Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-03-01
FREAKS OF MEMORY.
QUEER FRANKS FOR WHICH THERE
 IS NO ACCOUNTING.

IS NO ACCOUNTING.
 Some Instances of the Singular Elf.
 fleets Produced Upon the MIad by Casing Steadily at e CrJstaI-FOr- gotten Incidents Recalled. The queer freaks of memory are a constant puzzle to those who study
 psychical phenomena Who has no,
 been driven to the verge of distraction
 by the total inability to recall a name
 when an effort was made to do So and
 when the occasion for such remem-
 brance was past had the missing name
 flash into the mind apparently of its
 own volitionf
 Great minds have wrestIed to find an
 explanation for the pranks shat memory
 plays and have had to give up the
 effort In the course of a systematic at
 tempt to arrive at some understanding
 with regard to the wonders of memory
 a very valuable and unique body of
 testimony has bee7 obtained. The fol-
 lowing questions nave been put to 200
 American university students and pro
 fessional persons. 151 being men and 1 49 being women The answers are here ] given with the questions
 Question 1.-When you cannot recall a name you want. does it seem to come back spontaneously without being sug- gested by any perceived association of ideasf To this II per cent answered ''No' and s1 per cent ''Yea" Question 2.-Dces such recovery ever come during sleepi To this 17 per cent answered "No" and 2s per cent "YeA
 Some examples given:
 1 This morning tried to recall the name of character had read of the night before in one of Scott's novels and failed l taught 6 class. and walking home in the afternoon all the names re- cured to me without effort
 g l tried to recall the name of a book Gave it up Half an hour later, while talking of something else. blurted it out without conscious volition
 Question 9.-On seeing & sight or hearing a sound for the first time. have you ever felt that you had seen tor heard) the same beforef Fifty-nine per cent answered "Yes"
 The action of unconscious memory during sleep is illustrated by further queries:
 Question 4-Do you dreaInf Ninety four per cent answered "Yes"
 Question 5.-Can you wake at a given hour determined before going to sleep without waking up many times before Fifty-nine per cent answered "Yes' Thirty-one per cent answered "No.
 Question eff you can. how about failuref Sixty-nine per cent seldom failed; 25 per cent often
 Question 7.-Do you come direct from oblivion into consciousness Sixty-four per cent answered "Yes" and 16 per cent Gradually.
 Examples
 | had to give medicine every two hours exactly to my wife am a very | sound sleeper. but for six weeks woke | up every two hours and never missed 1 giving the medicine
 2. am always awake five minutes l before the hour set the alarm
 8. had had little sleep for ten days | and went to bed at Q, asking to be 1 called at midnight I fell asleep at | once. rose and dressed as the clock | stuck 12, and could not believe I had l not been called
 A strange phenomenon has come to l light in the course of the inquiry into !. the mystery of memory. It has been | discovered that by gazing steadily at a . crystal consciousness is partly lost In to the void thus produced those who have prscticed crystal gazing find that there enter unbidden forgotten incidents and lost memories To give few in- stances: A lady in crystal gazing saw a bit of dark wall covered with white fowers She was conscious she must have seen it somewhere. but had no recollection where She walked over the ground she had just traversed and found the wall. which she had passed unnoticed
 She took out her handbook another day. Shortly afterward she was gazing st the crystal and saw nothing but the one She thought it was some hack number, but. taking up the bank book. found to her surprise it was the number of the account
 At another time she destroyed a let ter without noting the address She could only remember the town After gazing at the crystal some time she saw '821 Jefferson avenue" She ad- dressed the letter there, adding the town, and found it was right.
 A lady sat in a room to write where he had sat eight years before She felt her feet moving restlessly under the ts- ole and then remembered that eight Tears before she always had footstool It was this her feet were seeking.
 Psychical research brings to light ( many cases of similar strange tricks of { memory. It is easy to find instances hat serve to deepen the mystery It is aot So easy to give an explanation. The i .leverest men who. have attempted to ; To SO have had to admit defeat-Wash- ngton Post s