The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-11
PHENOMENA OF MEMORY
THEREMARKABLE VARIETIES AND
VAGARIES OF THE MIND.

History Ransacked for Interesting In
stances-Some OF the Curious and
Amusing Freaks of Famous Men in
AL Ages.
From al the Year Round.
John Wesley had remarkable memory,
and at SIS even it was still vigorous. An
drew Fuller could repeat a poem of 500 lines
after hearing it read once or twice, could
recite verbatim a sermon or speech, and
enumerate the names of the shop signs from
the Temple to the end of Cheapside, with a
description of the principal articles dis
played in each shop window.
Before the days of shorthand reporting
Memory WoodfaIl" used to attend the
House of Commons, and. after listening to
a debate, would reproduce the whole with
out taking a single note. The same power
was possessed by William Radcliffe, the
husband of Mrs. Radcliffe, the novelist.
Both Mscaulay and Sir Walter Scott had
prodigious memories, yet neither of them
could compare with Beronicius of Middle
burCh who knew by heart the works of
Virgil, Cicero, Juvenal, Homer, Aristoph-
anes and the two Plinys. If this was an
example Of ''rote" only we have in Mezzo-
fanti, the celebrated linguist of Bologna
one Of the most striking instances on record
Of what, by way of distinction, we NAV
call intelligent memory. He was described
by Lord Byron as "a walking polyglot, a
a master of languages and a Briareus of
parts Of Speech" At the age of SO he was
thoroughly versed in fifty languages-per-
feet in pronunciation, idiom, grammar and
collcquialsms-and before his death he
added twenty or thirty more to his list He
used to say himself that he never forget
anything that he either heard or read.
PAsFIELD's METHOD.
As an example of effort to create men,
DRY by artificial means, the case of Robert
PasfeId, an illiteraJe Puritan, may be re.
called. He had the taste of his time for
sermons, but could himself neither read nor
write He invented long, leather girdle,
which be wound twice arou ID his body,
and upon which he preserved an accurate
Biblical record. The girdle was divided
into parts to represent the books of the
Billie in their order; for the chapters he
efixed small thongs of leather to the differ
ent divisions, and by other points he indi-
Gated the verses of each chapter. By means
of this "Girdle of Verify" as it came to be
called, the man was able to take such notes
of the sermon that on returning home he
could give all the heads aud quote all the
various texts mentioned in it-and the
preachers of the day were great in quota
ton.
md what is memory? Briefly it may be
defined as the impression of the past in the
form Of latent images in the mind. 1t is a
Consciousness apart from the actual con-
seriousness Of the pre- ent. 1t is a cerebral
record of PAST experiences, which Is more
or less quickeued by the environment Of the
moment. The possession of perfect memory
implies perfect sanity; for, with the insane,
memory is always distorted or disturbed, if
it be not wholly lost.
What we call Observation-Disclosures is tenn
LOrary suspension of the faculty of men,
ory. The mind, intent upon some present
thought, obliterates or obscures tue record
of the past. We may even regard it as a
temporary and partial form of insanity
and if we find Observation-Disclosures most
common with persons of great mental
powers, we may accept the f CT as auo. her
illustration Of the near alliance between
great genius and madness. Certain it is
that Bruyere's absent Man" was no mere
creature of fertile Imagination. The
original is said to have been the Count
de Rrancas, CT whom curious story is re-
lated.
BRANCAS AND HIS BABY.
One day he was reading by the fire in his
study when the nurse brought him a child
newly born to him. The count threw away
the BOOK and took the child on his knee 10
play with it. BY and by visitor was an
nounced and tue count, forgetting all about
the child and remembering only that he b ad
been /, aiding book, threw the poor infant
carelessly onto the table What mercy
he didn't throw it into the fret
II is recorded of La FOntaiue, noted for
his Observation-Disclosures, tuat he once attended
the funeral of one of his most intimate
friends and shortly afterward called to visit
that friend. When reminded by the aston
lshed servant of the recent death, he was
at first terrib yshocked, and then remarked:
IT ne; of course | recollect now; | went to
his funeral"
To comes back to memory, however, we
may fad more scientific definition. It is
the faculty which the psychical organism
mas OF revIvlng as mental representation
an impression of Sc Sc formerly experience ed.
1t Is combined with imagination, and it is
The common source of reproduction and
recollection. That recollection must have
also recognition to become memory. How,
then, is 1t tLat we only remember some of
our past experiences, thoughts, observa-
lions, impressions and general mental pict-
ures. II memory is only repr duction and
recollection, why does it not reflect every
thing which has fl tied across the brain IN
tne past: Because the faculty of memory
Is also associated with the faculty of will
Schopenhauer states the matter thus: "If
we consider the thing deeply we snail arrive
al the result that memory in general needs
Uae support of will, as ola point Of a tach-
inent, OF rather of a thread on which the
memories are strung, and which holds
Ihem together, or that the will is the
ground TO which the individual memories
cieave, and without whica they could not
endure, and that, therefore, for a merely
knowing, quite will-less being, memory
cannot be conceived
More recent write S, in the light of evolu-
Iion, and moved by various scientific theo-
RES have questioned, qualified, extended
ana amplifed Schopennauer's definition,
put put 1t Is quite sufficient for our purpose.
" nat we want now to do is merely to trace
some phenomena of memory.
ana hrSt, what is the operation of the
memory in sleep? 1t is common to think of
AIeep as OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES or less blissful;
nu5 forgetting is of two kinds-it may be
elther partial, with the posSi bility of repro
uIctlon without recollection, or complete,
"nen neither reproduction nor recollection
WIZ revive the impression. And it is a
'IeInarkable fact that we often recall in our
sleep that which we have forgotten in our
waking moments.
MEMORY IN SLEEP.
a curious instance of memory in sleep is
related by French writer ON dreams. He
says ne once saw in a dream a number of
men passing out from a feast. He observed
afk A.. A