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Treating of the many artificial systems of memory training which have been offered the public in all ages and among all people, showing the general nature of the principal systems, and calling attention to their weak points—The history of these systems takes the reader back to the time of Simonides, 500 b. c., and shows how the old systems are dressed up and offered as new systems by their “discoverers”—This chapter will prove interesting to those who like to go back to the root of things, and then follow up the development of the subject—The reading of this chapter will enable the reader to understand the claims of many of the widely advertised systems, and will show him that there is “nothing new under the sun” so far as “patent” systems of memorizing are concerned.

FOR OVER two thousand years there have been numerous “methods” of memorizing urged by their several promoters and followers, many of which systems were for a time quite popular and which brought to their promoters much publicity and wealth. These methods, artificial in theory and strained in practice, bear a striking resemblance to each other, in spite of the fact that they originated in countries far distant from each other, and that they are separated by centuries of time. They are all based upon the laws of Association, Resemblance, Contiguity, Contrast, etc., which have been touched upon in several chapters of this book. Some of these systems are very clever, and their followers have often been able to memorize a great variety of things, the result being apparently wonderful until one is informed of the method and takes a peep behind the scenes. Anyone can commit things to memory by even a slight acquaintance with the principles underlying these systems, but the result is in the end unsatisfactory, as the systems are artificial and, notwithstanding the claims of their promoters, more or less like the “trick methods.” They may aid in the memorizing of special things, but they do not strengthen or develop the memory as a whole, and in the end are apt to confuse and bewilder the mind and render weak the ordinary faculties of memory. Most of these systems have “chains,” “links,”

“posts” etc., by which the thing to be memorized is connected with some other thing. This works for a while, and then the student finds it harder to remember the connecting links than to remember the thing itself; or he finds his attention so much taken up with the links that he forgets the original fact.

The first “artificial” system of memorizing, or mnemonics, originated with Simonides, the Grecian poet, who lived about 500 b. c. The poet was invited to a banquet at which he read a poem. Before the conclusion of the feast he was called for by a messenger, and regretfully left the hall. Scarcely had he stepped over the threshold when the roof fell in and the walls collapsed, killing the giver of the feast and all his guests. The bodies were so badly mutilated that it was utterly impossible to identify them, and the relatives and friends became most anxious about the matter, manifesting great grief. Simonides then came to the rescue, relating that he had noticed where each person had been seated, and that he distinctly remembered the same. He drew a plan of the hall, marking the position of each guest, and, as the bodies were still in the same position, they were identified by his chart. Upon this occurrence is believed to rest the responsibility for the numerous systems of memorizing generally grouped under the term “Mnemonics.”

Shortly after the above mentioned occurrence, Simonides invented a system of artificial memory, which met with very great success among the Greeks. He based his system upon the idea of the seating of the guests at the banquet. His system taught the pupil to form a mental picture of a building, divided and subdivided into apartments, corridors, ante­chambers, etc. These apartments, etc., were thoroughly committed to memory, and other things which the pupil desired to memorize were associated with them. Each apartment was numbered, and in it was stored the memory of some special thing, or part of a subject. Then the next room was filled, and so on. When the pupil wished to recall the objects or subjects memorized, he would go mentally from room to room, calling to mind the contents of each in turn. An enlargement of this idea, called for the building of another house, then a whole street, etc. Some modern advocates of this system bid their pupils commit to memory the location of the furniture in their parlors, and then connect with these articles the things to be memorized, passing from the table to the chair, from chair to vases, etc. Simonides’ system was afterward developed in Rome by Metrodorus, and has formed the base of innumerable systems in ancient or modern times, each promoter adding something to it, or altering it in some particular, and then announcing that he had “discovered” a new system. These “discoveries” are likely to be made for centuries to come.

Several hundred years ago Conrad Celtes promoted a system which achieved much success, and which was practically a modification of Simonides’ plan, except that letters of the alphabet were used instead of the apartments of the Greek poet’s system. Toward the end of the sixteenth century Thomas Watson, an English poet, advanced a system similar to the one above mentioned, except that he used a mental wall instead of the apartments or letters, his wall being subdivided into numerous spaces appropriately numbered. Schenkel, a German, also taught a variation of this same system, and came very near being executed as a sorcerer by reason thereof. He made a great deal of money teaching his system, until it was exposed by one of his pupils in 1619.

