Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-10-06

Phenomenal Powers Devel-
oped by Some Men.
Ordinary Abilities lined to Ex.raorlin,ry
Strength OF Recollection.
II tall great people have great memo
ries," as S Arthur Helps declares in his
dc ightful book entit,eI rs cial Pros
sure" it by no means follows that all
those who are possessed of great M mmo-
ries arc great people," Many an IN
stance might be C ted to show that men
Ct very moderate intellectual capacity
may be endowed with power OF memo
ry which is truly prodigious. In ad-
dition to this, there are plenty Of we'll
authenticated examples of the extraordi-
nary power of memory displayed even by
idiots. In the Memoirs Of Mrs. Somer.
vile there is curious account of q most
extraordinary verbal memory. "There
was an idiot in E linburg," she tells US,
"of arespcctable family who had q re-
markab.e memory. He never failed to
go to the kirk Sunday, and on returning
home would repeat the sermon, seying,
"acrc the minister coughed here he
stopped to blow his nose" During the
tour we made in the Highlands"
she adds, 1--WE met with an.
other idiot who knew the
Bible so perfectly that if you asked him
where such verse was to be found he
could tell without hesitation and repeat
the chapter" These examples are SUI
fcicntly remarkable; but what shall be
said of the case cited by Archdcacon
Fearon in his valuable pamphlet on
"Mental Vigor ~ "Tncrc was In my
fathers parish" says the Archdeacon,
"a man who could remember the day
when every person had been buried in
the parish for thirty-tivc years, and could
repeat with unvurying accuracy the name
and age of the deceased, with the mourn
crs at the funeral. Bat he was COM
plcte fool. Out Of the line OF burials, he
had but one idea, aud could not give an
ineligible reply to single question,
nor be trusted to feed himself"
These phenomenal instances may be
matched by the Sussex arm-laborcr
George Watson, as We fin | recorded in
'H mes Table Book" Watson could
neither read nor write, yet he was wont
to perfor wondrous feats of mental cal
cuation, and his memory for events
seemed to be almost fautlcss "But the
mot extraordinary circumstance" says
Hone, ''is the power he possesses Of re-
collecting 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 occurred he immedi-
atcly names it, and also mentions where
he was and what was the state OF the
weather. A gentleman who had kept a
dairy put many questions to him, and his
answers were invariably correct"
OF "a similar kind is the memory for
which Daniel Mccartney has become
famous in the Unitcd States. The
strange story Of this mans achievements
is told by Mr.. Henklc in the Jornal Of
SpecuLAice Philosop'y. Mccartney, in
1869, declared that he could remember
tie day of the week for a'y date from
January, 1S27--that is from the time
when he was years and 4 months old
AZ 1-2 years. lie has o.tcn been tested,
and 50 far rs NJ. H,nklc's account goes,
had not failed to TIL his question r what
day it was, and to give s)me informl.
ton about the weather, and about his
own whereabouts and dongs on any one
of the Is. 600 or more dates that might
be named. When Mr.. IIcnklc first met
this man or marvc Gus memory he was
employed in the Office Of the II m. 7. X.
Burkcnbrol, editor of the S ,cm RepuJ-
lican where nothing better could b.
found for McCutncy to do than "turn
the vince OF the printinc-pr'ss two days
Of each weci." On the first formal cx.
animation this man underwent, his an
swers were tested by reference 70 the file
of newspaper which gave tho day OF
the week along with the date. In one
case his statcmen WAS disputed, for the
day he named was not the same as that
given by the paper; but on further iu-
quiry it was found that the newspaper
was wrong, for the printer had male
mistake. Shorthand notes OF the |
conversation were taken at subsequent
interviews. The report of these is very
curious reading. Take the following as |
q sample. "Question-Oct g. 1897 |
Answer Gn two second )-Wedncsday.
1t was cloudy and dr. zzled rain; l car
ried dinner to my father where he was
getting out coal. @ cstion-Fcb. 21,
1892 AnswerGn two scconds) Saturday.
1t was cloudy III the morning and clear
in the afternoon; there was little srow
on the grounl. An unce who lived
near sold a horse-baast that day for $3j."
And so the conversation ran on for hours
ranging over forty years of McCartncy's
personal history. DR.. H:nklo tells us
that if he went over some OF the dates
again after few days, interval, the an-
swers, althou III given in different terms,
were essentially the same, showing dis
tinctivcly that he remembered the facts,
and not the words previously used. Nc
Cartney's memory is not confined to
dates and events; he is rare calculator,