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
(1) _Cases where the name of the person, fact, or event gives its date_;
as, Birth of the colored orator and politician Frederick {D}ou{g}lass
(18)17. This kind of a case is of rare occurrence, and it would be like
the charlatanry which has disgraced many former memory systems to allow
the pupil to suppose that it frequently happens. A glance at the event,
word, or description will quickly tell him if it represents the
necessary figures, and if it do not, he must resort to an analytic date
word, or phrase, or sentence, whichever he finds most suitable for him.
No one figure alphabet contains the advantages of all others. Each has
special advantages in special cases. Whatever figure alphabet, however,
is used, the main thing about it is to master it thoroughly.
(2) _Cases where a significant or analytic word or phrase expresses the
date or number._ "I{l}l-u{s}a{g}e" expresses the date of the death of
Columbus in 1506, as he died in great neglect. The impetuous pupil says:
"How can I be sure that this phrase applies to Columbus? Would it not
apply to any one who had been ill-used?" Certainly not. It applies only
to an ill-used man whose date (birth or death, &c.) was in 1506. If he
knows of some other man who was greatly ill-used and who died in 1506,
then he must use another analytic phrase for that man. See next
paragraph.
Six distinguished persons were born in 1809, yet the date of the birth
of each is easily fixed: Darwin, whose principal work was called "Origin
of Species;" Gladstone, noted for his vigorous eloquence; Lincoln, who
was conspicuous as a binder together of separated States; Tennyson, who
was chosen as Poet-Laureate, and who was born at Somersby, England;
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who early displayed a musical genius, and
whose first oratorio was called "St. Paul;" Elizabeth Barrett Browning
[_née_ Elizabeth Barrett], whose poems are distinguished for their
subjectivity. The analytic formulas for these different persons born in
the same year, 1809, may each differ from the others, thus:
Birth of Charles Darwin {S}{p}ecies (18)09
---- William Ewart Gladstone {S}{p}ellbinder (18)09
---- Abraham Lincoln {S}{p}licer (18)09
---- Alfred Tennyson, {P}oet (180)9 or (0) {S}elected (9) {P}oet
or {S}omers{b}y (09)
---- Felix Mendelssohn-{B}artholdy (180)9 or {P}recocious (180)9,
or (0) {S}t. (9) {P}aul
---- Elizabeth {B}arret Browning (180)9, or {S}u{b}jective (18)09
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