The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-12-30
TRAINING THE MEMORY.
THE FACULTY FOR PRESERVING
DATES, NAMES AND EVENTS.


DATES, NAMES AND EVENTS.
Useful Practice for whist riayers-c"n-
slant PerusaI 81 a slowly Enlarged List
Of Date Wa 4 Points should be Trained
Separately.
10 order 10 attain the highest form Of
memory il Is necessary 70 cultivate The
faculty Of Imagination. or the power Of bold
ing Up to the mind past sensations or I'M
pressions as u they we're again actually pres
ent. We can retain the impression Of 40
object IN tho mind FOR some time after the
object itself has passed away, by allowing
the mind 70 daell upon il, and We can after
wards readily recall IL. Lay an object, say
your watch, on the table, and look at II in
tentlv for a few seconds; you will find on
shutting your eyes that you Sill retain
more or less distinct image Of it. Even after
a considerable time you may recall the image
OF the watch and the exact spot where Il
law So il in place n one object, two OF
three are placed on the table, after conten
plating them a short while their images may
be reproduced in the brain and afterwards
recalled with great distinctnesz
TO REMEMBER CARDS.
In this way one may soon learn to remem
Der an the cards that have been played In a
game of whist. which mere playing for life
time may fail 60 teach him Lot him begin
by throwing down four cards, one 10y one,
upon the table, Observing each by itself and
the order in which 1t is laid down, as well as
the whole together. till he feels that he has
earned them. he. him then take them uT
and aftcr "a time replace them as they were
before from memory, and this till be feels
that he has thoroughly mastered them Fol
a second lesson let him take four cards and
treat them in this way, and then other four
md let him proceed in this way, always in
.reasins the number til be can take IN the
whole mack. and tell Of each card when and
where it was thrown down. Tint nero play
ing may never teach man this is owing 10
the attention being taken up with the Play
and not sufficiently directed % this operation
Attention is the remedy for weak men
cry and the tonic Tor one that requires I'M
Drovcment First impressions made upon
The mind must be strong and complete 70 &c
lasting. The usual image carried 10 tll
mind must be as complete almost as the orig
NAL object itself, and 20 obtain a perfect
IMAGE undivided attention must boz given a.
fhe subject One thing at time, and thai
rbing thoroughly William T. Harris IN
lorses this precept, and ho adds a persona.
reminiscenco 20 illustrate bis point that thf
rue uethod OF cultivatIng aud Strengthening
q dcfectige memory Is 60 practice 10 on tnc
Bind OK items 10 easily forgets
The writer, when in bis 18th year, was EN-
barrassed by the feebleness Of bis memo1
for dates lie commenced learning a list o.
he dates OF accession Of English kings
William tue Conqueror IA 1905, William
Rufus in 1857, etc. three or four dates thl
lrst day; two new ones added tho second
dav: one now one added the third day there
after less often. Constant review 10y and by
made the entire list familiar 10 had 20 b,
learned anew "a year after, and once again
after some yearsof neglect. But the memorj
for dates grew steadily, and without con
scious effort, dates and numbers soon came
% be seized with a nrmer grasp than before
This kind OF memory still increases with tho
writer from year to year, and, although 10 D.
not by any means q phenomenal memory, %
is very serviceabie 4 similar cultivation Of
tue special memory for proper names (which
In the writer's case had become very weak
and threatened TO 90 altogether has proved
serviceable
EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE.
q Iru.f fr
should b. cultivated by itself and not at
tached 90 some other form Of memory. Tie
smile of a magnet is % the point here Load
it today with iron filings, and tomorrow 10
viii support q few more. The memory, IS
only stroug enough 10 retain a single item
with effort, will grow stronger by tue effort
and win soon retain two items, and finally
others I'M vast numbers AID without effort
Bv this method we avoid fantastic ass0cia.
lions and correct tue weak faculty ITSELF iu
stead Of fastening IFS work on another
faculty. Let the exercise be O list Of date.
valuable % retain for themselves. Or, If IL
Is names that one wishes to remember, select
list OF important persons that furnish cen
ters OF historical information; such, for in.
stance. as the names OF the Roman eiuperors
the English and French kings, the heroes OF
Plutarch's histories, or Of typical personals
ties, such as the characters in Shakespeare
dramas or In Homer's "Iliad'-items OF
world historical Importance A list Of lO
proper names, learned in their orders as
kings Of France and Of England, and the EN-
porors Of Rome, viii furnish central nuclei e
historic material, and the memonzing Of
such list, or, indeed, a list bali as large
will 50 discipline the memory for names as T.
permanently remove all Embarrassment from
this source L. is not the length Of the list 81
much as the thoroughness with which IL :.
learned that develops the memory. IL is not
well 70 90 beyond 100 items, for the reason
that such mechanical memory should not b'
made too strong--Dayid Kay's work on
Memory