Memory Systems New and Old/Chapter 6

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OBJECTION has been taken to various mnemonical systems on the ground that their propounders had more in view the exhibition of apparently difficult feats of memory than the application of the art to matters of real value and importance. Regarding such feats, Lord Bacon said he esteemed them no more than he did rope-dancing or acrobatic performances, and characterized one as being the abuse of the bodily, and the other of the mental powers. But just as acrobatic performances often have the effect of encouraging the practice of healthy gymnastic exercise, so does the performance of mnemonical feats have the effect of directing the attention to the powers of the memory, and leading to a profitable study of it. The world must be amused and entertained; and just as kindergarten teachers play to teach, so the mnemonist may amuse to instruct.

In the examples which follow, the object has been to give sufficient illustrations to allow the mnemonical student to suitably entertain an evening party, for example, with feats both varied and interesting. It must be premised, however, that before attempting to exhibit his "marvellous memory before a critical audience he should first thoroughly know the principles of the system he has adopted. He should note, also, that the key, without which little can be done, is to replace the numbers 1 to 100, and he should know it so ​perfectly as to be able to recite it with ease, and to remember the equivalent of any number without hesitation.

Mnemonical calendars for any year are easily constructed, quickly learnt, and are always useful. All that is required is the date of the first Sunday in each month, from which other dates can be calculated. In the following, these dates are suggested by words possessing some similarity to the month and dates:—

1887.

Date of First Sunday.	Suggestive Words
January 1, Oct. 2	Octogenarian's tooth
Feb., March, and Nov. 6	Feebly mark novel music
April, July 3	A jolly apple tree
May 1	May's wonders
June 5	Tuneful hive
August 7	An August event
Sept., Dec. 4	Deceptive ford

1888.

January, April 1	Jennie happily won
February 5	Valentine's wive
Nov., March 4	Nobly march forth
May 6	May-pole fix
June 3	Juniper tree
July 1	Julia won
August 5	A gust drives.
September, December 2	Deception's hue
October 7.	Rocky Devon

​It will be seen that the words given readily suggest the month, and by similarity, the date. In the use of these calendars, Monday is termed One-day; Tuesday, Two-day; Wednesday, Three-day; Thursday, Four-day; Friday, Five-day; and Saturday, Six-day. To find the day of the month upon which Christmas falls in 1888, let "Deceptions hue" suggest December 2, and then calculate by sevens—2, 9, 16, 23—the 25th is two days after, or Tuesday. The phrase "Apjohn's Nose" may be used to suggest April, June, November, and September, the four months with only 30 days, the rest, February excepted, having 31. Those who know Stokes's key, or that detailed in Chapter V., can use the following sentence as an almanac for 1887.^[1] It contains 12 mnemonical consonants in their proper order:—

No judge.	Jan. 2, Feb. 6, March 6
May tell	April 3, May 1, June 5
My cur's	July 3, August 7, Sept. 4
Injury	Oct. 2, Nov. 6, Decr. 4

A similar sentence for 1888 is:—"Tailor—teach me—to line—a crown." By dividing the sentence into four parts, one for each quarter, as above, the date of the first Sunday in each month is readily obtained.

At first this mental calendar appears difficult, but after a little practice it is as easy to use as the others. Each month has a number as follows:—January 2, February 5, ​March 5, April 1, May 3, June 6, July 1, August 4, September 0, October 2, November 5, December 0. To avoid confusion with other calendars, the last consonant in the following words is used to indicate these numbers:—Jan, Feeble, Marshal, Apricot, Madam, Jew, Juliet, Augur, Sepoys, Octoroon, Novel, Disease. The numbers can also be recollected by the sentence—"No lily—to match—a dress—in lace." In leap years the number for January is 1, and for February 4; the rest are unaltered. To find the day of the week any date in any year falls upon, the last two figures of the year are to be divided by seven and the remainder added to the number of leap years (found by dividing by four). To this is added the month number and the day of month required. The whole is divided by 7, and the remainder gives day of week. To find, for instance, upon what day the battle of Waterloo was fought, June 18th, 1815, the two last figures, 15, are taken.

