Connecticut western news., 1886-10-13
GREAT MEMORIES.
Phenomenal Powers Devel-
 oped by Some Men.
Ordinary Abilities joined to Extraordinary
 Strength of Recollection.

llCS3 cS DIT AIluul 1ICl pS OCCliilCS III IllS delightful book entitled "Social Pres sure," it by no means follows that all those who are possessed of great memo ries are ''great people," Many an in- stance might be cited to show that men of very moderate intellectual capacity may be endowed with a 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. Tn the Memoirs of Mrs. Somer- vile there is curious account of a most extraordinary verbal memory. ''There was an idiot in Edinburg," she tells us, ''of arespectable family who had re- markabe memory. He never failed to go to the kirk Sunday, and on returning home would 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 an other idiot who knew the Bible so perfectly that if you asked him could tell without hesitation and repeat the chapter" These examples are suf- 6ciently remarkable; but what shall be said of tho case cited by Archdeacon Fearon in his valuable pamphlet on "Mental Vigor ?" ''There was Tn my fathers parish," says the Archdeacon, ia man who could remember the day when every person had been buried in the parish for thirty-f five years and could repeat with unvarying accuracy the name and age of the deceased, with the mourn CTS at the funeral. But he was com plete fool. Out of the line of burials, he had but one idea, aud could not give an intelligible 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 ''Hone's Table Book" Watson could neither read nor write, yet he was wont to perfor wondrous feats of mental cal culation, and his memory for events seemed to be almost faultless. ''But the most extraordinary circumstance" says Hone, 'sis 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- ately names it, and also mentions where he was and what was the state of the weather. A gentleman who had kept dairy put many questions to him, and his answers were invariably correct"
 Of similar kind is the memory for which Daniel Mccartney has become famous in the United States. The strange story of this mans achievements
 is told by Mir. Henkle in the Journal of Speculatioe Philosophy. Mccartney, in 1869, declared that he could remember the day of the week for ary date from January, 1S27-that is, from the time when he was years and months old Az 1-2 years. He has often been tested, and, so far as Mir. Henkles account goes,
 had not failed to tell his questioner what
 day it was, and to give some informa-
 tion about the weather, and about his own whereabouts and doings on any one
 of the 15. 900 or more dates that might be named. When Mir. Henkle first met this man or marvellous memory he was employed in the office of the Hon. T. K.
 Burkenbrod, editor of the Salem Repu6-
 lican, where nothing better could be found for Mccartney to do than ''turn the wheel of the printing press two days
 of each week.'' On the first formal ex-
 animation this man underwent, his an-
 swers were tested by reference to the file
 of a 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 that
 given by the paper; but on further in
 quiry it was found that the newspaper
 was wrong, for the printer had made $
 mistake Shorthand notes of the
 conversation were taken at subsequent
 interviews. The report of these is very
 curious reading. Take the following as sample. "Question-Oct. 8, 1898?
 Answer Gin two seconds)-Wednesda It was cloudy and drizzled rain; car
 ried dinner to my father where he wa!
 getting out coal. Question-Feb. 21,
 1899? AnswerCin two seconds) Saturday It was cloudy In the morning and clea1
 in the afternoon; there was a little snow on the ground. An uncle who live6
 near sold a horse-beast that day for $35
 And so the conversation ran on for hour ranging over forty years of McCartney'
 personal history. Dr. Henkle tells IL
 that if he went over some of the date. again after few days interval, the an swers, although given in different terms
 were essentially the same, showing dis
 tinctively that he remembered the facts and not the words previously used. Mo , Cartney's memory is not confined t. D dates and events; he is Q rare calculator r can give the cube root of such number : as 59, 319; or 571, 7S7, etc., can repea e some 25O hymns, and start 200 tunes; ha , s1ngulary extensive and accurat ' knowledge of geography, and never for gets the name of a person he has ono g seen or read of. With all this singula I mower of memory. however. he is not man whose general grasp of mind is no e at all noteworthy. Mana6e7.s' Journal. # ----- - .-------