Aids to Memory/Section III

The truth of the assertion that every faculty of the brain has its own memory is constantly being proved by experience. Some persons remember localities distinctly who will pass friends in the street without recognition. Others, who only require to see a person once in order to know him again, are unable to find their way about streets they have frequently visited. The brain resembles the body in two respects. It is strengthened and developed by exercise, or weakened and relaxed by inaction. The muscle of a blacksmith's arm is formed by hard work, in the same way that the faculty of calculation is developed by business pursuits. Many a youth begins his first real lesson in arithmetic behind his master's counter, and learns more there in a few months than he did during the whole of his school career.

Let it not be said of any backward boys and girls that "Nature" made them dunces, until we have tried, by judicious means, to produce a satisfactory change. It is very discouraging to hear parents talk about their children's want of capability. One child has "no ear for music," another "no notion of figures;" a third "will never spell properly," and a fourth "is a perfect blockhead, and will never be anything as long as he lives!" It has never occurred to them that their system of education is defective, or that a child's appreciation of certain studies depends on the special training of some particular faculty. If a boy cannot remember figures, they will not be driven into him by threats, cajolery, punishments, or promises. A schoolmaster once told a simple old lady, who grumbled because her ​son was not getting on at school, that "all the boy wanted was a capacity." "Dear me!" said the old lady, "is that all? Then pray get him one at once. I don't mind what I have to pay for it!"

Dates and figures are usually retained in the mind with no greater facility than eels are in the fingers, and any one who has tried the latter experiment will readily perceive the analogy. There are, as we well know, ten figures or digits, so called because they correspond to the number of fingers on the hands. These figures are combined to express numbers in the same way as letters are combined to express words. Words, however, make more impression on the mind than numbers, because they excite ideas and associations which assist the memory. A Mnemonic Figure Alphabet, or artificial contrivance for reducing numbers to words, is an old invention. The first used in England was published in Dr. Grey's "Memoria Technica," which appeared in 1730. The book, in spite of the uninviting details which it presents, has gone through several editions. The most artificial and barbarous words are employed as a means of learning dates and figures. The plan is to substitute certain vowels and consonants, and to add them to the word which the figures refer to. Thus, to remember that the Council of Trent began 13th December, 1545, we have to think of the word "Trendecatalfu." Want of space must exclude a review of other methods of remembering figures which have since been submitted to the public. Some of these have much to recommend them, but all fail in one point—the realisation of the natural laws of mental science and the true powers of the brain.

There are, in the English language, twenty-four consonant sounds. Of these, only ten are primary, independent sounds, the others being modified or derived from them. There are also, as we have seen, the same number of figures. A Figure Alphabet of Nature may, therefore, be easily constructed by the help of this ​analogy. By means of this alphabet, figures may be assimilated and converted into familiar ideas. Of course, it would have been immaterial which sound had been chosen to represent a certain figure; but the following arrangement will be found most convenient to remember, as there is an actual affinity created between the letters and figures. As the Romans used letters to express numbers, the idea embodied cannot be said to be original.

On the ordinary plan, it would require several readings to learn this simple alphabet, but we proceed to acquire it by simple natural association.

The small letter t is written with one down-stroke, and therefore represents one. A small n is written with two down-strokes, and a small m with three. R is the last letter of the word four. L is the Roman numeral for 50, and therefore stands for five. The small letter h would resemble a written six, if the final down-stroke were curved the other way. K is the first letter of key, to which article the figure seven bears a resemblance. The small letter f is often written like the figure eight. P is a reversed nine, as is evident by holding it before a looking-glass, or reversing the printed letter. S is the first sound of the word cipher, which stands for nought. In the following diagram, the figures run round the square in regular order, and attached to each is a word suggesting the right sound. It should be remembered that vowels have no value whatever, and are only used to make up words. The association of the figures and words in their local places, independently of the association already made, will make a permanent impression on the memory.

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Proceed to translate the following words into figures, taking no notice of vowels or mute consonants, and attending only to the sounds of each word.

The process of translation should be conducted as follows: Top, t, p, 19; Pail, p, l, 95; Prayer, p, r, r, 944; and so on.

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The first number is 42. Several words present themselves for selection, as rain, ruin, run, &c.; choose one of these. Re-translate the words into figures, and then compare with the exercise.

When this primary alphabet is thoroughly mastered, the next task is the complete Figure Alphabet, containing all the consonant sounds in the language, and therefore supplying abundant materials for numerical assimilation.

This list looks a little more formidable than the other, but is still easily acquired, as the additional signs are only modifications of the primary sounds. Beginning with d, we notice that it is a heavy sound of t, and that th is the same letter aspirated. Kn and gn are the same as n, and wr the same as r. Rh is an aspirated r. A child's first effort to articulate l generally produces y. In tch the t is not sounded, and it is equal to ch, which is suggested by the name of the letter h. Sh is the soft pronunciation of ch, and zh a heavy sound ​of sh. J is a heavy sound of ch, and g, when soft, has the same sound. Dg is always pronounced like j. C hard, and sometimes ch, is the same as k, and g hard a heavier sound. Gh, as in gherkins, is the same as g. Ph has the sound of f, and so has gh at the end of some words. V is a heavy sound of f, and w is a double v. Wh is an aspirated w. B is a heavy sound of p. Finally, c, as in cipher, is the same as s, and z a heavy sound of s, as well as the initial of the word zero, or nought. Sometimes c is equal to sh, as in glacier, and s to zh, as in pleasure. They then represent 6, and not 0. Two like consonants, not separated by a vowel, only stand for one figure, as there is but one sound represented. Thus "tall" equals 15.

The advantage of using sound, instead of spelling, as a basis of assimilation, is self-evident. The word light is composed of four consonants, but only two consonant sounds, and suggests 51 immediately; but if we translated it 5761, the mental exertion would be very great. Besides this, words to suit our purpose would be difficult to select, and the system, instead of being universally valuable, could not be used by persons deficient in orthography. Spelling is, moreover, purely artificial and changeable, while pronunciation is comparatively a settled thing.

As vowels are not to be translated, we must also pass over silent or mute consonants, including h when not aspirated. Words containing the superfluous consonants q and x had better be avoided if others can be found. If used, their value is respectively 78 and 70, for which kw and ks are the equivalents. The practice of Phonography, or Phonetic Shorthand, will materially assist the student of Mnemonics.

The whole of the sounds employed for figure assimilations should be written on a square card in the manner of the previous diagram. Thus, in the first place, besides Tea, should be written Day, The; and so on throughout.

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As some difficulty may at first be experienced in translating the above exercise, which contains harder words than will generally be required, a solution is supplied in the exercise which follows. It should first be attempted without the key, and then compared with the correct figures.

These figures should be assimilated by means of different words from those in Exercise 9. One, two, or ​three words may be employed. For instance, press, purse, bears, price, or buy a rose would do equally well for 940. Reduce the whole afterwards into the original figures, as in Exercise 7. In the next section will be noticed the practical applications of the Figure Alphabet.