15 divided by 7 gives 2, plus	01
Divided by 4=3, plus 3	03
Add day of month	18
Add month number	06
Total	28

28, divided by 7 gives no remainder, hence date wanted fell upon a Sunday. To elucidate the method still further the date of Christmas Day, 1888, may be taken.

88 divided by 7 gives 12, plus 4	04
Divided by 4=22	22
Add day of month	25
Add month number	00
Total	51

51 divided by 7 gives 2 as a remainder. This indicates the second day, or Tuesday. A little practice enables any date to be mentally calculated very quickly. The chief point to be remembered is that when divided by 7, the remainder is to be included, but when divided by 4, the remainder is to be discarded.

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Blindfold chess and draught playing are popularly regarded as wonderful feats of memory. It is, however, less a feat than a phase. It should be borne in mind that blindfold chess and draught players are more than ordinary good sight players, and that, moreover, their minds are completely saturated with draught and chess ideas. They know every opening, every standard position, and to players of this class every game played, at sight or blindfold, has a well-defined individuality. No good player will find much difficulty in playing blindfolded if he will take the trouble to master a little "book play" and constantly practise it. The first thing to be learned is the notation, and this must be learned thoroughly. In draughts the single corner row—4 to 29—is generally easily learnt, the double corners—1—5 and 32—28—are also familiar; and if it is borne in mind that 12—20 and 12—21 are the four overhanging central squares, one half of the board will be in the mind. The playing over of a few book games will soon make a player well acquainted with the notation. He should then take a short end game and study it carefully on the board until he thinks he can remember the exact position of each piece, and its relation to each of the others. After playing this carefully over on the board it should be put on one side, and, if possible, dismissed from the mind for some hours. He should then sit down with the eyes closed (which will assist in the concentration of his ideas) and endeavor to recall the position accurately to his mind. The first attempt may not be successful, but after a few trials he will find that he can manage very well. By practice in this manner, and by obtaining a good knowledge of the various games, with their principal variations, added to the assumed thorough familiarity with the notation, a good player will find that he can play as well blindfold against an ordinary player as at sight. Sarratt, the first of the English masters, in his translation of "Damiano, Ruy Lopez, and Salvio," gives Damiano's rules for blindfold play; but beyond indicating the range of each piece, they give little information. Perfect acquaintance with the notation ​and "great practice" were the chief desiderata. Mnemonics are of very little use in blindfold play, and no so-called "system" that I have seen is of the slightest practical value. These feats are simply good examples of what a person can accomplish by thoroughly mastering all the details of one particular subject.

Hermann Kothe details a chess memory in his book, by which the position of any piece may be remembered by converting it into a word; but this would be of very little use in blindfold play, as every move would necessitate a fresh word and a new association.

A whist memory can only be gained by practice and a thorough familiarity with the game and the recognized method of playing it. The most concise book on the subject is, I believe, Dr. Pole's "Theory of the Modern Scientific Game of Whist," published by Longmans. The only way in which mnemonics have been used has been to assist in remembering the fall of the cards. This can be done by arranging the trump cards to the left of all the other suits, and placing cards to the left side of the trumps to denote the manner an opponent has won a trick. Hoyle gives a few rules on this subject, but they have to be considerably modified in practice. Thorough good whist players, as a rule, use no system to remember the fall of the cards.^[2] Playing the game scientifically helps the memory to a great extent, and a player with a thorough knowledge of the game has no difficulty in remembering what cards have fallen, and can also make fairly accurate guesses as to who possesses other cards. By his own play he informs his partner the strength of his hand, and his partner does the same. Each trick, to a good player, gives him certain information, upon which he has to base his own play, and he is so interested in each trick that he cannot well forget it. Whist is now recognized as a scientific game, in which skill almost equals ​chance, and to play it properly one must thoroughly study it,—a whist memory will be the result. The following verses from Pole's work will give a few hints:—

Divide a sheet of paper into 12 equal spaces, and number each space 1 to 12. Then ask one person to write 24 numbers as they are called out by any of the audience, two in each space, watching him do so. Let us suppose the numbers written are as follows:—

32	13	29	31	45	18
37	43	11	24	31	11

Immediately the spaces are filled up read them once, turn your back to the board and face the audience, and repeat them backwards and forwards, giving also any pair of numbers in any space that may be asked for. This is generally very astonishing, but it is ridiculously simple. As the numbers are filled in convert each pair into its equivalent keyword; link the first three pairs and mentally picture them on one side of a room most familiar to you, the next three pairs on the second side, and so on, three pairs to each side. Or the figures can be readily translated into easily remembered sentences, as "mend my nib," "meat really tough," "make room dad," "dear meat dad." Reading them once over will deepen the impression, and you can then repeat them without difficulty. With a little practice double or treble the number of figures can be repeated.

