Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-08-04
MARVELS OF MEMORY
SOME REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF
THE POWER OF RECOLLECTION.
An EnglishmRn whose Wonderful
GIFT of Retention Brought Dismny
to Voltaire-A Reporter who Did
Not Have to Take Notes


Not Have to Take Notes,
extraordinary memories have at
tracted the attention of men in all
ages, and In these days man with
more or less gifted.
Some good instances of remarkable
memories are TO be gathered from the
records of Greece and Rome. Themis-
toclcs, famous Greek general. is said
to have known every citizen in Athens.
No doubt Ohio, the Roman emperor,
owed much OF his success to q remark
able memory. He learned the name Of
every soldier and officer in his army,
and this. among other things, rendered
him so popular that he was at length
acclaimed emperor.
HOrtensius, the Roman orator, ia said
to have been able, after sitting q whole
day at a public sale, to give an &C.
count from memory Of all things sold,
with the prices and names of the pur.
chascrs.
Coming to later times, the following
anecdote affords an instance of won
derful powers Of memory: An Eng
/ lishman went to Frederick the Great
of Prussia for the express purpose Of
giving him an exhibition of his powers
of recollection. Frederick sent for Vol.
tnire, who was then residing at the
Prussian court At the kings request
Noltaire read n long poem which he
! Ind iust composed The Englishman
q
that he could hear every word Of the
poem. though lie was concealed from
Noltaire's 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 foreign
gentleman present who could recite
every word of It. Noltare listened in
amazemcnt to the stranger as he re-
peated. 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 then IN
formed how the Englishman had be-
come acquainted with his poem. and
his anger being appeased he was will
ing to do pennnce by copying down the
work from the second repetition Of the
stranger. who was able TO 80 through
1t as before.
There lived in the sixteenth century
at Padua law student who had train
ed his memory to such high degree
Of perfection that he could recite &c.
900 words after once hearing them
read
Jedcdlah Buxton, an illiterate per-
son Of the eighteenth century, used to
put his memory to a curious use. On
one occasion he mentioned the quaint
ty Of ale he had drunk free of cost
since he was twelve years old and the
names OF the gentlemen who had given
it to him. The whole amounted to
5,116 pints.
AS again showing that retentive gifts
were not found in the educated alone,
there Is a notable instance of Blind
jamie" who lived some years ago in
Stirling lie was a poor uneducated
man and totally blind, yet he could
actually repeat after few minutes
consideration any verse required from
any part of the Bible, even the obscur-
est and least important
An instance of wager being won
by feat of memory was that of Il
person who repeated an entire newspa
per. advertisements as well. after n
single reading.
The power of retaining events has
sometimes been manifest in a marked
degree A laboring man named Nc
Cartney, at tifty-four years of age,
claimed that he could recollect the
events of every day for forty years.
A test was made by well known
public man who had kept a written
record for forty-fve years. The mans
statement was fully coiroborated-in-
deed so accurate was his recollection
that he could recall without apparent
effort the state Of the weather on any
given day during those forty years.
Another instance OF wager being
won by feat Of recollection was that
Of Mr.. Futter, who several years ago
was we'll known 1.-THE collector III
Norfolk. He wagered that he could
rccollect every word OF a sermon that
was to be preached and afterward
write it out verbatim He was not seen
to take notes and at the close OF the
sermon retired to 4 room and wrote out
the sermon On comparison With the
manuscript, which the preacher had
been asked TO bring for the purpose, 1t
was found to vary in one instance
only, where a synonym had been used,
but In that Mr., Futter was proved to
be correct, for the clergyman had
distinct recollection OF substituting one
word fer the other in his delivery.
When reporting WAS forbidden In the
houses Of parliament and any one seen
to make notes was Immediately eject
ed the speeches, nevertheless, were
published In the public press. 1t was
discovered that one Woodfall used to
be present In the gallery during the
speeches and, sitting with his head be-
tween his hands. actually committed
the speeches to memory. They were
afterward published.
Lord Macaulay had marvellous fa-
cility for remembering what he read.
He once declared that If by accident all
the copies OF Milton's Paradise Lost"
were destroyed he would be able to
write out the whole Of this long poem
without single error. In fact. he
once performed the marvellous feat of
repeating the whole poem, making only