Correlate anIsolated Factto something (to some fact in its environment orentouragethat isbest knownand) which you are sure tothink ofwhen you wish to recall the Isolated Fact.
An infallible method of remembering proper names is (1) Get the name when introduced. If not quite sure, ask for it. (2)Pronouncethename aloudwhilstlooking attheperson. Do this several times, if possible. The object is to produce a concurrence or connection between thesight-image of the Personand asound-image of his Name. (3) To help the ear for sound, always pronounce everyone’s name aloud whenever you meet him. This helps nature. These directions carried out never fail to make a pupil perfect in remembering proper names.
To rememberproper namesin the absence of the person, correlate the Person’s Name to the name of some Peculiarity of the Person (as thebest knownand) which you are sure tothinkof whenever you think of the Person. If youmemorisethe Correlation, you will recall the Name whenever you think of this Peculiarity (whatever struck you about him).
To remember a proper name, Mnemonists resort toIn., byS.But thisalonegives no starting point, no “Best Known” which you are certain to think of, and which will enable you to recall the name,providedyou cement by a memorised Correlation the “Best Known” to the name itself; in fact, a similarity of soundaloneandby itselfis likely to mislead you into reviving itself instead of the name. A celebrated Member of Parliament (who in the days of his youth, before he had greatly tested Mnemonics, gave a high opinion of its value) was to deliver an address at the Birkbeck Institution, some years ago. Having difficulty in remembering proper names, he thought he wouldfixthe name of its founder in his memory by the Mnemonical device of finding a word that sounded like it; he said to himself, “It reminds me of ‘Pinchbeck.’” He commenced as follows: “Before coming to the subject on which I am to speak this evening, I desire to pay a deserved tribute of praise to the founder of this great Institution, the celebrated Mr.Pinchbeck.” A shout of laughter revealed to him that Mnemonics may get us into trouble, and fail to help us out: he could not remember the real name, Birkbeck, until it was told him. If he had mastered this System, hisnewmemory-power would have enabledhim to remember the true namewithout any device; or, if he was but a beginner at my System he could have remembered the name Birkbeck—which he was afraid he would forget—by correlating it to the word—“Founder,” which he did remember, thus:—Founder… lost way … hark-back … Birkbeck; or,Founder… foundered horse … chestnut horse … chestnut … bur …Birkbeck. If he had memorised either of these Correlations, or one of his own, by repeating the intermediates forwards and backwards two or three times, and then recalled the two extremes, “Founder,” “Birkbeck,” several times, the moment he thought of Founder, he would instantly have recalled Birkbeck, one extreme recalling the other without the intermediates being recalled. When one has received only a third of the benefit of this System as a Memory-trainer, the meremakingof a Correlation ensures remembering two extremes together without thinking of intermediates.
[Dr. Johnson, when introduced to a stranger repeated his name several times aloud and sometimesspelledit. This produced a vivid first impression of the man’sname; but it did notconnectthe name to the man who bore it. People who have adopted the Johnsonian Method sometimes remember the name but apply it to the wrong person, because they did not establish any relation between the name and the man to whom it belonged.]
Make 20 of your own Correlations between faces and names (or between words and meanings), using some of the extremes given by me, and, as other extremes (words,&c.,of your own selection, or) names and faces of your own acquaintances.
A CONTRAST.—When unconnected ideas have to be united in the memory so that hereafter one will recall the other, the teachers of other Memory Systems say: “What can I invent to tie them together—what story can I contrive—what foreign extraneous matter can I introduce—what mental picture can I imagine, no matter how unnatural or false the juxtaposition may be, or what argument or comparison can I originate—no matter how far-fetched and fanciful it may be, to help hold these ‘Extremes’ together?” They do not reflect that all these mnemonical outside and imported schemes mustalsobe remembered, and that being in the form of sentences expressing loose relation of mere physical juxtapositions or the complex relations invented by constructive imagination or subtle intellect, they are, to most, more difficult to recollect than the extremes would be without these ponderous aids. Hence, in their professed attempt to aid the memory, they really impose anewandadditional burdenupon it.
