The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-07-23
WONDERS OF MEMORY.
Both Idiots and Geniuses Ger
tainly Exhibit Them.

Ii "all great people have great
memories" as Sir Arthur Help declares
in his delightful book entitled Social
Pressure, it by no means follows that
all those who are possessed of great
memorses are great people. Many an
instance might be cited to show that
men of very moderate intellectual ca
pacity may be endowed with power
of memory which is truly prodigous.
In addition to this, there are plenty of
well-authenticated examples of the
extraordinary power of memory dis
played even by idiots. In the Memoirs
of Mrs. Somerville there is a curious
account of most extraordinary verbal
memory. ''There was an idiot in
Edinburgh" she tells us, ''of a respect
able family who had remarkable
memory. He never failed to 60 to the
kirk on Sunday; and on returning
home, could repeat the sermon, saying:
Here the minister coughed; here he
stopped to blow his nose. During the
tour we made in the Highlands" she
adds, ''we met with another idiot who
knew the Bible so perfectly, that if you
asked him where such verse was to
be found, he could tell without hesita-
ton and repeat the chapter" These
examples are sufficiently remarkable;
but what shall be said of the case cited
10y Archdeacon Fearon in his valuable
pamphlet on Mental VigourP "There
was in my fathers PARISH" says the
archdeacon, "a man who could remem-
Der the day when every person had
been buried in the parish for thirty live
years, and could repeat with unvarying
accuracy the name and age of the de-
ceased, with the mournerS at the
funeral. But he was a complete fool.
Out of the line of burials, he had but
one idea, and could not give an intel
ligible reply to single question, nor
be trusted to feed himself"
These phenomenal instances may be
matched by the Sussex farm-laborer
George Watson, as we find recorded in
Homes Table Book, Watson could
neither read nor write, yet he was
wont to perform wondrous feats of
mental calculation, and his memory for
events seemed to be almost faultless.
''But the most extraordinary circum-
stance" says Hone, "is the power he
possessed of recollecting the events OF
every day from an early period of his
life. Upon being asked what day of the
week given day of the month oc-
CURED, he Immediately names it, and
also mentions where he was and what
was the state of the weather. A gen.
tleman who had kept diary put
many questions to him, and his an
swers were invariably correct"
OF similar kind is the memory for
which Daniel NJ Cartney has become
famous in the United States. The
strange story of this mans achieve.
ments IS told by Mr.. Henkle in the
JomgndI Of Speculative Philosophy.
Mccartney, in 1869, declared that he
could remember the day of the week for
any date from January, 1927, that is,
from the time when he was nine years
and FOUR months old-forty-two and
a halfyears. He has often been tested,
and, so far as Mr.. Henkle's account
goes, had notfailed to tell his questioner
''what day it waS," and to give some
information about the weather, and
about his own whereabouts and doings
on any one of the fifteen thousand or
more dates that might be named. When
MIR. kenkle first met this man of mary
. elous memory, he was employed in the
office of Hon. T. X. Rukenbrod, editor
of the Salem Republican, where moth
ing better could be found for M Cart
ney to do than turn the wheel of the
1N,stt, fi,Cf two dave Af oh
week." On the first formal examina.
ton this man underwent his answers
were tested by reference to the file Of
newspaper which gave the day of the
week along with the date. In one case
his statement was disputed, for the day
he named was not the same as thai
given by the paper; but on further in
Quiry, it was found that the newspaper
was wrong. for the printer had made s
mistake. Shorthand notes of the con,
versation were taken at subsequent in,
tervicws. The report of these is very
curious reading. Take the following
as u sample; Observation-Disclosures 8
1S2Sp Answer lin two seconds) Wed
nesday. 1t was cloudy and drizzleC
rain l carried dinner to my father
where he was getting out coal. Cues.
tion-February 81, 1922 Answer Cir
two scconds) SATURDAY 1t was cloudy
in the morning, and clear in the after
noon; there was little snow on the
ground An uncle who lived near SOLD
horse-boast for thirty-five dollars.
And so the conversation ran on fol
hours, ranging over forty years of M
Cartney's personal history. Mr.. HenklC
tells us that if he went over some o.
the dates again, after few days in
terval, the answers, although given
III different terms, were essentially the
same, showing distinctly that he re-
meulbered Ghe facts, and not the words
previously used" Mccartney memory
is not confined to dates and events; he
is 4 rare calculator, can give the cube