Systematic Memory/Chapter 3

In order to accomplish this feat, it is not absolutely necessary that the entire table should previously be committed to memory. In the event, however, of your not having thoroughly mastered the table at this stage, you will have to place it before you, so that you can glance at it whenever you are at a loss for the next peg.

I have taken at random fifty words, which you will be able to commit to memory in one reading, if you follow the plan set before you. Doubtless, this number will be considered quite sufficient for the purpose of illustrating the principle.

The first peg in your table is sea, which is equivalent to the figure 0. In committing to memory a list of words, etc., you must miss this peg, and go on to the next, which represents 1; namely, "law." You must associate with "law" the word "book," the first in your series. Make a vivid picture of it. Tax your imaginative powers. Fix the picture ere you leave it. A very little practice will wonderfully develop your picture-making powers. Do not be particular with regard to the character of the picture, no matter how absurd it may be. The more absurd the better, in many instances. Absurdity produces a more striking effect; and this is most desirable in order to fix the picture indelibly on the mind. Of course, in associating objects together, different pictures present themselves to different individuals. I give the first that suggest themselves to my mind, although, very likely, better ones could be found.

The first picture you have to make, is by associating "book" and "law." You can imagine yourself, in company with another, finding a book, and ​going to law to settle who had the better claim to it. Again, I say, make each picture clear and distinct to your own mind before you pass from it to another. Next comes the word door, which is to be associated with the second peg in your table, viz., Noah. Fancy old Noah standing in the door of the ark, and looking down the side of Mount Ararat. Next comes world, to be associated with your third peg, may. Imagine the whole covered with may blossoms. Treadmill and ray: a poor wretch working away at the treadmill, with only a single ray of light. Theatre and view: picture to yourself a gorgeous view in a pantomime at the theatre. Attorney and bee: an attorney pleading, while a bumble-bee is crawling on the back of his neck. Lover and tea: a lady and her lover drinking tea together. Gold and shoe: a shoe full of gold. Here, at the risk of getting tedious, I must again caution you against the danger of not thoroughly realizing the pictures as you go. Stamp them on the mind. Meadow and guy: a guy being carried across a meadow. Lass and Jew: an old grey-bearded Jew begging with a beautiful lass at his side. Church and lily; a church decked with lilies at a wedding. Donkey and lawn: a donkey feeding on the lawn. Coat and lime: a coat hanging in a lime-tree. Home and lyre: playing the lyre at your own home. Leaf and poetry: a leaf torn out of a book of poetry. Portrait and lobby your father's portrait hanging in the lobby. Death and lad: the figure of death with its scythe, chasing a young lad. Song and ​leech: a copy of a favourite song with a frightful leech wriggling across it. Bouquet and lake: a beautiful bouquet, which you are about to present to some one, falling overboard into the lake. Hat and noose: a man trying to hang himself, but placing the noose round his hat instead of about his neck. Footman and Nile: a stately footman walking on the banks of the Nile. Calf and nun: a nun riding on a calf. Whiskers and Naomi: Naomi with enormous whiskers. Table and Norway: the word Norway cut in large letters on your best mahogany table. Peg-tops and knife: buying a pair of peg-tops and finding a knife in one of the pockets. Canary and nap: a canary taking a nap. Workman and net: a workman supported by a net, when plastering a high wall. Children and niche: children playing hide-and-seek in a niche. Chain and neck: a magnificent chain adorning your neck. Fern and moss: a fern packed in moss. River and mole: a mole swimming across the river. Tree and moon: the man in the moon cutting sticks from a tree. Mouse and mummy: a mouse taking up its abode in a mummy. Manger and mire: a manger filled with mire. Loaf and muff: a lady carrying a small loaf inside her muff. Spectacles and map: grandfather's spectacles folded up in the map he has just been examining. Onion and mat: a roasting onion falling from the grate on the mat. Stick and match: a lucifer match the size of a walking-stick. Clock and mug: a silver mug on the top of the clock. Stone and rose: an imitation rose made out of stone. Boat and rill: floating a ​little boat on a rill. Candle and rain: out in the rain with a lighted candle. Horse and room: a horse finding his way unbidden into your room. Haystack and rower: a rower mooring his boat under the shadow of a haystack. Watch and reef: cast upon a reef where you keep constant watch. Desk and robe: a gorgeous robe locked in your desk. Tea-pot and rat: a rat inside a tea-pot. Grave and rush: a rush growing on a grave. Needle and rake: a rake with a monstrous needle for each tooth. Sun and face: a face in the sun.

Having thus exhausted your list in some such manner as the above, let some one read the table over, if you should happen not to be sufficiently familiar with it, and, as each word is repeated, it will immediately suggest the word you associated with it; that is to say, when part of the picture is given, it will immediately recall the whole.

It is plain that if you commit the table to memory, extending it, if occasion requires, you can remember any number of words in any order. You will be able to repeat them backwards or forwards. You can tell which is the 25th word, or the 12th, or the 47th, or any one of them, at a moment's notice. The 25th word is peg-tops. Think of 2 and 5 being = n and for v. This will suggest the peg for 25, namely, knife which in its turn suggests peg-tops, the remaining part of the picture. If you have the table well off by heart, this roundabout way is not necessary. You will know at once that the word knife stands for 25. If you should be asked, on the other hand, what number in the list the word onion is, for instance, mat is immediately suggested, which is the peg for 37 (m—t.). Onion, then, is the 37th word in the list.

Another application of the table under this head you may find useful. Suppose, for some purpose, you wished to remember a series of words taken from different pages of a book, one word out of each page. You have simply to associate the word to be remembered with the peg represented by the ​page. For example, I find in page 10 of the book now before me the word umbrella. I associate it with the peg lass, which stands for 10 in the table. I picture a little girl running with a huge white umbrella over her head. I cannot forget that. At page 28 I find the word statue; I associate it with niche (28); a statue in a niche on the staircase. At page 56 I find the word nose, which I associate with fop (the 56th peg), a fop with a black patch on his nose. If you ask me what word is to be found at page 28, I say to myself, "My 28th peg is niche." Niche will immediately suggest the statue on the staircase. You want to know what word is to be found at page 10; my 10th peg is lass, and I remember she was running with a huge umbrella over her head. You may try to puzzle me by asking in what page the word nose is to be found, but you will not succeed; for no sooner do you mention the word nose than I think of the empty fop who wore a patch on his nose, and I know that fop is the peg for 56.