On the other hand, I simply ask the memory what italready knowsabout the “Extremes.” The first intermediate of a correlation isdirectlyconnected throughIn.,Ex., orCon., with the first “Extreme,” and the last intermediate with the last “Extreme,” and the intervening intermediate (if there be one) with the other two, and thus, theintermediates being already in the memory, and not the result of invention or ingenuity, my Method of Correlation is purelyand solely aMemoryprocess. In this way, I use theMemory to help the Memory, I use therevivingpower of the memory to make a vividFirst Impressionbetween two hitherto unconnected “Extremes.” I add nothing to the “Extremes,” import nothing from abroad in regard to them, invent nothing. I simplyarouse,re-wakento consciousness,what is already stored awayin the memory in regard to those “Extremes,” and, by reciting the Correlation a few times forwards and backwards, cement the “Extremes” themselves so vividly together, that henceforth one “Extreme” revives the other “Extreme” without the recall of the intermediates.
And in the chapter on Recollective Analysis, and also in the previous part of this chapter, I have given the attentive student such a familiarity with the Memory Laws ofIn.,Ex., andCon., that he can make Correlations as easily as he breathes.
When learning prose or poetry by means of endless repetitions to acquire, and endless views to retain, the mind soon wanders, and thus discontinuity is promoted; but, in reciting a Correlation forwardsand backwardsfrom memory, the mind cannot wander, and thus the continuity is greatly strengthened. Again, memory is improved by exercise, andimproved in the highest degreebymakingandmemorisingcorrelations, because inmakingthem therevivingpower of the memory is exercised in conformity to Memory’s own laws; and inmemorisingthe Correlations both stages of memory are most vividly impressed. Thus, making and memorising the Correlations TRAINS both Memory and Continuity. And if to this training process there be added the habit of Assimilation which the use of the Analytic-Synthetic and Interrogative Analysis Methods of learning Prose and Poetry by heart imparts, as well as my other training methods, then the NEW memory thus acquiredwill not demand the further use of the System any more than the adult swimmer will need the plank by which as a boy he learned to swim.
“The Guide to Memory, or a New and Complete Treatise of Analogy between the French and English Languages,” compiled by Charles Turrell, Professor of Languages, and published in 1828, contains the words which are thesamein each language (alphabet, banquet, couplet,&c.), and those almost the same—“Letters necessary in English, and superfluous in French, are included in a parenthesis, thus Bag(g)age. Letters necessary in French, and superfluous in English are printed in Italics, thus Hommage.” At first sight it seems as if this plan were a good one (and some still recommend itFootnote[J]). But of the words which are the same in both languages, some of them have meanings one rarely if ever needs to express, while others are seldom seen except in Dictionaries, so the student who uses this method does not make muchusefulprogress. The Rev. W. Healy, of Johnstown (Kilkenny), long before he had finished my course of lessons, stated: “I wrote out the French words that correspond to the English of everything around us and that are in common use, and found that by the aid ofRec. Syn.I could commit them much faster than the time taken to write them out.”
The words he had made himself familiar with were those most frequently met with in reading, and useful in speaking and writing.
Mr. D. Nasmith employed a clerk in finding the number of occurrences of the same word in three books. Some words occurred thousands of times, and others only five, or fewer. The words which frequently occurred he arrangedin order, the commonest first, and compiled exercises to suit them. His “Linguists” (German and French) are published by Mr. D. Nutt, of 270, Strand, London, and by the aid of them, and of my System, a useful knowledge of German (or French) can be rapidly acquired.
A pupil who had a very slight acquaintance with French learned an Analytic Series of French words, asking a French friend the meaning and pronunciation of the words unfamiliar to him. By doing this he in about an hour learned the spelling, pronunciation, and meaning of nearly 100 French words. Since then he has been extending the exercise, and in that way he has learned 1,000 French words. In doing so he is strengthening his memory by exercising it in accordance with its own laws, increasing the control his will has over his attention, and extending his French vocabulary.
