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
(4) THE PUPIL MUST SEEK _ANALYTIC_ WORDS WHICH ARE _APPROXIMATELY
SPECIFIC_, AS BIRTH-DATE WORDS MUST, WHERE POSSIBLE, RELATE TO BIRTH OR
JUVENILE EVENTS; MARRIAGE-DATE WORDS, TO EVENTS CONNECTED NEARLY OR
REMOTELY WITH THE MARRIAGE; DATE WORDS FOR ANY OTHER EVENT IN LIFE OR
FACT IN HISTORY SHOULD, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, RELATE TO SUCH EVENT
OR FACT; AND, FINALLY, DEATH-DATE WORDS SHOULD REFER TO INCIDENTS WHICH
PRECEDED, ACCOMPANIED, OR FOLLOWED THE FACT OF THE DEATH.
This rule, theoretically correct, must be very liberally interpreted in
practice. This lesson furnishes numerous illustrative examples.
As shown heretofore, _the pupil must know the facts_, and the System
will then help him to fix their date.
A pupil had loaned money to a horse-dealer who lived at No. 715 of a
certain street. He knew the house well, yet he could not recollect the
number 715. At length he thought of "{C}a{t}t{l}e" as a figure word to
enable him to remember the number. Yet the word is general and
apparently unconnected with the house, as it was not a stable but a
boarding-house. Yet, as cattle and horse are species of the genus
domestic animal, and cattle would recall horses and horse-dealer, he did
right to use that term, and it served him well. At first he instantly
recalled the word "cattle" whenever he thought of the horse-dealer's
residence, and at once 715 was given him. After a time, he directly
recalled 715 without first thinking of "cattle." This is always the case
where the method is applied. It is soon no longer required in that case.
When this pupil told me what he had done, I asked him why he had not
used the phrase "(7) {C}ollect (1) {Th}e (5) {L}oan," which was the
object he had in view in thinking of, or of sending to, that address.
His reply was that "cattle" served his purpose. With one person a single
word, with another a phrase, and with another a sentence, is most
serviceable. He had other borrowers who lived at other places. Why could
this phrase "Collect the loan," which would apply in its meaning to the
case of others, remind him of this particular debtor's home? Because, if
he had consciously devised that phrase to identify this debtor's
address, it could apply in his mind to the address of no other debtor.
Thus the _facts help us devise the number phrase, and the phrase helps
revive the facts_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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