The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1905-01-09
MARYEIS OF MEMORY
ZONE REMARKABLE INSTANCES op
THE POWER OF RECOLLECTION
An Engiishman whose wonderful,
Gift Of Retention Brought Disn,ay
20 voitaire-A Reporter who Did
Not Have TO Take Note..

Not Have to Take Notes.
Extraordinary memories have NJ
traeted the attention Of men in IN
ages, and in these days a man with
retentive memory is considered to be
more or less gifted.
Some good instances of remarkable
memories are to be gathered from this
records of Greece and Rome. Themis
tocles. famous Greek general, is said
TO have known eva ry citizen in Athens
No doubt Ohio. the Roman emperor
owed much OF his success to 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, Is said
to have been able. after sitting whole
day at public sale. to give an nc
count from memory Of all things solo.
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
taire. who was then residing at the
Prusslan court. At the kings request
yoltaire read 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
Voltaires 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. voltaire listened in
amazement 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 penance by copying down the
work from the second repetition of the
stranger, who was able to go through
II as before.
There lived In the sixteenth century
at Padua law student who had train
ed MS memory TO such high degree
OF perIecuon that he sould recite 36.'
oOU words after once hearing mem
read. i
Jedediah 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
~ OF ale he had drunk free of cost
since he was twelve years old and the
names OF the gentlemen who had given
II TO him. The whole amounted to
DIG pints.
AS again showing that retentive gifts
We're not found In the educated alone,
there is notable Instance of Blind
jamie" who lived some years ago In
Stirling. He was 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
person who repeated an entire newspa.
per, advertisements as well, after a
single reading.
The power OF retaining events has
sometimes been manifest in marked
degree. A laborlng man named Nc
cartney. at tfffy-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-ive years. The mans
statement was fully corroborated-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 a wager being
won by feat of recollection was that
OF Mr.. Futter, who several years ngo
was well known 1.-THE collector In
Norfolk He wagered that he could