The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-05-25
Il. 1S o E|' RY.
some REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF,
THE POWER or REcOLIEcTio:s.8

y }
An u-IssIln,ur WIoae Wonderful
Gift Of Retention brought Eisna=ss
to yoltnf-e-A Reporter Who Did
Rot Have to Take Notes.
Extraorainary memories have at
trncteti the attention Of men in all
nces, ana in these days man with
retcntive memory is considered to be
more or less gifted
Some good instances of remarkable
memories are to be gathered from the
records of Greece and Rome Ihemis-
toclcs, Il famous Greek general. is said
10 have KNOWN every citizen IN Athens.
no doubt Ohio. tie KoInan emperor.
owed mrci. OF his success To Il remark
tbie memory. He learned tI. name or
every soldier and officer in his army,
ana this, among other things. rendered
him 50 popular that he was at length
acclaimed emperor.
Ho:tensius, the Roman orator, IS sad
to have been able, after sitting whole
day at q public sale, to give an ac-
count from memory of all things sold,
Will, the prices and names of the piir-
chaScrs.
Coming to later times. the following
anccdote affords an instance Of Won
lcrful powers of mem DRY: An Eng
Iishman went to Frederick the Great
of Prussia for the express purpose or
giving him an exhibition of his powers
of recollection. Frederick sent Tor Oh
tajrc. who was then residing ut the
pl.ussian court At the kings request
Voltairc read Il long poem which he
had Just composed. The EnGlishman
was present and was in such position
that he could hear every word OF the
poem, though he was concealed from
NoltaircS notice. After the reading OF
the poem Frederick observed to the au-
thor. that the production could not be
an original one. as there was forclSn
gentleman present who could rec1te
every word of it. voltairc listened in
a,nazcment to the stranger as he re-
peate1 word for word. the poem which
he had been at so much pains in COM
posing, and, giving way to momen-
tary outbreak of passion, he tore the
manuscript in pieces. he was theh IN
formed how the Englishman had pc
come acquainted with his poem, ana
his anger being appeascd lie was WILL
ing to do penancc by copying down the
work from the second repetition OF the
stranger who was able to 90 through
it as before.
There lived in the sixteenth century
at Padua 4 law student who had train
cd his memory to such q high degree
Of perfection that be could recite o.
600 words after once hearing them.
read.
Jet.ediah Buxton, an illiterate per-
son. of the eighteenth century, used to
put his memory to, a curious use. On
one OCCASION he mentioned the Quantl-
ty of ale he had drunk free OF cost
since he was twelve years old ana the
names of the gentlemen who nad gwen
it to him. The whole amounted to
5,116 pnts.
AS again showing that rctentivc gifts
were not found in the educated alone.
there is Il notable instance of "bllnd
Jamie" who lived some years ago IN
Stirling. He was a poor. uneouc'teu
man and totally blind, yet he coniu
actually repeat after few mlnuteS
consideration any verse required from
any part of the Bible, even the opscur-
est and least Important
An instance of wager being Won
hy feat of memory was that of
person who repeated an entire neWspa-
nor advertisements as we'll. after q
single reading.
The powcr of retaining events mas
sometimes been manifest in marked
degree \ laboring man named NC
CARNEY, at fifty-four years OF age
claimed that he could Tccoliect the
events of every day for forty years.
\ test was made by q well known
n,,blie. man who had kept written
record for forty-tive years Inc man
statement was fully corrobof"ted-ih
deed, so accurate was his recollection
that he could recall without apparent
effort the state of the weather Oh ahS
given day during those forty years.
Another instance of Il wager DeluS
yyo,, by n feat of recollection Was that
of Mr., Futter who several years ago
was Il we'll known title coliector III
Norfolk. He wagercd that he could
reccllect every word Of Z sermon that
was to lie preached and ni'efwafd
write it out ycrDat1n.- He was not seen
TO take notes and at the close OF tbc
sermon retired TO Il room and wrote out
the sermon. On COMPARISON Win inc
manuscript which the preacher h"u
been asked to bring for the purpose IL
was found to vary In one instance
only, where Il synonym had been nseu'
Int in that Mr. Futter was proved 10
he correct, for the Clergyman mad
distinct recollection Of substituting one
word for the other in his delivery
When rcportinS was forbidden IN tHe