The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-10-31
Wonderful nemorles.

greatest gifts Of the human mind. It has
been highly esteemed from the days Of
the Greeks to- the present time. Fliny
mentions strength of memory frequently
as one Of the brightest qualifications OF
his most learned friends. In fact, the
Derfection to which this power was pos
sessed by some OF the ancients IS almost
incredible. A Greek philosopher of whom
n,ention is made in very old letter wac
known to deliver long harange extern
pore and to repeat 1t without forgetting a
single word. Seneca, in his young days,
could repeat two thousand names in the
same order in which they were read.
Very frequently persons in his audience,
in order to test his power of retention,
would each give him verse, all Of which
he could repeat without hesitation Itwas
all the more remarkable as he could be-
gin at the last verse and go back to the
first. Ss1laca tells a pleasant story IN one
OF his works, whichsis generally consid-
cred his own experience. A poet one
time recited one Of his poems in public
from manuscript. A person who was
among the audience stood up and claimed
the poem as his own, and in proof Of his
assertion he repeated the poem word for
word which the real author could not
do. This same trick was played upon
Voltaire by the king of Prussia. The lat
ter had an Englishman in his court who
had most retentive memory. When the
poet came before his majesty to rectte
a new poem OF considerable length the
Englishlnan remained concealed behind
a screen, and as Voltaire concluded his
verses he slipped from his hiding place
and repeated them word for word. do
you claim that as your poem?" asked the
e q
could make no explanation, and fora
moment seemed to doubt the originality
Of his own composition. The king en-
joyed the Joke heartily, and, much to the
beWilderment Of the poet he would not
explain his strategem for some time aft
erwards. .-~.
,Themistocles, the great Athenisn
statesman, became master Of the Persian
language in a years time. Mithradates
manded nations, which was twenty-one.
Cyrus the Great had such power OF MEM
ory that he knew the name of every
soldier In his army. It was equaled, prob
ably, by that of Aristrides, who could
name every citizen Of Athens, while Tully
ious, that he never forgot anything but
an injury
But quite number of modern writers
have distinguished themselves by their
wonderful power Of memory. Magliovec.
chi. the founder of the great Library at
Florence, had so remarkable memory that
Gibbon styled him memory personified."
Gassendi, a French philosopher, who was
appointed professor of rhetoric at D:gne at
the age Of is, had no doubt the most re
tentive mind Of modern times. He coull
recite six thousand Latin verses from men,
Dry, and in order to exercise the latter, he
recited every day six hundred verses from
different languages. Saunderson an Eng
lish mathematician, had acquired by heart
all Horace's odes and a great part of other
Latin authors, despite the fact that he was
blind from infancy. John Lynden had g.
wonderful faculty for remembering things
by rote. He could repeat correctly a long
tedious document, such As an act of parlia-
ment or discussion in congress-, after hav-
ing heard 1t but once. But strange to say,
IL he wanted to remember any particu.a
paragraph he would be obliged to recite
from the beginning Of the document ant.
continue on until he reached the portion
he desired It is said that French novel
list, who had been a printer by trade, had
such a prod.gious memory that he com
posed novel correctly in type with HI
own hands. II this ia really true, the vol
ume In question is the only one known t.
have been written without being first copie
in manuscript William Warburton.
noted bishop of Gloucester, England, had
wonderful power for memor:zing. Man
Of his works. especially his "Div.ne Lega
ton" would lead one to suppose that b.
made constant use OF a diary. But such wa
not the case, as his most intimate friend
tell us that he never used notebook OF 81,
kind. Scotiger remembered the contents
of one Latin volume so perfectly that +
offered to repeat any portion of 1t with
dagger at his heart, which he would allow
to be thrust into him In case his memory
failed him.