The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1890-11-05

Mr.. Stanton, the United States war
minister during the great civil war, had
very retentive memory and was es-
pecially very well up in Dickens works
One evening in the early part OF 1858,
Dickens, then on 4 reading tour IN the |
States. was dining with Chas- Sumner, !
when Mr.. Stanton and some others were |
present. The war minister was put 70 !
the test. and when started could repeat
from memory a chapter Of any Of Dick
ens's books, showing much greater
knowledge oft works than their au-
thor could boast. Mr.. Stanton account I
ed for this intimate knowledge of Dick
ems by mentioning the habit which he
had formed during the war of invariably
reading something by the author Of
"Pickwick7 before going to bed at night.
The late Bishop Prince Lee, first Bish-
op of Manchester, was similarly gifted. II
is related Of him that once being at an
evening party, started by lady with
line from aMarmion, ne went right on
with the poem from memory, and could
have recited the whole. As further
test the same lady quoted a few words
fro u a conversation in "Ivanhoe," where
upon the bishop repeated the whole cor
rec.ly from memory.
But greater than any of these was Lord
Mac luley. From a very early age the
retentiveness of his memory was extra
ordinary When only three or four years
of age his mind mechanically retained
the form of what he bad read, 50 that, as
his maid said. he talked quite printed
words Once as child, when making
an afternoon call With his father, he
picked up scots Lay Of the Last Min
strelp for the first time, and quietly de-
voured the treasure while his seniors
were engaged in conversation. When
they returned home the boy went 10 his
mother, who was at the tine confined TO
her bed, and sitting down by her bed
side repeated what he had been reading
BIZ the canto, until she was tired
Later in life his wonderful memory
was always a subject Of interest to his
friends, and occasionally was put TO
searching tests One day at board
meeting at the British Museum, Macau-
ley wrote down, from memory in three
parallel columns on each Of four pages Of
foolscap, a complete list of the Cambridge
senior wranglers, with dates and colleges
attached. for the one hundred years dur
I ing which a record had been kept in the
University calender.
"On another occasion" says Trevalyan
] ~Sir David Dundas asked
'Macauley, do you know your Popes ?
No. was the answer. L always get
wrong among the InnOcents-
But, can you say your archbishops
of Canterbury -
@Any fool said Maeauley, could say
his archbishoPs of Canterbury backward,
and he went of at score, drawing breath
only once in order to remark upon the
oddity Of there having been both an
Archbishop Sancroft and an Archbishop
Bancroft, until Sir David stopped him at
| Cranmer." Macauley once said that If
by any possible chance all the copies Of
paradise Lost" and Pilgrims Progress
in existence were Destroyed, he could
write both out again complete from rec
objection.
When O'Connell made his motion in
1885 for the repeal of the Union, Mr..
Tenant, member Of pIriiamen. for Bal
fast, delivered speech lasting for three
and half hours, full Of figures and cal
eulations entirely from memory, in which
be trusted so completely that he sent the
manuscript of his speech to newspapers
before he delivered it. His confidence
was not misplaced, for the Grafton was
spoken without mistake, or even mo-
mentary hesitation
Another Irish NJ P, Robert Dillon
Brown, member for Mayo, had the same
useful faculty. He would dictate speech
to an amanuensis. an twenty-four hours
afterward without looking at it or think
ing of the matter in the meantime, conld
repeat it word for word.
woodfall, the editor Of the Morning
Chronic, and brother Of 'Junius' pub
Usher, was able to report accurately il
the morning the debate of the previou
evening, without taking notes.
In some cases the mental action invOl'
ed in feats Of this nature would seem t,
be quite mechanical and unintelligen-
In the newspapers Of January, 1870 ther
are accounts of an extraordinary man
who was known as Memory corne
Thompson" This man, although h'
could hardly remember anything h
heard. could yet retain perfectly tn
names and descriptions Of large cOllec
tons Of objects that met his eye. II
could take an inventory Of the content
OF a horse from cellar to attic merely b.
surveying them and could aflerwart
write il out from memory. He coul,
draw from recollection accurate plans Q
many London parishes and districts, viii
: every street, alley, public buildings, pub
E lie houses, etc, duly noted, down to tn.
: minutest typographical details. such a
: pumps. trees, bow-windows and posts, a
5 correctly marked
n Conspicuous instance Of this mechan
: cal Kind Of memory are TO be fOun
q among the famous mental calculator
1 Jebediah Buxton WAS a celebrity Of th
2 kind about the middle Of the last cent?
t ~. lie had but little education, and II
i deed was not able to write his own nam
: But in arithmetic and in abstruse calcJ
: lations his powers were wonderful Tn
e following Is specimen Of the problem
which, when put 10 the test, he solve
IS mentally in few minutes: Find ho
It many cubical eighths of an inch. .thsr
.e are in a quadrangular mass mslsurin
10 24.l45,7S9 yards long. 2,6i2.732 yars
n wide and 5f,a56 yards thick. When
10 London in 1854, he was taken to see Ga
D. rick as Richard III, at Drury Lane. tt
j. play did not Interest him much, bu.
l. occupied himself in reckoning the nun
ut Der OF words he heard anu in c)untir
v the number Of steps made By the dancer
es The American boy, Zsran Coibur
% vxho came n london in 1912 was a 81