MAKING THE MEMORY STRONG

New Zealand Mail, 21 February 1901, Page 65

MAKING THE MEMORY STRONG

A FEW TIP'S AS TO HOW THIS [MAY 'A'..’ 1 ; . ■ jBE>.DONEtt... ; .T>. j! Many people •complain of having a. poor memory, and jet'that faculty can •be developed-as easily as can the bicycle .••muscle.-, Nor necessary to go to any... professor of nierooty or to master any elaborate system in order to accomplish' this result. One does nob / have To go' to a gymnasium- to -strengthen one’s arm or bach, chopping wood or .rowing '..a . boat will, do , it. Similarly, memory may be cultivated by one’s own efforts and amid one’s * ordinary ; pur- ’. suits.' One man made the' Sunday service of his -church • serve as a memory exercise. , After the service he would endeavour to recall the numbers of ail hymns sung, . the chapters and verses of the lessons, words of anthem, text and points of sermon. This required the paying of close attention end ai conscious effort to impress these 1 tilings upon : his-raind-1 : -By this and other equally simple means he developed a memory that "was'.' absolutely at his command. Famous speakers who' have ; memorised their speeches have adopted various devices to aid them, - The late Mr •■John Bright .fixed in mind the different points in his speeches 'by first drawing little .figures or pictorial .-representations.- If part of his speech- had to- do with a bridge-, he would! make a little sketch of such a structure, or if with Ireland .or Scotland, lie would sketch a small map of the country or the district. 1 He could . remember- those -little figures "or ■pictures. When he 'rose- to Ms feet .he could' see them in imagination, and select them one by one as he proceeded from point to point- in. his address, not having any not© or,: manuscript, by him at a-117. That was the-method best , suited! to him. ( ■Certain people possess what may' be called the bump of location. If they remember a passage;, in a. book,; they ? vcan. fell you which side of the page it is on and whatl part of the 'page. A, There "are students with that kind of a memory who prepare their .recitations by taking a. large sheet of paper and .writing different parts of the lesson in different places on the paper.. They then .rely on their sense of location to call to mind whatever they may wish to. remember. - 'Again there' are’.people who hia-ve 'a keen - eye for colour. They willmake .their memoranda on slips of paper of different colours. Then simply calling to mind a particular , colottr Will enable them to remember the memorandum as--gocaatedr Ayithy thkfc' dolour. h■ Qfcourse, all this' is based-o-n what ; is hnowif as the faculty of association of ideas. •: . Some people who can remember words and phrases, find difficulty in remembering figures or numbers. In such eases a curious expedient has sometimes been resorted..to-., A phrase will be devised the inital letters of Which : shggest the figures sought to be remeniibered. . For example, suppose edmedh’e’s'ktrfeet: number to be -182. -' The suggestive phrase might. be,. ?T [Seek Him. - , The letter I will. suggest the figure I'the letter somewhat resembles an 8; ’ and the two perpendicular strokes of' the H "suggest the Homan numeral 111. A round-about method this may be - , but-it has served to fasten figures in the memory of people who had! previously found them troublesome. a But perhaps the west wholesome, way in the long run is simply by repetition and.' effort to fix the thingAp the memory directly without tricks :pf' memory or artificial, methods.' By’ i memorising one sentence or verse a day from the best 6, literature,..the mind willsoon. have a fine treasury of beautiful thoughts and an enriched vocabulary, 1 , , V ... •, 1 , ■ For quotation purposes it: is necessary to remember verbatim, and, though this