In 1648 Stanislus Winckelmann made a new departure in mnemonics, which has also been used as the basis of innumerable systems since that time. Although he used, in part, a modified form of Simonides’ system, he went further, and originated what is now called the “figure alphabet.” Each subsequent “discoverer” has used a different “figure alphabet,” but for the purpose the original one is here reproduced:

WINKLEMAN’S FIGURE ALPHABET.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
B	C	F	G	L	M	N	R	S	T
P	K	V	J					Z	D
W

(Vowels, silent letters and letter “H” omitted. Two letters coming together are treated as one. Translation by sound, not by spelling.)

This table was thoroughly memorized, and words then translated into figures, or figures into letters. The letters formed from the figures are turned into words by the addition of vowels, and a word or sentence constructed having some connection (real or fancied) with the date to be memorized. Some of Winkleman’s successors have devised much better forms of “figure alphabets” but the principle is the same. The most absurd combinations are resorted to by the followers of these systems to memorize a date. A friend of the writer’s, using the above table as a guide, remembered the date of the battle of Waterloo (1815) by the words Bonaparte Licked, the first letters of the two words being B (1) and L (5) making ’15, the year of the battle. He recalled the battle of Yorktown by the words “Brave Novices Routed British,” the initials “B, N, R, B” indicating 1781. To our mind it takes a greater degree of work to memorize these associating words than to remember the date itself. Winckelmann used the words BiG RaT to denote 1480, although we would have to know the event in 1480, which was to be remembered, before we could trace the connection. Other writers have worked many ingenious combinations of this “figure alphabet” idea, but for the purposes of this work, the above examples will suffice, the whole idea being more curious than useful.

In 1840 Beniowski, a Pole, taught a system in which was first introduced the “correlative” and similar theories, which have formed an important part of many widely advertised “systems” of recent years. In 1845 Miles, an American, promoted a system of his own in which, among other plans, he used sentences containing the event to be memorized, the last word of which would contain the date, according to a “figure alphabet” system. He also taught an original plan of memorizing names of important places and events by associating them with well known objects, thus: Borodino was recalled by “Borrow a dinner;” Saskatchewan, by “Sis, catch a swan,” and so on. His most important departure, however, was his “nomenclature table” which took the place of the old “figure alphabet.” These tables were series of words, each word of which represented a number from 1 to 100. This list when committed to memory, was applied by using a word to recall its appropriate number, thus aiding in memorizing dates, etc.

In 1848, Dr. Kothe, a German, developed a system, since largely used by other teachers, the principal features of which were the connecting of words having no relation to each other, by means of intermediate or correlative words. For instance, the words “chimney” and “leaf” would be associated as follows:

“Chimney—smoke—wood—tree—Leaf.” The words “Pillow” and “Ink” would be joined in this way: “Pillow—feather— quill—pen—Ink.” This system has been incorporated into that of many teachers since that time. These systems, as a rule, are cumbersome, and usually prove more or less disappointing to the student seeking to develop his power of memory. Take, for instance, the well­known correlation by which is taught the word Apfel, the German equivalent for Apple, which runs thus: “Apple—windfall—wind—storm—wrap well—Apfel.” It has always seemed to us that it would be much easier to impress the word Apfel on the mind in the first place, than to remember this chain of connecting words.

About 1878 John Sambrook, of England, taught and published a system which among other things stated the principle that figures could be easily memorized by the use of words whose vowels corresponded in sound to the numerals. He called attention to the fact that the vowel sound of each figure was different from that of another with the exception of the long sound of “I,” which occurs in the words “five” and “nine.” his last conflict of sounds he remedied by giving the short sound of “I” to “nine,” considering it as if it were pronounced “nin.” He constructed from this principle a most ingenious system of memorizing numbers. The following words will give an idea of the words to be used in memorizing numbers from 1 to 9, it being remembered, of course, that any word of the same sound would answer as well as any of the words here used.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Gun.	Tooth.	Tree.	Floor.	Hive.	Stick.	Sexton.	Gate.	Pin.

In memorizing 1492 (Columbus’ Discovery of America) a sentence would have to be constructed having some reference to Columbus, in which the words, Gun, Floor, Pin, Tooth, appeared in their above order, or a word would have to be found in which these vowel sounds appeared in the same order, etc., etc. Interesting, but scarcely useful as a memory developer.

The Shedd system gives as an easy method of memorizing dates, the plan of forming a word or sentence, the number of letters of which correspond to the number to be remembered. Thus to remember that Rome was burned in the year 64 one must remember the sentence “Burned Rome,” the first word of which contains six letters and the second four. Napoleon’s birth (1769) would be recalled by the sentence, “A strange, mighty conqueror,” and his defeat at Waterloo (1815) by the sentence, “A Waterloo I found.”