To rememberUnfamiliarEnglish Words orforeign words, correlate the Definition as thebest knownto the Unfamiliar or Foreign Word, and memorise the Correlation. In the case of Foreign Words, the last Intermediate is necessarily a case of Inclusion by sound. Sometimes there isIn.by sight or by sound between a part or the whole of the English word, and a part or the whole of its Foreign equivalent, asApple—apfel[German]. Of course, the pupil will not need the aid of a correlation in such cases if he notice the analytic relation. The French wordAnachorètemight have for its equivalent by sound either “Anna,” or “Core,” or “Ate,” or “Anna goes late,” or “Ann a core ate,” or “Anna’s cold hate,” and perhaps to some of my readers it would seem like something else.Cravachemight sound like “Crack of lash.” Pupils often disagree as to what is good Inclusion by sound; let each use what suits himself, and not trouble about other people’s ears.In.by sound, or by sense, or by spelling, is sufficient even if it refers toonly one syllable.
Synonyms, as well as words having but a slight difference in sound likeInsidiousandInvidiousare easily discriminated bymemorisedCorrelations:Insidious… inside … hole … fox …treachery.—invidious… invade … hostility …ill-will.
Let every Pupil write examples of his own selection of names Correlated to Dates of birth and death worked outas below, or some otherpairsof extremes, such as name of ship to its captain on one side, and its tonnage (or destined port) on the other.
To rememberDatesofBirthandDeath(&c.) of men, correlate thesurname as best knownto the word expressing the date ofbirth, and correlate thebirth-wordto thedeath[&c.] word:—
Do not look for Analytic Date-words in the following cases until you have first memorised my Correlations or your own. You can then review the examples and easily find Analytic Date-words if you aresufficiently acquaintedwith the facts of the cases, as: Lord Beaconsfield (18)05,Salient.Footnote[L]Here is a supposed Analytic formula by English Liberals, of Gladstone’s birth:—Gladstone—“Supreme” (18)09; by Foreigners—“Supereminent;” by Tories, “Spoliator;” by Home Rulers—“Supporter;” by Parnellites—“Asperser;” by Churchmen—“Spiritual;” by Agnostics—“Superstitious;” by Unionists—“Separatist;” by admirers of eloquence—“Spellbinder;” by decriers of speaking—“Spouter.”
Learning dates and other figures by Synthesis is never recommended except where the pupil is ignorant of the subject matter and cannot in consequence use Analytic Substitution. Synthesis power has a good training effect in all cases.
There are two kinds of Serial Facts.
(1) One is where names or facts are stated in a certain order, as in alphabetical order, for instance, and yet a different order could be given. Lists of exceptions in Grammar are usually stated in the alphabetical order, yet if the component parts or words of the list are remembered, the alphabetical order is of no consequence. One teacher has re-arranged Series in Foreign Grammars in such a manner that he finds a natural suggestiveness between the words. No doubt such a re-arrangement can be made, but I question whether his doing it for another would help the latter much. For the pupil to benefit, he should re-adjust the Series for himself. My Pupils, when trained in Analysis and Synthesis, have no difficulty in correlating the Series just as they may find it. No time is spent in trying to discover relations that may not exist.At best, when found, they will be weak; but, by correlating the series together, my Pupils make a strong and vivid relation between all of the words of a Series to be memorised, and at the same time exercise attention in both its functions, and increase appreciation ofIn.,Ex., andCon.
Suppose we wish to memorise the 11 prepositions which form part of certain Latin verbs which are followed by the dative, to wit:—Ad.,Ante.,Con.,In.,Inter.,Ob.,Post.,Pre.,Pro.,Sub., andSuper. This Series is usually learned byendless repetition, as a succession of sounds to the ear, or sight to the eye, by mererote. What a waste of time to attempt to re-arrange it in order to learn it more easily. Yet such a Series can be learned by correlating the words together in a very short time, thus:—
And, similarly, we can deal with any Series inGrammar, or elsewhere.
