The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-09-09
WONDERS OF MEMORY.
Famous Feats of Recollection. Apropos of
a Recent Recitation for Twenty COntinu-
GUS Hours

Gus hOurD,
(F'rom the London Pail Mall Gazette.)
+. The people of Sondrio have been treat
ed to a wonderful exhibition. Prof.
Edoe recited the whole of Dante's 'Divina
CoInedia' in twenty continuous hours,
without being prompted and without
making a single mistake. The recitation
lasted from 6 p. m. one afternoon to 2
p. m. next day." So says our correspond
emit at Rome, on the best authority,i no
doubt. But Sondrio is very long way
from the capital, and the statement of a
trustworthy eye witness might be de-
sired. Few mortals have a larynx so ro-
bust that it will bear the strain of read
ing aloud for twenty hours, to put the
effort of memory aside. Not single mis-
take, too, even at the end, when the hero
must have been feverish from want of
sleep! We really must abate some de-
tails of the marvel as told. But the main
fact, that Prof. Edoe can repeat the
"Divina Commedia' from end to end is
not incredible. Macaulay made the casual
remark that he thought he could restore
the text of Paradise Lost if by evil
fate all copies should be destroyed, and 1T
is tolerably certain that he did not exag-
gerate There is no reasonable doubt that
the Rhapsodists who held forth at street
corners in Athens often knew the Iliad
by heart. Xenophon represents young
man boasting that he could repeat both
HAD and Odyssey In fact, there
Is legend at Elton, not altogether base
less we understand, of boy called
"Homeric Wright who matched that
antique youth at the beginning of the
century. We are not prepared to state
the length of these several epics, but it
may be safely alleged that all of the to-
gether do not equal the "Dschangeriade
the national poem of the Calmucks. Ac-
cording to bergman, 1t has three hum
dred and sixty cantos, each as long as a
book of the 'tIliad,'' and travelling
company of bards, six in number. will
go through the whole One of their ap-
prentices will recite twenty or thirty
cantos. Then there is the Finnish "Kal-
evala, which students of philology and
folk lore regard with such interest at
present. Many of them could tell us the
length to a verse without reference, but
surely it Is twice as long as Dante's mas
terpiece.
It is not to be disputed that good
many thousand persons up and down the
world can repeat the Koran from end to
cAQ. Liz 6NlOcuGo 10 tOO SUTOIR IOI
doubt. One is tempted to cavil at the as
sertion that some of them do not know
Arabic. There must be bounds to hu-
man memory, and that seems to go be-
yond them. But Mr.. Schuyler, United
States Consul in Turkestan, alleges that
he personally knew a Seyd who was not
only able to perform this feat himself,
but, more than that, This two daughters
and his grandson rivaled him. They
understood the meaning of any passage
by its place in the text, but not a syllable
of the words. Gen. Kaufman reports
like instance at Samarkand. He heard
of young Mullah who could take up any
scue' in the Koran and proceed to the
end of the volume from that point, if de-
sired. Russian officers declared this fiat
~ impossible, and Kaufman summoned
the prodigy. He did all that was report
ed. Then an officer asked him to trans
late some passages. ''How can I?' he
answered, ''it's Arabic The youth did
not understand evan his cue-the sound
was his only guide. One needs all the
authority of Consul and Viceroy to
credit these stories. They make the reci-
tation of the Koran by persons who
monplace. 1t is told that Zobeideh, first
wife Of Haroun Alraschid, kept hun
bred slave girls in her palace, each Of
whom knew the sacred book by heart
Their sole occupation was, to repeat it,
and ten went on duty every day. $50
the palace hummed like wasps' nest :"
says the chronicler. We obtain quite
another view of Zobeideh's character
from 1.-THE Arabian Nights"
There is pleasant Indian story on this
theme. Mahmud of Guzerat, great con-
queror and great man, was told by a
Mullah that he who learns the Koran by
heart will be able to redeem seven gener-
ations of his ancestors in torment. The
King sighed, wishing he had a son who
would thus efface his many sins. Young
Prince Muzaffar overheard him, and
forthwith began to study. In two years
he could repeat the whole, but his eye
sight was ruined. Muzaffar succeeded to
the throne, however, and his long reign
was the halycon time of Guzerat. 1t is
likely that many a pious Moslem falls
blind in the effort.
Those Of us whose memory is no better
than their neighbors. are not without
of the faculties which weaken as ctviliza-
ton spreads. The stupidist savage has
a good memory; it is easy to find one
whose powers seem beyond belief. The
present Rajah Brooke tells how he gave
notice to forty five chiefs of fine i'm
posed upon them for conspiracy. Each
occupied different village. The fine
was COmpubeu upou Uuo Aulu UeF VI war
riors accredited to each, and the chief
was at liberty to dispute the assessment.
Thus the messenger had to recollect the
names of forty five persons and forty five
villages and connect the pair of facts.
Then he had to recollect a series of forty
five amounts and connect them also.
Further, to Justify the assessment he
must be able to state how many warriors
the Rajah assigned to each chief. The
fortman summoned to perform this duty
acknowledged it "twister. +" The long
list was read over to him three times,
and he demanded three rehearsals on
different days, but the very first time he
made no mistake. A month his tour
lasted, and not an item was forgotten.
One of the most astounding memories
which history records belonged to Addi-
sons daughter by the Countess of War
wick, and she was SO nearly an idiot that
the Court of Chancery appointed guard.
10 fO,. how