Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1886-07-29

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In the morning. and clear in the after.
noon; there was a little snow on the
ground. An uncle who lived near sold
horse-bcast for th.rfy-fiye dollars. "
And so tho conversation ran on fol
| hours, ranging over forty years Of NJ:
| Cartney's personal history. Mr. Henkle
tells as that d BE went over some oi
the dates again, after a few days In:
tefval. the answers, although s!ven
in different terms, wefe essentially the
same, showing distinctly that he re.
] me,ntered the facts, and not the words
previously used" M'Cartney's memoir
is not confined to dates and events: he
is rare calculator, can give the cube
| root to such numbers as 50, 319i rf
51l, 1S7, &c: can repeat some two
hundred and fifty hymns, and start
about two n:indred tunes; he's d sing,t.
larry extensive and accurate knowl-
epye OF geography, and never forgets
the name oil person he has once seen
or read of. With all this singular
power of memory. however, he is not
a man whose general grasp of mind is
at all noteworthy.
The same may be said at scores IF
men whose one rich gift of memory
has brought them into pfehiinence
No one has claimed ANY high intellec-
tual rank for the renowned Memory
Corner Thompson, who drew from
actual memory, in Twenty-Five honfs,
at two sittings, ia the presence of two
well-known gentlemen. a correct plan
of the parish Of St. James, Westminster,
with parts of the parishes Of st. Mary
lcbone, ST. Ann and st. Martin; which
plan contained every square, street;
lane. court, alley. market, church,
chapel and all public buildings, with
all stables and other yards, and also
every public-house in the parish. and
the corners of all streets, with all
minutia, as pumps, posts, trees, houses
that project and inject, bow-windows.
Carlton House. st. James Palace and
the interior of the markets, without
scale or reference to any plan. book, or
paper whatever: who undertook to do
the same for the parishes Of st. An
drew, Holbarn, st. Gilcs-in-th c-Fields,
st. Panl's. Convent Garden, St.
Mary-lc-Strand, st. Clements and
st. George s; who could tell tho corner
of any great leading throug hfare from
Hyde Park corner or Oxford street to
st. Paul's; who could take an invcn-
tory of a gentleman's house from attic
to ground floor and write it out after
wards. He did this at Lord Nelson's
at Merton, and at the Duke of Kent's,
in the presence of two hoblemcn,h
Turning. now, from examples like
the foregoing. which have been given
TO show that a great memory does not
argue in all cases any unusual mental
power in other directions, let us look
at some of the great people" whose
great memories illustrate the cor
rectncss of Sir Arthur Helps dctum.
Running over long list of examples.
which the writer has prepared for his
own use in the study of this sui ject, he
has been struck with the fact, that the
last three or four centuries appear to
much greater advantage in this review
than any similar period which preceded
them. This. after all, is not surpris-
ing, when the circumstances of mod
ern life arc carefully considered; but
it is not in accordance with common
opinion. There is notion abroad
that the power of memory has declined
since the invention of writing, and
especially since the invention of print
ing and the universal spread of cheap
books and newspapers. Nothing could
be more mistaken than such suppo-
sition. If we do not nowadays use the
memory as the only registry of facts
within our reach, we do use the men,
DRY even more than the ancients, for
the simple reason that our knowledge
travels over an UNNECESSARILY wider
area, VIC have more to remember, and.
as civilization and culture advance, a
good memory becomes more and more
needful for the work of life; the gener-
al level of intelligence is being raised,
and mental power is developed from
age to age. In this general advance
ment and growth, memory has its
share.
The verbal memory displayed by the
old Greek rhapsodists and bards, or
the Icelandic scalds, was undoubtedly
remarkable, and Is often held up to the
envy of these degenerate days. Yet
the modern Shah-nama-Khans, Koran
Khans and other singers and
reciters of Persia, who will re-
cite for hours together without
and the Calmuck ma
tfonal bards, whose songs and rcita-
tons sometimes last whole day."
can not surely be whit behind, if in
deed they do not surpass the prodigics
of early ages. We are often reminded |
of Greek gentlemen who knew their |
Homer by heart, in the days when Ho-
mer occupied the field almost alone and |
there was very little else to learn. But |
what are their exploits by the side of
men like Joseph Justus Scaliger, who
committed Homer to memory in
twenty-onc days, and the whole
Greek poets in three months?" Casau-
bon says of Scaiiger: "There was no
subject on which any one could desire
which he was not capable
of giving. He had read nothing which
he did not forthwith remember SO
extensive and accurate was his ac-
Iuaintancc with languages that if dur
ng his lifetime he had male but this
single acquisition it would have APP
peared miraculous"
Since the revival of learning in Eu-
rope there have been scores, yea. hum
lreds of scholars who have known
their Homer" by heart and thou
sand other things besides. Bishop
old Isaac Walton tells
Is, could repeat all the odes of Hor-
ice, all Tully's Offices. and the best
part of Juvenal and PerSius. Eu Ter
he mathematician and Leibnitz the
could recite the Eneid
from beginning tc end. In their day,
'orson. Emsley. Parr and Wakefield,
held the foremostplace as scholars, and
Ill. of course had rare memories. but