(2) The other kind of Series is where the words, facts, or thingsmustbe memorised as given. The seven primary colours are given as they occur in nature, thus:—Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red. The unconscionable word VIBGYOR has been given as a means, through the initial letters of the colour words, to enable us to remember those words, and ROYGBIV to enable us to remember the Series backwards. To such a pass are educators driven when they lack my Universal Method of cementing Extremes. We know the Series both ways if we Correlate the words, thus:
The true Method of learning the Order and Dates of the English Sovereigns, as of the American Presidents, or of any other list of Rulers, is to deal with them only in the course of reading. When met with in History, all the facts are before the reader, and, if he fails to hold theorder of successionclearly in mind in any case, he can easily correlate the Names together. And if he fails to retain some of the dates, he can readily make forgetfulness impossible by correlating names to date-words—or, as the details of the reigns are known to him, he can at once find analytic date-words. The reader wishes to infallibly remember that the date of the beheading of CharlesI.was 1649. The formula is “CharlesI.—Toosharp(1649).” If the reader’s memory-training is imperfect, and he is ignorant of the facts, he had better correlate. If his memory-education is complete, and the facts are within his knowledge, he will need no aid, or he will use analytic date-words as in above case (1)Then (6)Charles (4)rightly (9)beheaded. If he feels that he needs some advice to help him remember the order of succession of the Kings, he can refresh his recollection by turning back and reading the method already given.
The student must exercise his judgment as to what is thebest knownto which he will Correlate anisolated fact.
The following anecdote is taken from theEra Almanack, 1882,p.36. The actor, whose name was Taylor, could not remember the name assigned to him in his part of the play. We shall see how Mnemonics helped him.
Association of Ideas.—Macready was once victimised inVirginius. The Numitorius could not remember thename given him in the play. “You will remember it, sir,” said the tragedian, carefully pronouncing it for him, “by the association of ideas. Think of Numbers—the Book of Numbers.” The Numitorius did think of it all day, and at night produced through “the association of ideas” the following effect:
Numitorius—“Where is Virginia? Wherefore do you hold that maiden’s hand?”Claudius—“Who asks the question?”Numitorius—“I, her uncle—Deuteronomy!”
Numitorius—“Where is Virginia? Wherefore do you hold that maiden’s hand?”
Claudius—“Who asks the question?”
Numitorius—“I, her uncle—Deuteronomy!”
The actor should have correlated the word “Numitorius,” which he couldnotremember, to the word “Uncle” as the BEST KNOWN that preceded it, which he could remember, or to his “cue” the word “Question” thus:
Had the actor memorised either of these Correlations, he wouldnothave forgotten Numitorius in his performance. In all similar cases mereIn.by sound, like the word “Numbers” which Macready proposed, and which is reallynot a genuineIn.by sound, is of little service to a poor memory. A Correlation would have been much better.
To any conceivable “Isolated Fact” you can find aBest Knownto which you can correlate it, and thereby always have it at command. This is true, even in cases ofanticipatorymemory. Instead of tying a string round your finger to remind you to buy something when you get to the bazaar, and when you get there forgetting to notice the string or forgetting what the string was intended to remind you of, correlate the name of what you wish to purchase to the name of something you are sure tothinkof at the place you are going to, and memorise the Correlation. When you see theBest Known, the thing you correlated to it will at once occur to mind. I will add only one more illustration:—A commercial traveller was in the habit of putting his watch under his pillow, and also in the habit of forgettingthat he put it there! After losing two watches in this way, he came to me to improve his memory, and asked me if my System could aid him to think of his watch and where he had put it. “Infallibly,” I replied, “if there is anything you can mention which you arecertainto think of when you get up, such as boots, trousers, hat,&c.” “There is one thing,” he rejoined, “I am more certain to think of than any article of clothing. I always think what a shame it is I have to get up.” “Well, you are sure to think of the words ‘get up;’ that then is yourBest Known. Correlate the word ‘watch’ to it…thus: ‘GET UP’—Spring up—Watch Spring—WATCH.” After a tour of four months he reported he had always thought of his watch the moment he awoke.
