The Northern Pacific farmer., 1883-03-15
Facts of Memory.

Sundry men, gifted with tenacious verb
al memory, have performed wonderful
feats. Learned Rabbis have been known
to repeat the whole of the Hebrew
Scriptures, word for word. A French
marquis made q handbook of France
from recollection, in which he described
every chateau in the kingdom. Cardinal
Mezzofanti, the wonder among mere
linguists, could remember entire diction'
aries and grammars.
A Roman priest used to amuse his
friends by an extraordinary feat Of
memory. Allowing them to designate
any line of an Italian poet, he would be-
gin with it and recite hundred lines,
backwards or forwards, according to the
wish of his listeners.
A Scottish clergyman, it is said, could
repeat every verse Of the Scriptures Of
the old and New Testaments quoted
in the writings of the Greek and Latin
fathers. His friends used 10 say that if
every copy of the Bible in the world was
destroyed, he would be able to repro
luce the entire Scriptures from his men,
ory.
Prescott, the historian, tells an anec-
dote of how Macauly was caught tripping,
one day, in q line of "Paradise Lost"
In few days he came back with the
poem in his hand, saying, as he offered it
to the gentleman who had caught him,
II do not think that you will catch me
tripping in the Paradise again"-and
they did not.
The late DR.. Addison Alexander, Of
Princeton Theological Seminary, had q
wonderful memory. Itwas not only ten
acious of words and facts, but as often as
he willed it, would summon into his
mind all of his past experiences and
knowledge.
For the amusement Of Oft the ySsqne yS folks, KS
going to talk without thinking" Then
he would pour out period after period of
harmonius and even rhy ythmical hsound,
but wholly destitute of sense.
If any one thinks this is an easy feat,
let him try to suspend his reason and give
free rein to his fancy in periods which
shall be dramatically correct and yet
destitute of meaning. It might be made
an exercise in the mere verbal use Ot
words.
Another of his surprising feats was to
submit himself to examination and tell,
of-hand, where he was and what he was
doing on any day of any year the ex-
aminer choose to name. He would SUBJ
NIT himself to be catechized about the
kings and queens of ancient and modern
Europe, and tell the name of any sove
reign, with the dates of his birth. coro-
nation and death, and his chief exploits
But perhaps his most wonderful feat
was once displayed at the matriculation
of class in the seminary. Forty or fifty
students presented themselves for ad-
mission. Each one handed his. cre-
dentials to the professors, who examined
them and, if satisfactory, entered his
name and residence in the register.
When the students had retired, the
professors began pantering each other as
to which one should take the register
home and prepare from itan alphabetical
roll-an irksome task.
''There is no need of taking the regis
ter home," said DR.. Alexander. 81 will
make the roll for you"
Taking sheet of foolscap, and without
referring to the register, he wrote out,
in alphabetical order, the full name and
residence of every student, which he
had heard only when they were record
ed.
What makes this a wonderful feat of
memory is that the entire mass of names
and residences must have been present
to his mind while he was selecting each
one in its alphabetical order.