The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-16
SOME FREAKS OF THE MEMORY
Queries of University Students Sup
ply Data on Physical Phenomena.
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washington Post)
The queer freaks of memory are
constant puzzle to those who study
psychical phenomena Who has not
been driven to the verge of distraction
by the total inability to recall name
when the occasion for such remem-
brance- was past, had the missing name
fash into the mind apparently OF It's
own volition? The year 1888 has Just
closed, but how many of us can recall
readily the chief incidents OF the last
ten months, and say accurately IN
what month they occurred? Try 1t ana
ee.
Great minds have wrestled to find an
explanation for the pranks that mem
ory plays, and have had to give up the
effort In the course of systematic
attempt to arrive at some understand
ing with regard to the wonders OF
memory, valuable and unique BODY or
testimony has been obtained The FOL
lowing questions have been put to 2O0
American university students and pro-
fessional persons, Isl being men ana
forty-nine 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
suggested by any perceived association
OIL IDEAS 10 IItS. Il pei SCAlb eAA4S' ~AON-
mo" and 81 per cent Yes.
Q. 2.-Does such recovery ever come
during sleep? To this, II per cent an
swered No and IS per cent yes"
Some examples are given:
FirSt@ThiS. morning l tried to recall
the name of a character l had read of
the night before in one Of Scotts nov
els. and failed. 1 taught class, and,
walking home in the afternoon, all the
names required to me without effort
SecondI 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 Volt
ton.
O. S.-On seeing a sight or hearing
sound for the first time, have you ever
felt that you had seen or heard the
same before? Fifty-nine per cent an
swered Yes"
The action of unconscious memory
during sleep is illustrated by further
queries:
Q. 4-Do you dream? Ninetyfour
per cent answered Yes"
@. 5.-Can you wake at "a given hour,
determined before going to sleep, with
out waking up many times before?
Fifty-nine per cent answered NO"
@. Eff you can, how about failure?
Sixty-nine per cent seldom failed; %
per cent often.
Q. 7-Do you come direct from obliv-
ion into consciousness? Sixty-four per
cent answered Yes and Is per cent
Gradually"
First-I had to give medicine every
two hours exactly to my wife. I am
sound sleeper, but for six weeks / woke
up every two hours, and never missed
giving the medicine.
Second.-I am always awake five
minutes before the hour I set the
alarm.
Third had had little sleep for ten
DAYS. and went to bed at 9, asking to
be called at midnight. I fell asleep at
once. / rose and dressed as the clock
struck u, and could not believe I had
not been called.
A strange phenomenon has come to
light in the course of the inquiry into
the mystery of memory. 1t has been
discovered that by gazing steadily at
a crystal, consciousness is partly lost.
Into the void thus produced those who
have practiced crySta l-gaZing ind that
there enter, unbidden, forgotten incl
dents and lost memories. To give few
instances: A lady, in crystaI-gazlng,
saw a bit of dark wall covered with
white flowers. 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
at the crystal and saw nothing but the
number /, but, taking up the bank
book. found, to her surprise, it was the
number of the account.
AT another time she destroyed let
ter without noting the address; she
could only remember the town. After
gazing at the crystal some time she
saw 1921 Jefferson avenue" She adj
dressed the letter there, adding the
town, and found it was right.
a lady sat in room to write where
she had sat eight years before. She
felt her feet moving restlessly under
the table, and then remembered that
eight years before she always had a
footstool. It was this her feet were
seeking.
Psychical research brings to light
many cases of similar strange tricks of
memory. 1t is easy to find instances
that serve to deepen the mystery. 1t is
not so easy to give an explanation.
The cleverest men who have attempted
to do so have to admit defeat