Читать книгу Assimilative Memory; or, How to Attend and Never Forget - A. Loisette - Страница 14

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Whoever wishes to increase his permanent Memory power and his power of Attention must not omit to learn and practise the following exercise precisely as I prescribe. He will experience great satisfaction in carrying out my directions to the letter, because his conformity in this and in other respects will bring the reward of a new memory power almost immediately. And if he were to disregard my directions, he will have no one to blame but himself.

He must write down the first two words, “Ice” and “Slippery,” the latter word under the former. Let him ascertain the exact relation between these words. He will find that “Ice” is a concrete word, and “Slippery” indicates a quality of “Ice” and of other things. He places opposite the abbreviation In., by A. and C. In a similar way he proceeds to write down one word at a time, and at once ascertaining its relation to the previous word, and indicating that relation by the appropriate abbreviation. When he has analysed ten words in this painstaking manner he must recall them backward and forward from memory at least five times, and each time faster than the other.

Let him deal with the next ten in a similar manner in all respects, and then let him repeat the twenty words both ways at least five times, and so on till he has analysed,‌ learned and recited the entire one hundred words; and, finally, let him recite the one hundred words both ways at least once a day for thirty days, in connection with the Building Series and the Presidential Series and Series of English Sovereigns hereafter given.

As the result of this Analysis and recitals, the pupil will make these Laws of In., Ex., and Con. operate hereafter in an unconscious manner, with a power a hundred-fold greater than before practising this method.

Ice.Slippery.Smooth.Rough.Ruffian.Prison.Crime.Crimea.War.Army.Navy.Ship.Sail.Auction.Bid.Competition.Petition.Signatures.Cygnet.Net.Ensnare.Capture.Cap.Gun.Hunter.

Hounds.Bark.Tree.Woods.Prairie.Air.Wind.Hurricane.Reign.Governor.Steam-engine.Newspaper.Ream.Quire.Inquire.Inquest.Jury.Decide.Cider.Apple.Orchard.Charred.Burned.Stove.Fire.

Hose.Rose.Bush.Guerilla.Rill.Water-power.Manufacture.Man.Manager.Conductor.Cars.Track.Trotting.Fair.Foul.Chanticleer.Chandelier.Gas.Coal.Mine.Shaft.Arrow.Quiver.Indian.Black-Hawk.

Chicken.Feathers.Down.Up.Upstart.Begin.Bee.Honey.Hives.Wives.Mormon.Brigham Young.Old.Cold.Winter.Summer.Ft. Sumter.Stone.Mason.Maize.Fodder.Cattle.Catalogue.Log.Saw-mill.

I occasionally find that a bright, highly-gifted person makes a poor learner of my system, because he acts on hasty inferences of his own instead of attending to my long-tried and never-failing methods. To illustrate: Instead of analysing the above series in pairs, and discovering and noting the relation between each pair as I require, he reads over the entire series. His previous study of the Memory Laws has, however, so impressed his mind with their influence that he is able to retain this series after only two or three perusals. Or, instead of reading over the entire series, he may even slowly read the series in pairs,‌ but without analysis, without trying to ascertain and realise the exact relation between the words. This is the method of Vacuity or Dawdling formerly mentioned. But his study of the three Laws in learning the Building Series has so sharpened and quickened his appreciation of In., Ex., and Con., that he learned the one hundred words in this wrong way very readily.

But why should he not follow my directions? Why not pursue my plan and thereby acquire the full power of my system instead of the small portion of that power gained by disregarding my direction? On the other hand, pupils of only average natural ability are very apt to follow my directions to the letter and thereby acquire an amount of Memory Improvement which the above gifted, but non-complying pupil, seems unable to understand.

If a person is afflicted with a very bad memory in any or all respects, and particularly if this memory weakness is traceable to mind-wandering, or if it co-exist with the latter infirmity, such a person may find it best to make a series of from one hundred to five hundred words on the model of the foregoing series, and learn the same and recite it daily both ways for a month or more in addition to the prescribed exercises, and if any trace of mind-wandering remain after that, let him make and memorise another series of the same extent and practise it for the same period. The worst cases of mind-wandering and of weak memories always yield to this training treatment.

In like manner, but in much inferior degree, the recital of what has just been heard, such as anecdotes, narratives, contents of plays, lectures, &c., not only tends to fix the recited matter in the memory, but also to strengthen the memory generally, provided the recital takes place shortly after the listening, as that is like a continuation of the original experience. ←ToC