Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1904-10-26
MARVELS OF MEMORY
SOME REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF
THE POWER OF RECOLLECTION.


a ages, and In these days man with
o retentlve memory Is considered to bt
more or less gifted.
Z Some good instances of remarkable
, memories are to be gathered from the
= records Of Greece and Rome. Themis
tocles, famous Greek general, is said
to have known eveW citizen In Athens
2 No doubt Ohio, the Roman emperor,
owed much of his success to a 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
Hortenslus. the Roman orator, is said
to have been able, after sitting a whole
Hay at public sale, to give an ac-
count from memory Of all things sold,
with the prices and names of the pur-
chasers.
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.
tairc who was then residing at the
RUSSIAN court. At the kings request
Noltaire read d long poem which he
had just composed. The Englishman
was present and was in such a position
that he could hear every word of the
poem, though he was concealed from
VOltaire'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 reclte
every word of it. Voltaire listened In
nmazement to the stranger as he re-
peated. word for word, the poem which
he had been ut so much pains in CON-
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 be was will
Ing to do penance by copying down the
work from the second repetition of the
stranger, who was able to go through
1t as before. s
There lived In the sixteenth century
at Padua law student who had train.
ed his memory to such high degree
If perfection that he could recite &c.
100 words after once hearing them
cad, G
Jedediah Buxton, an illiterate per- e
ION of the eighteenth century, used to Z
tut his memory to a curious use, On q
me occasion he mentioned the Quanti- a
y Of ale he had drunk free Of cost u
ince he was twelve years old and the g
ames Of the gentlemen who had given e
to him. The whole amounted to b
JIG pints. II
AS again showing that retentiye gifts pl
ere not found in the educated alone
lere is a notable instance of "Blind
nmie." who lived some years ago in IN
tipling. He was q poor, uneducated OF
an and totally blind, yet he could na
,tually repeat after a few minutes as
any verse required from IN
~ part of the Bible. even she obscur- or
t and least important
An instance Of q wager being won
: a feat Of memory was that Of 20
rson who repeated an entire newspa- do
r, advertisements rs well, after a SUI
igle reading. ~ an
rhe power Of retaining eT1hts has els
metimes been manifest In a marked ces
gree A labOring man named Nc pig
rtney, at fifty-four years of age, f1es
lined that he could recollect the far
apts OF every day for forty years. OF
test was made by well known wilt
bile man who had kept a written sui
ord for forty-fve years. The mans
tement was fully corroborated-in- y.
ID, so accurate was his recollection Gro
t lie could recall without apparent 200
,rt the state Of the weather on any say
EN- day during those forty years. OF
mother instance Of wager being 10
n by feat of recollection was that yea
Mr.. Futter, who several years ago COT
, a well known 1.-THE collector In Jorl
folk. He wagered that he could D
,lect every word Of sermon that .hei
, 70 mo nreocbod md aftorword the
to II out verbatim. He was not seen eatt
axe notes and at the close Of the not
non retired ia n room md vrote ont feed
sermon. On comparison with the ne c
,uscript. which the preacher had crop
! asked to bring for the purpose, it
found to vary In one instance
=. where synonym had been used al
in that Mr.. Futter was proved to anu
correct, for the clergyman had a Vi
net recollection of substituting one yer
| for the other in his delivery. oh'i'
hen reporting was forbidden in the tioh
es Of narliament md onv ono Coon Of tn
AXE notes was Immediately eject SION
he speeches, nevertheless, were skin
sbed I'm the publjo prpss II waa ADLER
yered that one WOOdfall used to nourl
resent In the gallery during the skin,
hes and. sitting with his head he. grow
n his hands. actually committed ance,
speeches to memory. They were nctiv'
ward published. Draw
d Macaulay had n marvellous IA and +
for remembering what he read mimi
nee declared that II by accident all steers
opies Of Millions Paradise Lost" not OF
destroyed he would be able to lily Of
out the whole Of this long poem perler
nut single error. In fact he healtl
performed the marvellous feat OF gainir
ting the whole poem. making only the 81
mission. being
rles Dickens, after once walking These
ket. could remember the served
: Of all the shopkeepers and their
hsses London Spare Moments.
- The