Although this partakes more of the character of a trick, it is a feat that always evokes wonder, and is an instance of the easy manner in which one may acquire the reputation of possessing a remarkable memory. Assuming that there are twenty persons in the room, the mnemonist takes ​twenty cards and hands one to each person. He then goes to each and quickly writes down about two hundred disconnected figures on each card. When he has done this he can call attention to the fact that he has scribbled down about 4,000 figures, the order of which he has never seen before. He then repeats the whole in their proper order, and can, if necessary, give the figures on any particular card. All that is necessary to do this surprising feat is to so thoroughly know the key as to be able to instantly translate words into their equivalent numerals. He then simply takes a verse or two of a song, a nursery rhyme, or a well-known quotation, in fact any piece of prose or poetry he knows by heart, and mentally translating the words into figures (which can, with practice, be done instantly), he jots down on each card the numeral translation. All he has to remember is what particular piece of prose or poetry he has translated on each person's card. To show the simplicity of the trick I may add that on one occasion the whole or portions of the following well-known pieces were used in this manner, each being associated with a particular person:—The Busy Bee, Old Mother Hubbard, Scots Wha Hae, House that Jack Built, Beautiful Snow, The Lord's Prayer, The Beatitudes, Never More, Home Sweet Home, The Ten Commandments, The Sluggard, &c. It can be done on a smaller scale by simply translating each person's full name and address on the cards.

In 1886, after the first edition of this book was published, Loisette, a person who "professes" to teach memory, made use of the same idea in his "original" lessons. His "croquet" series of 100 words, originally used as a key, had to be translated into figures and repeated by his pupils as a "Great Memory Feat!" In return for Loisette's kindness in teaching his pupils some of my ideas, I shall be pleased to send a copy of Mr. Appleby's exposure of Loisette to any of my readers, post free, for 6d. in stamps.

This old puzzle consists in making the knight pass over a chess board in such a manner that it will alight upon ​every square. The board is numbered 1 to 64, and its erratic course is indicated by numbers. The best way to commit these numbers to memory is to connect a word expressing the number to the list of consecutive words given in Chapter V. By so doing the mnemonical student can begin at any square, traverse the board, and return to that square. The following gives the numbers and their equivalent words, with the manner of associating with the consecutive table:—

Wheat;1 weeded;11 a hen owl;5 at home dwell;15 a hairy mane;32

Oil for earache47; a shoer64; hook a lawyer54; a butterfly chase60;

Don't be lazy50; daisies smell35; toothache's horrid41;

Dine on a haunch26; time goes by9; a towering haymow3;

A delightful theme13; a dish of sago7; ducks from Norway24;

Doves mope39; tabby's eyelash56; hyenas on chain62;

On hands rely45; nuns at mass30; named Inez20; an owner meek37;

Nail's a noun22; an injurious knave28; ink, worlds may move38;

A knife wound21; noble homage36; an amusing top19;

May day is annual25; high men are odious10; mama is here4;

Mary dear14; a military foe8; imagine a gnome23;

A mug of rice40; a muff all wool55; mobs shout61;

A racing holiday51; a hart elk57; an ornamental horn42;

Army at Elba59; a warrior lame53; a royal gem63;

Architect's survey48; a rocket aimed31; wharf, a landing stage16;

​A rope hitch6; wheel down12; Lady Ann2; lions attack17;

Lammermoor34; Lara's harp49; a lily's aroma43;

Lodging-house slavey58; a lake swollen52; leafy larch46;

Elbows unbow29; chessplayers are wary44; cheats like winning27;

Chain a mummy33; shame a thief18; chair it1.

After the dominoes are well shuffled get a person to place them in a row, unmatched. Go over them once, and then repeat their order without seeing them. To do this, proceed as in a former example—use a key-word expressing the two numbers on each domino, link three together, and mentally picture around the room you are in.

