CHOICE EXTRACTS.
$ WONDERFUL INSTANCES OF MEMORY. In a number of the Prinie'/s Circular there is an article from an English magazine 021 remarkable feats of memorising. All the examples were extraordinary, and what is more to the point, well authenticated. The British Writer,"however, ignored one remarkable instance of a retentive memory, and that one was the strong mental storehouse of Houdin, the famous French necromancer, now 110 more. Houdin could pass through a library where he had not been before, read tlie titles of the volumes, note their bindings and positions on the shelves, and hours afterwards astonish his host and guests, by telling them the names of the books in the library, the styles of balding, shapes of letters on the backs, whether large, small, gilt, or plain. Houdin, who though a clever mystifier, was far as possible removed from a charlatan, frankly telling us in his memoirs, that he cultivated his remarkable memoric faculties by noting as he passed along the streets, all thearticles in shop windows, trying his utmost to remember as many of them as possible, repeating the names and peculiarities of the varied contents to'himself, and then invariably returning to verify his mental catalogue. fPersevering in this odd school, he succeeded so ad.mirr.bly that he could at- a parting glance, memorise the contents of a library. And there lived in the last century an obscure London actor who could, after a single reading, repeat back-
■wards the contents of any newspaper, advertisements and all. In the latter instance, the wondrous power of memorywas a gift of Nature, and not an acquired art, as in the case of Houdin. And the actor Sothern could memorise the words of his part, while his wife read them to him, he reclining upon a lounge, wearied by rehearsals and performances.
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Bibliographic details
Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 231, 18 January 1877, Page 2
Word Count
301CHOICE EXTRACTS. Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 231, 18 January 1877, Page 2
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