After the clergyman has decided on his text, or the speaker on any subject he has selected for his special topic, the next step is tothink it out—to make his plan—his mode of development of his ideas—their order and sequence, illustrations,&c.All this will constitute an outline—the SKELETON OF THE DISCOURSE. This should usually becommitted to paper. If he possesses the requisite command of language to enable him to express his views, all he now requires to do is tothoroughly memorisethis Skeleton.
When this is done, the orator will have no occasion to have any notesbefore him to refer to, and thereby to remind his audience that he is merely rehearsing fervour a week or more old; but, having the exact order of ideas in his memory, he can proceed to speak on eachsuccessivetopic until he has exhausted all the points and illustrations that he had intended to use.
A young clergyman is very apt to imagine that he will correlate together 20 to 100 propositions in every discourse—a theoretical conjecture never verified in fact. Inpractice, he will find that he will very rarely correlate more than ten propositions together, and he will correlate sub-propositions, citations, or illustrations to the respective propositionsto which they belong. Instead of correlations,he may unite his propositions together by analysis. Each person will manage this matter as he finds most convenient to himself; or, if he desires to literally memorise his discourses, he can do so in the manner pointed out in learning sentences, or by two or three careful perusals. But, by one who speaks without notes is generally understood one who has only memorised his leading ideas, and it is always a judicious practice for a beginner to rehearse his leading topics and their amplifications in private,that he may test his memory, and thenbecome familiarwith a procedurein privatein order to be sure to beperfect in it before the public. This private discipline is all the more necessary in the early stages of extempore speaking—if the speaker is at all troubled by nervous anxieties or mind-wandering.
Suppose a teacher of the Art of Expression has studied Moses True Brown’s [see his Synthetic Philosophy of Expression] reduction of Delsarte’s Nine Laws of Gesture to Brown’s One Law of Correspondence—and suppose this teacher wishes to explain to his class, or to an audience, how Mr. Brown proceeded. If he desires to do this without notes, he must memorise the order of those Nine Laws; they are abstractly stated and difficult to correlate, but it can be done. The Laws are as follows:—
The teacher must correlate these heads or topics of his discourse together, and so memorise his correlations that he can recall the series in the exact order. Perhaps he may proceed thus:
Knowing these Nine Laws in the aboveorder, he can discuss them one after the other. When he has finished his explanation of the reduction of the three Forms of Motion [Concentric, Poise, and Eccentric] to the Law of Correspondence, he can proceed to the consideration of the sub-topics under Velocity, and so on. When he has fixed the other of his topics in mind, he has a mental chart or map to guide him in his exposition, and similarly in other cases.
Learn some of the “Antidotes,” and at least two of the following series. Donotlearn the extracts from Quain’s Anatomy unless you understand what is meant, or are a medical student.
“The Branches of the External Carotid Artery are eight in number,viz., three directed forwards, the superior thyroid, the lingual, and the facial; two directed backwards, the occipital and the posterior auricular; and three extending upwards, the ascending pharyngeal branch, together with the temporal and internal maxillary, the two terminal branches into which the artery divides.”
Dissect, or study a model or diagram of these branch arteries, and then the facts are easily learned by means of Correlations:—
To memorise the attachments of muscles, first of all familiarise yourself by diligent dissection with the aspects of the muscles and the actual facts of their attachments. It is possible to memorise their origins and insertions by my System, merely from their written descriptions; but this is notlearning. It is a vicious system of cramming, which can do no good. When you have thoroughly familiarised yourself with the actual facts proceed to fix these factsin your memory by my System. In dealing with facts of such complexity as the origin and insertion of muscles, it may be needful to have free recourse to the assistance of homophones,&c.In the whole of anatomy there is no task so difficult as that of learning the precise attachments of the muscles of the back. Few students master these attachments thoroughly, and those who do, fail to retain them long.
