The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-09-16
Some Scientists Contend There
Is No Sub Faulty.
MANY Examples ARE GIVEN.
DIs(ussba d RemafkabIe feats BY Pills.
bury. hstMIsy md padefswSkl
n 0less, History and Music.

that what Is commonly called memory
Ia only a specialized train OF thought, or
an association OF things and ideas. or
mental habit, or manifestation OF M
tcrest IN a particular subject. Any guam
tity OF examples are cited In support OF
this view. A housekeeper sends her
young son to the grocery to order
dozen different articles The boy orders
eight or nine OF them. forgetting the
other three or four. The mother accuses
him Of having poor memorys Yet that
same boy can give you the record ana
whereabouts Of every prominent baseball
player IN the country. HIS memory In
that respect Ii good, while that OF his
mother II almost nonexistent.
'It Ia easy to account for the diher-
ence, The mother has her scheme OF
housekeeping. and each OF the dozen ar
ticies which she fold the boy to order
has some definite relation TO that
scheme II IL not pure memory that
tells her what she wants; neither II In
pure memory that enables the boy TO
keep track OF the ball players. Each
one Of them. IN his mind. has an indi-
vidialfty and II part Of a historical
chain connected with the game OF which
no u an enthusiastic devotse. An old
turfman can tell you the names and
records Of { hundred different horses and
all the great and small Incidents of the
contests IN which they have been en-
gagged. Why cant he name IN aiphabeti-
cal or geogra phical order all the cosin-
ties Of his state and why can't he give
the electoral votes received by all candi-
datss for the presidency for the past
thirty years. ~ many an old campaigner
cam The explanation II simple. Each
fellows his habit Of thought and retains
the impress Of things that have inter-
eeted and entered into his activities"
what you say has certain amount
Of piausibility." remarked the reasonable
member but your illustrations are rudi-
mentary and touch only one small cor
ner Of = very large subject"
THAT II true" replied the arguments
tive member, but We will try to cover
. iittis broader ground. Lot us con-
elder what hava been termed colossal
feats Of memory IN three different direc-
tions--chess. history and music. taking
pillsbufy, Macauiay and PAdsrewski as
acters IN these intellectual arenas.
when Pillsbury makes q move on the
. certain plan Of campaign which 10
definitely mapped ont n his mind. the
move has . ieGeoa1 relation 70 moves
that have been made ana are yet 70 be
made Pflisbury knows the replying
moves which are At the disposal Of his
exponent and ~ soon NJ the reply il
announced Pillsbury peroeives it, effect
accordingly. Ths game II = growing
structure. having logic. harmony and
sequence. ana Piishury has the mental
gin Of comprehendinG n in scope and
dstati.
"Ist 10 rupposs that instead Of thirty
two chsssman, fhirty-tws numbered
blocks are placed on each Of the twenty
boards. each board having sirty-four
squares. euppcss the blocks are moved
n
10 piiisbury. thus. Block on SQUARE
~ block q on square &C. block u on
sausre g. etc. this going on. without
nyutam or desiRn. on the twenty boards
simultaneously. Suppose no game IL
played. shs move being purely arbitrary.
ana forty Of them made on each board
u Il probable that piilsbury could re-
member them ali. or even a small part
Of them7 II he could. u would be an
exercise Of memory pure and simple Rut
h II tnconeeivahie that he could. His
memory would be unequal 20 tho task.
because no move would be associated
with any other move and there would
h~ no chain ~ events or ideas as
Kuids.
proceeding 10 the newt example. YOU
cannot read an essay or chapter 81
history by Macanlay without being I'm
pressed with what you may think II
MacAuiAy's wonderful memory. HIS
pagrx hristie with names dates ana
events His ailusIons come 30 thick ana
fast that, unless ven also are an excep-
tienAiiy w.iiinfcrmei historian. vou
wfll need a library ~ cyciopedias and
statistical works 10 keep race with his
references and 20 understand their h>er-
Ing on tho subject IN hand, One ~ this
remarkable mans contemporaries said,
81 wfsh ! know as much about any
thing a. Tom Mhcauiey does about ev-
crythins '~rnran'ng ef course, every
thing historical Yet II r. NOT 20 be sup
posed that Maeaulsv had committed 20
memory srea, mass OF disconnected
ana unrelated facts Tn MacAufny tho
history cf the weird was an asseufb,age
~ cause. ana effects, Of Influences and
developments. having mutual relations
Witch appealed 90 h's habits % though,
ara his mental spreti,e. Its tastes and
perceptions naturally rar that way, ard
ton He recalled events. not Sc isolated
hArrentnss. bat az occurrences which
her~ vp1n other occurrences ara 80 eln-
,aeats ~ 4 schema having nnnsherl~ss
trains % suggestion let US say that Ne
, was Intimately acquainted with shen.
sands ~ characters m history, their
rasnss their activities ara all ths lead.
ting facts connected with ihcfn Vet = n
60 ~ supposed that ~ would hs abe %
rnefuexfss the contents 80 q ettv dtrer-
tSrv~~rsfue~ streets numbers ana errns
paf,ors' Meet certainly net hec1ues
they weuis resn Nothing 90 hirr sach
an achievement would ~ feat 90 mem
orr. whereas his mastery ~ history was
thu result q q'ite different mental
process
New take the musical Illustration
raserewski has a inrrn rerertotr~ ~
piano Compositions ns his nnwprx' enss
and we hear marvellous stories ~ I'M
fniiitcrs 81 notes ~ has committed 10
memory Tats Is an Inaccurate state
went Of what he has really dore A
musical composition has rAvthra. rneta,iv
harv-enr and form Possessing these
Qualities, e Is inseitgthl@ n tells a
rssry. II iurresses the musical sense.
IL IL srries ef suwgcsticna sns re-
srcnzes. r, arrests the attention pro-
naurees it's text, arnuses expectation,
realizes the same, ans eliminates n y
roint ~ reHose " - not sarnnsahie
that pstsrewski mechanically rrsmer-
izcs tho notes that are written ana the
keys that are 60 he struck. He has sh-
sorted tss ccmpcsftscni n II q Part az his