Other writers have promulgated systems by which events, subjects, rules, dates, etc., are readily remembered by doggerel rhymes. Some well known examples are here given:

THE MONTHS.

“Thirty days hath September,

April, June and November,” etc., etc.

PARTS OF SPEECH.

Three little words you often see

Are Articles a, an and the. A Noun’s the name of any thing, As school, or garden, hoop or swing. Adjectives show the kind of noun, As great, small, pretty, white, or brown. Instead of nouns, the pronouns stand, Her head, his face, your arm, my hand. Verbs tell us something to be done, To read, count, laugh, sing, jump or run. How things are done, the adverbs tell; As slowly, quickly, ill or well. Conjunctions join the words together, As men and women, wind or weather. The Preposition stands before A noun, as in, or through, the door. An Interjection shows surprise, As Oh! how pretty—Ah! how wise. The whole are called nine parts of speech, Which reading, writing, spelling, teach.

“SHALL” AND “WILL.”

In the first person simply shall fortells,

In will a threat or else a promise dwells. Shall in the second and third doth threat, Will simply then fortells the future feat.

ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS.

First William the Norman,

Then William, his son;

Henry, Stephen and Henry,

Then Richard and John,

Next Henry the third,

Edwards, one, two and three;

And again, after Richard,

Three Henrys we see.

Two Edwards, third Richard,

If rightly I guess;

Two Henrys, sixth Edward.

Queen Mary, Queen Bess.

The Jamsie the Scotchman,

Then Charles whom they slew,

And then, after Cromwell,

Another Charles too.

Next Jamsie the second

Ascended the throne;

Then William and Mary

Together came on.

Then Anne, four Georges,

And fourth William past,

Then came Queen Victoria,

Now Edward is last.

In our chapter on the Memory of Dates we have given further examples of this kind of doggerel, which may be used occasionally as an easy means of connecting names, events, etc. Law students and medical students have a number of rhymes of this kind by which they group parts of their studies, definitions, etc.

The “figure alphabet” is sometimes used to accomplish “trick memorizing” in this way: A number of figures, one hundred or more, are written down and the slip handed to a friend. The writer then rapidly calls them off. He repeats the trick with different figures as often as desired. The explanation lies in the fact that he has memorized the “figure alphabet,” and taking the words of some well known song or poem, he translates the letters into figures which are marked down. To recall the figures, he simply does mentally that which he has just done on paper, and translating the same words into figures, he of course repeats what he had previously written down. It is very simple, but quite effective as a trick.

The law of association is sometimes used to easily join together for the purpose of recollection different things having some relation to each other. Thus Dr. Watts coined the word vibgyor as a means of easily remembering the names and order of the primary colors, the initial letter of each color, in their proper order, forming the said word, thus, Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red. The word news is composed of the initial letters of the four points of the compass, thus: North, East, West, South. The name of the vice­president who first served with Lincoln, may be remembered by thinking of Lincoln’s name in this form: abrahamlincoln. Franklin Pierce was the fourteenth president, which fact may be remembered by his initials F (ourteenth) P (resident). We recite these things merely to show how many ways there are whereby one may remember things by attaching them to “pegs.” The great trouble is that, while a few things may be remembered in this way, it is generally harder to remember the “pegs” than the things themselves, after one has burdened himself with a number of them. They are artificial, and Nature in the end revolts.

Looking back it will seem that the plan of Simonides, or the “topical system” as it is sometimes called, was the first in the field, and still shows signs of life. Then came the “figure alphabet,” which is still very much with us, in a much improved form, and elaborated almost out of resemblance. The latter is quite fascinating at the start, but a little later on—well, just try it. The plan of memorizing a date by words containing a certain number of letters corresponding to figures to be memorized, looks easy, but one soon tires of it—and you are apt to get your words mixed, thereby mixing your centuries. Very artificial! The third in order, the “associative” or “correlative” method, is interesting, but is apt to bring on mental dyspepsia if used as a steady diet by the memory. Even if these systems were practicable, they would do little more than to aid in the memory of dates, leaving the development of the other faculties of the mind to other methods.

The better plan is to develop the several faculties, to the end that they may readily receive impressions, and retain them, and by practice to so train the recollection that previously received impressions may readily be revived. We have tried to point out the way in this book, and we trust that everyone who has read its pages will put into practice the principles therein taught.

FINIS.