine. having regard to
such men as Ciness, the ambassador OF
Pyrrhus, who saluted the senate and all the
| people by their names the second day after
hls arrival at Rome Of rheodectes, the
disciple of Aristotle, and oi Hortensius,
man of his own 6me. We have most of Us
heard of Joseph Scaliger, who learned the
twice twenty-four books OF the Had and
| ODYSSEY in three weeks of Ayicenna, who
repeated by heart the yhOle of the Koran
ut the age of ten of Lipsius, who was
| willing to recite the histories OF Tacitus
word for word, giving any one leave to
plunge Il dagger into his body If he made
mistake-an idle license. for lew would
have cared to run the resultant risk OF the
youth of Corsica Of good appearance, men
toned by MuretuS. who recited all the bar
barous words the latter had written till he
was tired of writing. and stopped at last,as
it was necessary to stop somewhere, while
the youth, like Oliver, asked tor more
Certainly" says Muretus. " he was no
boaster, and he told me he could repeat in
that way q, 900 words. For my own part
made trial of him alter many days, and
found what he said true. This Corslcan,
as those others, was no doubt oil soul dis-
daining silver and gold, or he might have
made his fortune by Offering his services To
an emperor. OF Frances Suarez, who,
after the witness Of Strada, could quote the
whole of Augustine (the fathers works
would fill small library, from the egg to
the apple. OF DR.. Thomas Fuller, who
could name in order all the signs on both
sides of the way from the beginning oil
Paternoster row at Ave Maria lane to the
bottom of Cheapsiie To Stocks market, now
the Mansion house. vi MagliaDecchi,
whose name is pleasantly and permanently
associated with spiders and the proof OF the
lost Ms. of " illiam Lyon, who, Tor oowi
of punch, liquor of which he was exceed
ingly fond. repeated n DAILY Adrerffser, IN
the morning, which he had read once only.
and then in the course oil deDauch over
night.
We might extend this paper FAR beyond
;ts normal dimensions by mention of such
namcs as Jedediah Buxton, who. if his wit
ness be true, could by some strange mnemo-
techny of his own. multiply thirty-nine
figures by thirty-nine without paper, and
amused himself when at the theatre bya
compilation of the words used by Garrick.
and at another time by that Of the pots OF
beer drank during twelve years Of his life;
of Zerah Colburn, a mere child, Of whom
there remains on record testimony that be
could tell the number Of seconds in fifty
eight years in less time than the question
could be written down or Of that prodigy
of parts, Pascal. to whom reference was
made at the beginning Of this paper, who Is
said to have forgotten nothing thought.
read, or done during his rational age. THIS,
says the author Of the essay on the Conduct
of the Human UNDERSTANDING, is thing 80
wholly inconsistent with our experience OF
human nature that to doubt it Is no repre-
hensible stretch Of skepticism.-Ihe Corn
hiN Magazine.