Daily camera., 1900-12-07
HAVE MENTAL VISION
SOME EXTRAORDINARY MEM
DRY FEATS,
eillss.sy Ssd Black burne Give ExhibitisGs
sf Asatal <3ymnastios vt Chess-Aan
with . Good Memory k-citss 1 Pesn
which Its Author Could Not. q

ALI the chess masters and q large
number Of amateurs can play one or
more games Of chess without sight Of
board or men. What we now regard
~ exceptional ability is found in the
exhibitions Of Messrs. Pillsbury and
Blackburne. 1t may be recalled that
before the London international tour
nament the former gave an exhibition
Of mental gymnastics at the Ladies'
Chess club. where he conducted eight
games Of chess and two draughts sans
voir. not to mention card game to
keep his eyes employed. Every game
was won by the American champion,
and In one case he announced a mate
In four moves. Blackburne has for
many years been able to play ten
games sans voir. such performances
having often been frequently at the
expense OF strong amateurs. The past
however. has its great feaS of men,
ry as we'll - the present. An anus
ing instance is given by the old phil
osopher Seneca, the master and after
wards the victim. Of the Emperor
Nero. He tells us how on one occa-
sion a soet wrote long poem. which
hs read before distinguished audi
ence. It was received with great ap-
plause. but suddenly. to the astonish-
ment Of the audience and to the sub
seQuent CONSERVATION of the author.
- ~ al <ak
Of plagiarism, inasmuch as he himself
had sometime before written the piece
which had been greeted with such we'll
deserved applause. This claim was in
dignantly denied. till. in proof of his
assertion. the claimant recited the
whole poem by heart. word for word.
without hesitation, and defied the poet
to do the same. This the poet was not
prepared to DO, and the audience de-
cided that the one who knew the poem
by heart must have been the author.
till he frankly declared that he never
heard the poem before. but had learned
1t by heart whilst the poet read 1t. So
'the honors were divided. the poet
gaining applause for his verses, the
other for his memory. The most ex-
traordinary feat Of memory which
Sir William Hamilton believed to be
true without doubt is one quoted oy
him from the geographer Maretus. who
witnessed It and had solemnly attested
BY four Venetian noblemen OF un-
doubted honor. Maretus tells us how
In Padua he met a young Corsican who
had gone thither to pursue his studies
1t the university Having heard that
the young man was gifted with a
most extraordinary memory, so that
he could retain and repeat at many
as s6, 900 words, which would be read
over by him once only. Maretus and
some distinguished friends asked II
he would allow them to test his ac-
curacy Of what report had stated. He
willingly consented. and there were
read over an almost interminable list
Of words strung together without any
consecutive meaning. In every variety
Of language, even many Of .hem mere
klDDctlsu oO iOi6 ~oS ehe i'''es ""''@A'
w.s written down In order to give pre-
cision to the test. that the audience
was fairly tired out, the only fresh
one being the young Corsican himself.
who stood all the while with his at
tention deeply fixed and his eyes cast
down upon the ground. When 1t was
time he looked up cheerfully. and re-
peatsd the whole unintsresting cata-
loxue Of words without a single fault
Then, to show how carefully he retained
every word. he went through the list
backwards; then taking every alter
rate word-6rst. third, nth, etc.-till
he quite tired out and perfectly salts
fed Marstus that he Was the most ex-
traordinary man he had met in all his
travels. The young man added that
he would be ready in a years time to
repeat the task OF course 1t Is i'm
possible now to verify this fact. but
Sir William Hamilton considered It
true beyond question. and did not hes
itate to say 30 in his lectures on meta
phvsics before the University Of Edtn-