Assimilative Memory; or, How to Attend and Never ForgetLoisette, A. (Alphonse)
Science
Assimilative Memory; or, How to Attend and Never Forget
Loisette, A. (Alphonse)
Mnemonics
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 not _learning_. 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 facts in 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.
1. Are all students required to learn extracts from Quain's
Anatomy?
2. How many branches are there of the External Carotid Artery?
3. Describe them.
4. Is it an advantage in studying Anatomy to dissect or study a
model?
5. How are the facts, then, easily learned?
6. Make original correlations for this Extract.
7. Do you use any unfamiliar words in your correlations?
8. How do you memorise the attachments of muscles?
9. Is it possible to memorise their origins and insertions by my
System?
10. Is this _learning_?
11. What is it then?
By the System it is easy to learn facts of Anatomy. But the System is no
substitute for _dissection and experiment_. You can get a COMPREHENSION
of anatomical facts only by _actual experience_, and to attempt to
require an _understanding_ of 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:
(1) First make a homophone of the name of the muscle.
(2) Indicate each attachment of the muscle by two words.
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 the _numbers_ of the bones to which the
attachment is made.
(3) Correlate the homophone of the muscle to the first pair of words,
and the first pair to the second pair. For example:
"The SPLENIUS COLLI is 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 ... SPLENDID IMAGE ...
gold statuette ... chimney ornament ... clock ... 'TIS TIME.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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