The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-07-21
MIRACLES OF MEMORY.
khemoRfc Powers Seem to Fail -
other Mental Qualities
Develop.

ShS ~ an
Of memory ever known was that Of
Henry Nelson PiIlsbury, recently the
American champion chess player. when
be played 20 simultaneous games with
out seeing any Of the boards. One
blindfolded game is far beyond the
power of % out of 100 chess players.
says the San Francisco Call, bu: Mr..
task of remembering for several hours
the constantly changing positions OF
$40 bits of wood.
Not only did he win IA. draw five, and
lost but one of these 90 games. but at
the close also remembered the details
Of every play and corrected several
mistakes which had been made in
recording them.
Wonderful as this is it need not
alarm Mr.. Pillsbury's friends with fears
Of a mental breakdown. He has mere
" given the world one of the most re-
markable examples of what we all
visualism-a peculiar and rarely cul-
tivated function of memory.
There is nothing abnormal in a feat
Of this kind, and it need. not be regard.
ed as an enormous strain upon the
mind. Abnormality only appears when
one faculty stultifies all the others.
The probable fact is that Pillsbury has
discovered a better method of playing
chess than others. which makes a
hitherto impossible task comparative
II easy for him. 1 I'M certain that he
could not have played against 20 tables
by the aid OF any artificial memory
system.
These systems are like crutches-
they help up to a certain point and
then are more apt to hinder. Nisualiz-
ing is simply a matter of concentration
and development of a certain pictorial
quality of memory. Those who are
most likely to excel are those who de-
vote themselves entirely to n mental
pursuit. They develop the faculty OF
becoming oblivious of all that takes
place around them.
I once knew a minister who memoir
lied his sermon by this method OF
visualizing. He would reproduce in
his mind the manuscript just as it had
been written. so that wherever it was
blotted he would have difficulty in re-
Numbering it. Most of US have this
power to some slight degree, andit may
be cultivated. One of the simplest
methods of strengthening the memory
in this line is to endeavor to recall what
we have seen during a walk through
the streets.
Some people seem to be entirely with
out this power of mental photography.
and the following story is sometimes
used in classrooms as a test: The story
relates that when Napoleon was visit
ing one of the military hospitals in
Paris he stopped by the bedside Of an
old soldier who had lost both an arm
and a leg. The old soldier in an ecstasy
of loyalty sprang from the bed and
drawing his sword cut off with a
single blow his one remaining ARM.
Ii Pillsbury were to be told this story
he would see its absurdity at once. but
senting ideas as pictures would believe
it to be a positive occurrence.
We hear frequently of the marvellous
achievement of some actor OF actress
who commits to memory several hun
bred thousand words in a single season.
This is not done by visualizing. but by
sequence. Change the sequence of the
speeches and the memory often fails.
Memory is IN exceedingly complex
thing. II is not the highest type of
mental function. and it is noticeable
that this power of visualizing decays
as the power of abstract thought
grows.