By the System it is easy to learn facts of Anatomy. But the System is no substitute fordissection and experiment. You can get acomprehensionof anatomical facts only byactual experience, and to attempt to require anunderstandingof them from books is to substitute a knowledge of words for a knowledge of things.
The following will indicate one way in which you may proceed in memorising the attachments of the muscles of the back:
The initial letter of the first word should indicate the part of bone to which the muscle is attached,e.g., Sp = spinous process, T = transverse process, R = rib,&c.The second word should indicate by its consonants thenumbersof the bones to which the attachment is made.
“TheSplenius Colliis attached, inferiorly, to the spinous processes of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth dorsal vertebræ, and superiorly to the transverse processes of the first two or three cervical vertebræ.”
spleniuS COLLi (homophone) SCOLD.SCOLD … cold … marble …SPLENDIDIMAGE …gold statuette … chimney ornament … clock … ’TIS TIME.
In the first pair of words the initial of Splendid showsthat the attachment is to the Spinous processes, and the word Image indicates that the vertebræ implicated are the third to the sixth. The second pair show that the transverse processes, from the first to the third, are those into which the muscle is inserted.
“TheSplenius Capitisarises from the spines of the seventh cervical and two upper dorsal vertebræ and from the ligamentum nuchæ. It is inserted into the lower and back part of the mastoid process, and into the outer part of the superior curved line of the occipital bone.”
Narcotic poisons are neutralized by vinegar:—Narcotics… torpor … strong wine … sour wine …vinegar.
Wine, brandy, coffee, and camphor may be used to rouse those who have taken laudanum or any other preparation of opium …Opium… opium eater … intemperate …brandy…wine… beverage …coffee… cough … cold … camphorated spirit …camphor.
Mucilage, camphor, and oil may be taken to neutralize cantharides:—Cantharides… hair-grower …oil… smooth-running … ease … comfort …camphor… fur cat … mew …mucilage.
Ten drops of ammonia in a glass of sugared water sobers a tipsy man:—Drunk… alcohol … volatile spirits … volatile … alkali …ammonia… to moan …tosigh (10) … pathos … sweet tears …sugared water.
Aconite… night boat … sea sick …emetics… exhaustion …stimulants… hard drinking … spontaneous combustion …animal charcoal.
Chloride of Lime… bad smell … bad egg …white of egg… fowl … grain …flour… flour and water … milk fluid …milk.
Oil, milk (any fatty mucilaginous substance), may protect the coats of the stomach against oil ofvitrioland other acrid poisons:—Acrid… curd … curdled milk …milk… butter … melted butter …oil.
Strong Acids[Sulphuric Acid (oil of vitriol), Nitric Acid, Hydrochloric Acid] … alkali … lemon kali … effervescing draught … citrate of magnesia …Magnesia… antacid …Bicarbonate of Soda… potash … potash soap …soap suds… emollient …Emollient Drinks.
Carbolic Acid… liquid … oil … sweet oil … castor oil … aperient …Epsom Salts… white …white of egg.
Prussic acid (Hydrocyanic Acid) is neutralized by alkalies and freshly precipitated oxide of iron:—Prussic Acid… tartaric acid … carbonate of soda …alkali… lie on the side …oxide of iron… steel file … rasp …artificial respiration. [Hydrocyanic Acid… cyanotic … asphyxiated … no respiration …Artificial respiration… perspiration … hot …cold effusion… exposed to wet … rust …fresh precipitated oxide of iron.]
Soap and Sulphide of Potassium are antidotes against arsenic and other metallic poisons:Metallic… lick … cat-lick … wash …soap… potash soap … potassium …sulphide of potassium.