IX

EXERCISING THE MEMORY

On pages 23 and 92 "memory" has been referred to as a prime essential to success and as the first of various aids in literary work. There is no other human faculty of such importance to success in any branch of endeavor as memory, and this is particularly so in the work of the engineer, who must, by the nature of his professional employment, be conversant with many facts, details, and data on a great variety of topics. On account of this importance of the faculty of memory, the following notes have been introduced, but I do not wish them to be construed as a "system" for the cultivation of memory. In the limited space of a few pages, no "system" could be given, even in outline, to be of value beyond that of suggestion. I, therefore, make no pretensions for these notes beyond their suggestion as an "exercise" of the memory. There are several "systems" taught, by as many different teachers, and they all may be worthy of study. I have neither studied nor investigated any one of them and cannot, either from experience or knowledge, recommend any particular one, but in general, would recommend the consideration, at least, of any system that tends to cultivate an assimilative, or natural, memory. In these notes, I have tried to explain some principles on which memory is based, and to suggest a method of using these principles as an exercise, which, if applied with care to the reader's work or study, will result in an almost immediate quickening of the very important faculty of memory.-H. F.

What is "Memory"? It is defined as "The mind's faculty for connecting its past experience with its present self" and as "The faculty of retaining representations of whatever has once been in consciousness." When this fac

ulty is exercised involuntarily, it is "remembrance"; when occasioned by the exercise of will, it is "recollection." Without this faculty the past experience of the individual or the race would be a blank, and all knowledge would be limited to the present moment. It is the very basis of knowledge, and its value, therefore, cannot be exaggerated; neither can its possibilities be overestimated. It is a faculty that is as subject to development by proper exercise as is the body. Nothing can be so strengthened by practice or so weakened by neglect, and since the most ancient times, devices and systems have been invented both to assist the power of recollection and to develop the natural faculty of remembrance. A perusal of almost any one of the popular magazines of today will show that various systems are still taught and that they have been applied to the modern method of teaching by correspondence.

Devices to assist recollection are known under the general name of "Mnemonics"-the art of assisting recollection by methods of association. The common aim of mnemonics is to associate the thing to be remembered with something which it is thought can be more easily recalled. The common method of tying a string around a finger to remember to buy something or to post a letter, is such a device; so is the transferring of a ring from a finger on which it is customarily worn to another

96

ENGINEERING LITERATURE

finger unaccustomed to the feeling of a on account of which the matter is const: brought to the mind. There are many devices that are familiar to almost every one of the best known being the old "T days hath September" rhyme for remembe the number of days in each month.

These are very common and elemen forms of mnemonics, but is it not too ofter case that even with the simple device string on the finger, while the attentio later directed to the device, the fact which intended to be brought to mind cannot be called? This shows the weakness of the ficial method of recollection, and that the pendence of the recollection upon the lav association only, is of little practical uti It is, however, of some service when cer devices are regularly used in connection certain definite facts, but in the use of an these artificial or arbitrary methods each m should note what sort of associations are n facile to itself and should use them in its way. Notwithstanding, however, what m be said in its favor, mnemonics is not an e cise of memory and it compels a double d on the senses in that the device itself mus recollected before the fact is recalled.

Look again at our definition of "memory "The mind's faculty for connecting its experience with its present self." We are

to "remember" a thing when the idea arises. in the mind with a consciousness at the same time that we have had this idea before. Dr. Watts, in his essays on "The Improvement of the Mind," says: "Our memory is our natural power of retaining what we learn, and of recalling it on every occasion. Therefore we can never be said to remember anything, whether it be ideas or propositions, words or things, notions or arguments, of which we have not had some former idea or perception, either by sense of imagination, thought or reflection; but whatsoever we learn from observation, books, or conversation, etc., must all be laid up and preserved in the memory, if we would make it really useful." It will be seen then that memory involves two periods: the past and the present, and that it also involves a third stage "The mind's faculty for connecting"-"The faculty of retaining representations of whatever has been in consciousness." Consider, for example, your trip to Europe or your visit to a steel works. Your mind was impressed with the vastness of the ocean, the life of the people you met, the buildings, and the customs of the foreign countries, etc., or in the case of the steel works, with the various exciting details in the manufacture of steel, the fire from the converters, the rolling of the blooms, the roar of the hammers, etc. Later you want to tell some one of your experiences. You cannot

see the ocean, the people, or the buildings; you cannot hear the roar of the steel works or feel the heat of the furnaces; yet you can convey an idea of these things that have been in your experience in language, more or less clearly, according to the impressions they made upon your mind and your power of reviving the impressions. The language in which you express your thoughts has also something to do with your description, but while this has not in itself any relation to the incidents you are describing, it does depend upon your memory of words, etc. Memory consists of three stages: first impression, preservation of the impression, revival of the impression when wanted. Memory will depend primarily upon the first impression, as without that there is nothing to be preserved or revived. The common phrase, "It made no impression on my mind," will have a new meaning when seriously thought of in connection with these three stages of memory.

A good memory will (1) receive with ease strong impressions of words, objects, and incidents; (2) store the impressions in great quantity and variety; (3) retain the impressions for a considerable period; (4) revive the impressions strongly and promptly when wanted. At the same time, a memory may be good as concerns first impressions, but poor as concerns its power of preservation and re