The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-03-10
TRAINING MEMORY.
DR.. Edward Picks Very Simple and
Scientific Methods.

guages by Association and Comparison.
Something About the Man.
It was when he was a medical student
in the University Of Prague that DR..
Edward Pick, because of his own de-
fective memory, gave his attention to
the discovery Of a practical method OF
applying psychology to the. acquiring OF
knowledge. His first published work on
the subject was called ''The Rational
Means For Improving the Memory"
This book was at once recognized by
scholars and educators as the work Of
one who, having duly considered estab-
iisbed facts Of consciousness, deducted
from them as logical consequence GER
tain important practical conclusions.
Il was in this small book, which he
found In the British museum, that Loi-
aette, who wrote "I4oisettian Art Of
Never Forgetting found all that there
was of his system. DR.. Pick laughingly
declares that Loisette, or Larrowe.
which was his real name, having come
upon his first book In the library of the
British museum, found it SO interesting
that he thought he had invented it HIM
self. At that time the book was out OF
print, and as Loisette pledged all Of
his pupils not to reveal anything in re-
gard to his plan ID WEBS some time before
She truth YVES known.
There never was the least secrecy
about DR.. PiclTs worn Or his books. He
has evolved and taught his system Of
psychology pxecisely Nke other branches
Of learning. Indeed for the last 20 years
he has been engaged in lectnring on this
subject at Oxford. Cambridge, Elton and
other great English institutions Of learn
ing:
of DR.. Picks sgstem-that the attention
should be Contaminated on as few ideas
az possible at enc time, and to force the
attention to the ideas in question by COM
pairing them with EACH other. 1t is of
course obvious that the fewer the ideas
of which peagDn is conscious at one
and the same time the stronger and
more definite the impression will be, and
also that if we scrapulousiy compare the
objects which they represent with each
other this defniteness not only becomes
more clearly Impressed, but no one Of
these ideas is recalled without bringing
others which cohere to it.
In this connection the statement that
there is not one but many memories In
each mind and that one kind OF memory
is pre-eminently developed in one person
and another in another is interesting.
For example, persons having individu-
atty strongly developed receive pecul-
iarly distinct impressions Of externals,
and therefore of persons, and are able
to recognize them readily. Others hav-
ing locality strongly developed remember
even people by the place in which they
saw them, and others still there are who
have an especial faculty for remember
ing words and acquiring languages. 1t
is said of Cardinal Mezzofanti, who
knew more than 100 different languages.
that he was wont to declare that he
never forgot a word he once learned.
The relation between these facts in re-
gard to memory and DR.. Picks PROPOSE
ton is that if we would remember things
which do not by virtue Of their own IN
trinsic force produce vivid and strong
impressions we must associate them with
vivid and strong impressions already in
the mind. ''This cohesion Of ideas" says
DIR. Pick, (which is constantly going on
in our minds 10 really not only the ba-
sis of all remembrance, but of all intel
lectual activity. An idea never comes
back to the mind of itself, but is recalled
by another" Very simple is DR.. Picks
method, especially his use Of comparison
in the learning Of foreign languages,
which, according to his plan, is not a Ia
.borious effort Of memory, but a process
Of comparison, analysis and reasoning
from the beginning to the end. His meth
cd of facilitating the remembering OF
numbers, dates, etc., is a different apph-
cation Of the same principle Of compare
son and is as sound and easily explained,
according to well established psycholog-
ical laws, as it Is simple and effective.
DIR. Pick is scientist and scholar,
and there is no dissent among learnea
men as to the fact that there is no man
living today who has given to the sub
Jest of memory SO much analytical and
1uHSlllS6uU dlOouOlOAs SolOSpoA Oc@A4SS
of Harvard university says Of hirn' CDR.
Pick does not pretend to possess any
magical power. His methods and con-
illusions are eminently scientific and
phiiosophic. By working in accordance
with the best known laws of mind he
produces most remarkable results. The
principal, or, as he is called, the head
master, of the celebrated Uppingham
school in England, says, clad known
as boy how to work in the manner
now do from having listened to DR..
Picks instruction I should have mas
tered and retained 10 times as much
knowledge as ! now have with quar-
ter of the labor"
In talking with DR.. Pick 1t is not easy
to believe that he was not endowed by
nature with phenomenal memory, SO
efortless is his power of recall. This,
with fine appreciation, his wit and sense
of humor, rake him charming racon-
teur. In speaking of his 10 years resi-
dence in Paris he told Of many pleasant