The Florence daily tribune. (Florence, Colo.) 1898-1903, 1899-02-10
FREAKS OF MEMORY.
QUEER FRANKS FOR WHICH THERE
IS NO ACCOUNTING.


gotten su-id-ats Recalled.
The queer freaks of memory are
constant puzzle To those who study
psychicai PHENOMENA Who has not
been driven 70 the verge of distraction
ny the total inability to recall IA name
when an effort WAS made to do 80 and
when the occasion Tor such rcmem-
brance was past had the missing name
Hash into the mind apparently of its
own volitionY
Great minds have wrestled TO find an
explanation for the pranks that memory
plays and have had to give up the
effort In the course of systematic at
tempt To arrive Mt some understanding
with regard to the wonders of memory
very valuable and unique body Of
testimony has been obtained The fol
lowing questions have been put TO 200
American university students and pro
i..-sional persons. I5i being men and
~ being women The answers are her.
gwen with the questions
Question When you cannot reca
name you want, does ii seem to come
back spontaneously without being sug
.s,sted by any perceived association of
ideas To this II per cent answered
No and 81 per cent Yes
Question , Does such recovery ever
come during sleepf To this IA per cent
answered mo and 9s per cent YES
some examples given
This morning | tried to recall the
name of character | had read of the
right before in one of Scott $ novels and
Jailed Taught class. and walking
nome in the afternoon all the names re
cured to me without effort
? | tried 10 recall the name of
book Gave II up BALI an hour later.
while talking of something else, blurted
IL out without conscious volition
Question 3. On seeing sight or
hearing sound for the first time. have
you ever felt that you had seen Tor
heard) the same beforer Fifty nine per
cent answered YES
The action of unconscious memory
during sleep is illustrated by further
queries
Question 4 DO you dreamf Ninety
/ four per cent answered Yes
Question = Can You wake at a given
nour determined before going to sleep
/ without waking up many times beforef
| Fifty nine per cent answered Yes
I Thirty one per cent answered No
Question If you can, how about
/ iailurer Sixty nine per cent seldom
tailed 25 per cent often
{ Question =. DO you come direct from
Oblivion into consciousness Sixty-four
per cent answered Yes and i6 per
cent Gradually
I Examples
I had To give medicine every two
! hours exactly tn my wife | am very
sound sleeper bat for six weeks woke
up every two hours and never missed
givini, tine medicine
J am always awake five minutes
before TIE hour set the alarm
3 had had little sleep for ten days
and went to bed at 8. asking to be
called at midnight I fell asleep at
once | rose and dressed rs the clock
stack 70 and could not believe had
not been called
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 II
To the void thus produced those who
have practiced 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
flowers She was conscious she must
have seen il 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
Mt the crystal and saw nothing but the
number 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 let
ter without noting the address She
could only remember the town After
gazing at the crystal some time she
saw 1891 jefferson avenue. She ad
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 ia
Bile and then remembered that eight
years before she always had a footstool
II was this her feet were seeking
Psychical research brings to light
many cases of similar strange tricks of
memory II is easy to find instances
, that serve to deepen the mystery 1t is
not so easy to give an explanation The
q 81,
do so have had to admit defeat. Wash