Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-10-14
Why We Must Forget to Keep from
Coino insane

The child who, when asked what
memory is, replied, ITS what you for
get with" was much nearer right than
is generally supposed. We do actual
ly forget far more than we bring into
consciousness, and that is what is
called memory.
There is no memory sense nor does
memory constitute a special faculty of
the human organism. The physiolo-
gical explanation of memory is not
difficult, but it's method of working is
far from being SO simple.
Every impression plants a memory,
or, to speak in the words of the scien-
fists. every nerve agitation has an eff
feet upon the growth of the nerve
strand and changes the brain cells at
the centre to which the nerve runs.
An act of memory is simply making
the nerve strand and cell work back
ward and reproduce what was intro
duced into it from without.
You see a friend to-day and talk
with him, and when in the evening
you are asked, We'll, whom did you
see to-day" the very question brings
UP the picture of that friend. At the
same time the cells of the brain that
were engaged in the conversation be-
gin to reproduce the thoughts uttered
then-you are remembering the CONVEX
sation.
But you had forgotten even that
YOU had met this friend until asked
the question, and had probably not
thought of what had been discussed
until you recalled his name and
thought of the ideas that had been ex-
changed with him.
The entire brain is filled with these
memories, or. rather, each cell has an
which it is ready TO re-
produce when called upon 1t might
be compared with the disk of pno-
nograph which has received millions
of impressions. and when the proper
place is reached by the needle Chat is,
when we call upon that cell to utter
its impression) it echoes what was
received possibly twenty or thirty
years ago.
All this time the cell has been mold
ing its thought, waiting to be ahee
npon TO reproduce it. This thought
while kept ready for reproduction Is
what science calls "below the threash-
hold of consciousness" We had me
Thought, but were not conscious Oh II
until it was raised to the leyed OF con-
seriousness.
What. then, makes the difference
between good memories and BAD! why
is it that one person can remember
asily and another forgets absolutely
why is the forgetful person unable
1ivn
thing which passed through MS oraii'
wears before? Let us see.
There is a great difference between
brans. Their physical matter is pre-
cisely the same, as far as science can
but the power OF reprouuc-
ING thoughts varies between 1ndlVlo-
,,a1s and in the same individual at dr.
ferent times.
The power of reproduction IS IN pro-
noItion to the distinctness ana dep'ii
of the first impressions. some pei
cons have a power of receiving I'M
nressions more wildly, and, OF course,
these reproduce more perfectly.
While YOU are young the brain Is
not fi,led with impressions: you are
for every new thought ana you
your attention upon
thought as it is received. ms po"..
of concentration seems to De Ike ah
tool which marks the iueas
Of thaughts more deeply on the DISK
Of memory. SO that when called upon
for reproduction they emerge cieai
and distinct, not foggy or COM oseu'
The gaining of the power OF con-
is a matter of tralhihs'
one person can read BOOK III ="
room, where many are coiiNersihs,
while another person cannot reaa
a line The former has the power
of nerfect self direction, and SHUTS
off the sounds of conversation
ing his whole mind upon the Woros
he is reading; the other RACKS tii'ae
newer The person who has lnis
narfact control will remember ioi
,,aars what the other forgets almost
overnight. ..;,g
There is another line of training
which goes to make the perfect
memory. and that is training III on
servation. Some persons do not see
what is going on about them because
thov do not fix their minds upon II.
Others, as we say, IAN - -
they keep it as well.
The reason that the old persoh say >
~ can remember what happeheu
=, ,xentv or thirty years ago better than
what occurred day before yesterday
ts easilv explained. When he was
voung the cells of his brain and ms
:, er,,s- strands were fed with good req
blood and were at the height OF theli
ootiyr,v. so that it was easy lot
thoueht to make a permanent impress
s;o, ,vhich can be recalled at any tinie
Nv, the exercise of the will or by the
cau of other similar thoughts, Bu.
when person is old it is as IL the wax
an the disk of memory had become
hardened and the impression made ny
:, Thought does not go very deep, anu
as a consequence, recollection is diih
cult or impossible. -.
No one can explain all about 'iie
action of memory, but it is PLAIN tha'
we are forgetting most of the time
sinking our thoughts below the thres-
Mold of consciousness, to lie there I'M
iii we feel the need of calling them up
10 conscious life.
This is perhaps the most Wonoefiu'
newer of our brains. If we were con
tipually conscious of all that we hau
.ver seen or thought our minds Wouio