Discard the four knaves, queens, and kings. Have the cards shuffled, and then, after looking over them once, repeat the number of each card in its order. Count two cards to-gether—say the ace and tre as 13, and the 9 and 10 as 90; convert the pairs into equivalent key-words; link three or four together and place in proper order around a room, shop, or garden, or in four familiar boxes, or on four shelves arranged in such a way that they cannot be confused with each other. To perform the same feat, giving the different suites, the first ten key-words must not be used. Each card must then be linked with the key from 11 upwards, taking care to associate with the key-word something square or diamond-shaped for a diamond, leaf-shaped or triangular for a club, and round or oval for spades, hearts to be indistinguished by any peculiarity. To do this correctly, however, requires much practice.

Rule a sheet of paper with 20 lines, and number each line. Get a person to write one word in each line as called ​out. Watch him do so, read the words carefully once, and then repeat in proper order. Suppose the following to be the first five words:—"Yarmouth, seraglio, cloture, mignonette, Defoe." If Sambrook's be the system used, link Yarmouth with gun—picture a Yarmouth bloater in the barrel of a gun; then a Jew as keeper of a seraglio; a key labelled "cloture" locking a man's mouth; a door blocked up with pots of mignonette; and Defoe writing Robinson Crusoe on the bottom of a hive; and similarly connect each word written with its corresponding word in the consecutive table, taking the greatest possible care to make the pictures vivid. When difficult or unfamiliar words are given, take particular notice of them, ask their pronunciation to be repeated, and, if necessary, select a similar word that will suggest the one written, as "screw" for "scrutin de liste," "pointers" for " "Poictiers," &c.

Unless a person is peculiarly gifted this is thought to be impossible, and when quickly performed at once establishes the reputation of the performer as a "mnemonical marvel." Rule two lines on a piece of paper, and get six persons to write thereon two figures, one above the other. Let us imagine the figures written are—

2	9	3	8	4	9
2	2	3	7	4	4

Have these figures slowly repeated to you, and then quickly convert the first line into words, as "a noble mauve robe," or "a new poem of Europe." Convert the next line into a similar sentence, as "no one make error." Having done this quickly, and practice makes perfect, ask one person to add the figures together, and another one to check them. While this is being done mentally add error to robe, equal to 93, which convert into the 93rd key-word, bomb. Then add make to mauve, equal to 75—coal. Mentally repeat "coal-bomb"; and then add no one to noble, equal to 51. The total, 517593, can then be given without hesitation. Learn to add two figures at once, and when the result is over one hundred, the "one to carry" should be added to the next ​word. To subtract, the mode of procedure should be reversed, as follows:—"Error from robe leaves five—soil; make from mauve leaves one—sweet. Mentally repeat "sweet soil." Then subtract no one from noble, leaving seven, and give the result, 70105. The quickness and ease with which subtraction and addition can be mentally done in this manner is astonishing; but to do this, and indeed everything else in mnemonics, quickly, depends entirely upon a thorough acquaintance with a particular system and a perfect mastery of the hundred key-words.

Ir it be difficult for some persons to remember it is certainly as difficult to forget. The mere attempt to forget an occurrence impresses it more strongly on the memory. Dr. Brux, in 1610, devoted some space to the ars oblivionis, and gave directions in his "Simonides Redivivus" for acquiring the art. Haney, an American writer, refers to the subject, and his remarks so well epitomize what has been written on this subject that I reproduce them. "We believe," says Mr. Haney, "forgetting may be treated as sensibly and as philosophically as remembering. It is the nature of the mind for a great or intense feeling to overpower a weaker one, just as an insignificant bodily pain or feeling is eclipsed and multiplied by a greater. Everybody has probably experienced the truth of this statement; who is there who has not had something which he had striven to remember driven from his recollection by some more powerful remembrance, perhaps inadvertently re-called? This naturally suggests the mode by which a thing may be forgotten: bring before the mind other objects of a more powerful influence, drive away the memory of past disappointments or sorrows, not in senseless frivolities of sinful dissipation, but by giving the memory something on which to exercise itself. Pleasurable and healthful occupation for the mind will free it from morbid and depressing memories, as vigorous exhilarating bodily exercise refreshes and invigorates the body."