The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-02-17
FREAKS OF MEMORY.
QUEER FRANKS FOR WHICH THERE
IS NO ACCOUNTING.

8#H% MEaHNts sSEvSS - pbSN0s1 l4y4H EEE9
Some Instance Of the Singular Ell.
fects Produced Upon the Mind by
Casing Steadily nj a Crystal-For-
gotten Incidents Recalled.
The queer freaks Of memory are a
constant puzzle to those who study
psychical phenomena. Who has not
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 wrestled to find an
explanation for the pranks that memory
plays and have had to give up the
effort. In the course of q systematic at
tempt to arrive at some understanding
with regard to the wonders Of memory
q very valuable and unique body Of
testimony has been obtained. The fol-
rowing questions have been put to 900
American university students and pro
fessional persons. ISL being men and
40 being women. The answers are here
given with the questions:
Question when you cannot recall
q name you want, does it seem to come
back spontaneously without being sug-
gested by any perceived association Of
ideas? To this II per cent answered
mo and 81 per cent Eyes"
Question 2.-Does ~suchrecovery ever
come during sleep? To this II per cent
answered NO and 90 per cent eyes =
Some examples given:
1. This morning / tried to recall the
name of a character I had read of the
night before in one Of Scott $ novels and
failed. I taught a class, and walking
home in the afternoon all the names re-
CURED to me without effort.
2. 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 3.-On seeing a sight or
hearing a sound for the first time, have
you eve felt that you had seen Tor
heard) the same before2 Fifty-nine per
cent answered Eyes"
The action Of unconscious memoir
during sleep is illustrated by further
queries:
Question 4. DO you dream9 Ninety
four per cent answered Eyes"
Question Gan you wake at a given
hour determined before going to sleep
without waking up many times before
Fifty-nine per cent answered Eyes
Thirty-one per CEN answered emo"
Question Eff you can. how about
failure? Sixty-nine per cent seldom
failed: 25 per cent often.
Question :. DO you come direct from
oblivion into consciousness? Sixty-four
per cen answered Eyes and 16 per
cent "Gradually.
Examples:
l. | had to give medicine every two
hours exactly to my wife. | I'm a very
sound sleeper. but for six weeks I woke
up every two hours and never missed
giving the medicine.
2. l am always awake five minutes
before the hour I set the alarm.
8. / had had little sleep for ten days
and went to bed at 8. asking to be
called at midnight. I fell asleep at
once. I rose and dressed as the clock
stuck 10, and could not believe l had
not been called.
A strange phenomenon has come to
light in the course Of the inquiry into
the mystery Of memory. It has been
discovered that by gazing steadily at a
NrsyycfoI 00rcpi0r1Cnnco 10 novflvr lost Tn
to the void thus produced those who
have practiced crystal gazing find that
there enter unbidden forgotten incidents
and lost memories. To give a 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 it somewhere. but had no
ground she had just traversed and
found the wall. which she had passed
annoticed.
She took out her handbook another
day. Shortly afterward she was gazing
at 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 a 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 adj
dressed the letter there, adding the
town, and found it was right.
A lady sat in a 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.
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
that serve to deepen the mystery. It is
not SO easy to give an explanation. The
cleverest men who have attempted to
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