The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-03-05
FEATS OF MEMORY.
Wonderful Retentive Powers Pos
sessed by Some People.
Marvellous Achievements of la Motto. Jo-
seph ScaIIger. Morphy, the Celebrated
Chess Player, and Many other
Men of brains.

Memory implies, we are told. the
faculty of retention or conversation,
but it is the retention OF what has
been mastered and acquired. With
out the power of acquisition retention
can not be exercised. B.i observe
also that without the pOw,- @. rc-cn-
ton acquisition is next 10 y>c'e ii
we lose as fast as We acquire. vi, is
tire use of acquiring at all: Il ! Ike
the fruitless labor Of attempting /, ii.l
a sieve with water. Bet besides ac-
QUESTION ana retention something sc
is required 10 fiji mp the roalit of
memory, and that is the faculty of re-
production. or representing before the
mind what it once had acquired and
still retains. These are all three diff
cult faculties, and they viii be found
to exist in different degrees of excel
lence in different individuals. Those
are said 10 have quick memory who
acquire with any little effort the
knowledge which they are seeking.
y =
preserve what. perhaps with much Ia
Dor. they had succeeded in acquiring,
Others have what l. often called a
happy or ready memory. who can
upon the moment reproduce and apply
information appropriate 10 the occa-
sion. Here we may compare the
meaning of the two words memory
and recollection. I'm the word MEM
ory is rather contained the faculty of
retention, and it expresses Il passive
capacity rather than IN active faculty.
| Cicero likens memory 10 treasury, in
which is stored up acquired knowl-
edge, to be used when occasion de-
! mands. Plato likens il to a tablet on
which acquired knowledge is en-
graved, or also TO a collection Of cells
or pigeon-hOles, in which past facts
are methOdically arranged, as man
of business arranges his correspond
ence, knowing where 10 lay his hand
upon any document which he has
received and wishes 10 consult. Gas
sendi compares it TO linen or paper
folded up, containing carefully
within its folds the truths which are
there wrapped up for future use. All
of these comparisons give Us an idea
of what is meant by memory, and ex-
press the retention and the reprOduc-
ton of previous acts of consciousness.
| To say word or two upon the oppO-
site TO memory and recollection,
namely, Oblivion or forgetfulness,
which is the refusal of the mind to
| reproduce what is demanded-a refusal
| to reproduce rather than a refusal to
retain. 1t is said that Sir William
Hamilton and some other philosophical
writer's are of opinion that what has
once been unprecedented by the mind is
never utterly lost. Not that we all
fully remember every thing that we
once knew. so as to be able to recall at
will our previously acquired knowl-
edge. We might say great deal on
attention, and opposed to it on what is
called distraction. Distraction is
overcome by a volitional effort called
abstraction, which consists in drawing
away the activities which want to
exert themselves, and fixing the atten-
ton on one only.
Take the instance of Morphy-one,
among the others / give, afforded to
me some years ago by a great and
good man of enlarged mind. who has
since been called to rest, and whose
memory will ever be green among the
friends he left behind. Morphy. the
celebrated chess player, he says, could
play several games of chess stimuli
taneously, without seeing any of the
boards on which the various games
were being conducted. TWAS certainly
wonderful feat of memory, but see
how attention and abstraction were
retained throughout most extraor
binary feat, and one performed by him
over and over again. as he used tc
stand alone attacking and defending
himself against the several opponent:
who were arrayed against him. That
his brain gave way, and that
he died insane. proves that physi
ology has something to say