The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-01-26
FREAKS OF MEMORY.
ouEER pRAkks FoR WHICH THERE
49,, 10 NO ACCOUNTING.

Some Instances Of the Singular Ef-
fsets PsoAucsA Upon the AinA By
0asias steadily at . Crystal-Fsr.
gotten Incidents Recalled. r,,..a
The queer freaks Of memory are q
constant puzxle to those who study
psyohicsl phenomena. Who has not
been driven to the verge Of distraction
by the total inability TO recall name
when an effort was made to do 20 and
when the occasion for such remem-
brance was past had the missing name
flash into the mind apparently Of it's
own volition1
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 at some understanding
with regard to the wonders Of memory
q very valuable and unique body Of
testimony has been obtained The fol-
lowing questions have been put to 900
American university students and pro-
fessional persons, 161 being men and
40 being women. The answers are here
given with the questions:
Question When You cannot recall
a name you want, does it seem to come
back spontaneously without being sug-
gested by any perceived association Of
ideas7 To this II per cent answered
mo" and 81 per cent Eyes"
Question 2.-Does such recovery ever
come during sleeps To this II per cent
answered mo" and 20 per cent Eyes"
Some examples given:
/. This morning I tried to recall the
name Of q character I had read Of the
night before in one Of Scott novels and
failed taught class. and walking
home in the afternoon all the names re-
CURED to me without effort.
2. I tried to recall the name Of Q
book. Gave it up. Half an hour later,
while talking Of something else. blurted
it out without conscious volition. >.
Question Son seeing sight or
hearing a sound for the first time, have
you ever felt that you had seen Tor
heard tho same befores Fifty-nine per
cent answered eyes"
The action Of unconscious memory
during sleep is illustrated by further
queries:
Question 4.-Do you dream' Ninety
four per cent answered Eyes"
Question CAN you wake at given
hour determined before going to sleep
without waking up many times beforef
Fifty-nine per cent answered Eyes
Thirty-one per cent answered "No."
Question eff you can, how about
failure9 Si1ty-nine per cent seldom
failed; 20 per cent often.
Question 7.-Do you come direct from
oblivion into consciousness3 Sixty-four
per cent answered Eyes" and 10 per
cent "Gradually."
Examples:
1. had to give medicine every two
hours exactly to my wife l am very
sound sleeper, but for six weeks woke
up every two hours and never missed
giving the medicine.
2. I am always awake five minutes
before the hour set the alarm.
8. had had little sleep for ten days
and went to bed at Q, asking to be
called at midnight. I fell asleep at
once. rose and dressed as the clock
stuck IL. 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
crystal consciousness is partly lost. In
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
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 one. She thought 1t 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 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 ia
BILE and then remembered that eight
years 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. 1t is easy to find instances
that serve to deepen the mystery 1t is
not 30 easy to give an explanation The
cleverest men who have attempted to
do so have had to admit defeat. Wash
ington Post ,m