Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-01-11
WIZARDS OF MEMORY.
Famous Men Who Had Wonderful
Powers of Retention.


Writers on psychology and philoso-
ply have cited many examples of pro-
diSiOus memory. No doubt some of
these are eXaggeratiOns. others are fab
uIous and only Il comparatively few
admit of veriiication. Recently 1 have
found in my reading three cases so
well authenticated that they may be
used TO illustrate the wonderful power
of we'll cultivated memory in mind
of strong native endowment In each
instance, too. this remarkable reten-
tfveness seems in no way To have re-
tarded the fullest Development OF other
mental powers.
Probably the most remarkable of the
three was the memory of Leonard
Euler. Euler was Il native of Basel,
but most of his life was spent in st.
Petersburg. He was born in 1907 and
died in 11S3. He was Il teacher of
great power and most prolific writer.
More than half of the forty-siX quarto
volumes of mathematics published by
the st. Petersburg academy between
1927 and 1888 were from his pen. At
his death he left more than 200 manu-
script treatiseS.
In The later years of his life he was
totally blind. Then. and probably ear
lier. too. he carried in his memory
table of the first six powers Of the
''SerieS Of natural numbers up to 4
hundred" 1t is related that on one Oc-
caSiOn two OF his students attempted TO
calculate a cOnverging series. AS they
progressed they found disagreement in
their results. These differed by unit
ut the fiftieth figure. The question was
referred to- Euler, who decided to make
the calculation. He did this mentally.
and his result was found to be cor
rect.
1t was not only in mathematics that
Euler gave proof of prodigious MEM
DRY. He was we'll read in general liter
ature and was an excellent classical
scholar. Virgil was one of his favorite
writer's 1t is said that he knew this
author so well that he could repeat the
"Aeneid' from beginning TO end with
out hesitation and Indicate the first
and last line of every page of the edi-
ton which he used
The seventeenth century furnishes
the other two instances, TO which Gall
especial attention. The first is that of
the italian scholar Antonio da Marco
Magiia bechi. Magliabechi was the lit
erary prodigy Of his time. Royalty and
other distinguished personages paid
tribute to his wonderful learning. His
contemporaries have said that his
memory was so prodigious that he was
able TO retain verbatim most of the
contents of his ''multitudinous books"
comparatively recent writer has
declared that Magliabechi could name
all the authors that had written upon
any subject, giving the name of the
book, the words and often Il page. This
is doubtless exaggeration; but, on the
other hand, it should be remembered
that the number of books on any sub
ject were much fewer then than at the
present day. Besides this, there are
two stories that have come down from
Magliabechi's time to ours that give
color to its truth. On one occasion a
gentleman of Florence desired to test
Magliabechi's memory and ascertain |
for himself whether the wonderful |
stories told We're truth or fiction: He |
gave him a manuscript TO read; then. |
some days after Its return, pretending !
to have lost it,. he asked Magliabechi to :