Assimilative Memory Part 26

UNCLE [2] Nephew [1] You [1] You _knew_--NU-mitorius. _Or_,

UNCLE [2] Niece [1] Neat [1] Neat and New [1] _A new mitre o'er us_ [1] NU-mitorius. _Or_,

QUESTION [1] Wants to know [1] Know [1] Knew [1] _knew my story_ [1] NU-mitorius. _Or_,

QUESTION [1] Quest [1] Guessed [1] Knew [1] _Knew a mighty Tory_ [1] NU-mitorius.

Had the actor memorised either of these Correlations, he would _not_ have forgotten Numitorius in his performance. In all similar cases mere In. by sound, like the word "Numbers" which Macready proposed, and which is really _not a genuine In. by sound_, is of little service to a poor memory. A Correlation would have been much better.

To any conceivable "_Isolated Fact_" you can find a _Best Known_ to which you can correlate it, and thereby always have it at command. This is true, even in cases of _antic.i.p.atory_ memory. Instead of tying a string round your finger to remind you to buy something when you get to the bazaar, and when you get there forgetting to notice the string or forgetting what the string was intended to remind you of, correlate the name of what you wish to purchase to the name of something you are sure to _think_ of at the place you are going to, and memorise the Correlation. When you see the _Best Known_, the thing you correlated to it will at once occur to mind. I will add only one more ill.u.s.tration:--A commercial traveller was in the habit of putting his watch under his pillow, and also in the habit of forgetting that he put it there! After losing two watches in this way, he came to me to improve his memory, and asked me if my System could aid him to think of his watch and where he had put it. "Infallibly," I replied, "if there is anything you can mention which you are _certain_ to think of when you get up, such as boots, trousers, hat, &c." "There is one thing," he rejoined, "I am more certain to think of than any article of clothing. I always think what a shame it is I have to get up." "Well, you are sure to think of the words 'get up;' that then is your _Best Known_. Correlate the word 'watch' to it ... thus: 'GET UP'--Spring up--Watch Spring--WATCH." After a tour of four months he reported he had always thought of his watch the moment he awoke.

SPEAKING WITHOUT WRITTEN OR PRINTED NOTES.

After the clergyman has decided on his text, or the speaker on any subject he has selected for his special topic, the next step is to _think it out_--to make his plan--his mode of development of his ideas--their order and sequence, ill.u.s.trations, &c. All this will const.i.tute an outline--the SKELETON OF THE DISCOURSE. This should usually be _committed to paper_. If he possesses the requisite command of language to enable him to express his views, all he now requires to do is to _thoroughly memorise_ this Skeleton.

When this is done, the orator will have no occasion to have any notes _before him to refer to_, and thereby to remind his audience that he is merely rehearsing fervour a week or more old; but, having the exact order of ideas in his memory, he can proceed to speak on each _successive_ topic until he has exhausted all the points and ill.u.s.trations that he had intended to use.

A young clergyman is very apt to imagine that he will correlate together 20 to 100 propositions in every discourse--a theoretical conjecture never verified in fact. In _practice_, he will find that he will very rarely correlate more than ten propositions together, and he will correlate sub-propositions, citations, or ill.u.s.trations to the respective propositions to which they belong. Instead of correlations, _he may unite his propositions together by a.n.a.lysis_. Each person will manage this matter as he finds most convenient to himself; or, if he desires to literally memorise his discourses, he can do so in the manner pointed out in learning sentences, or by two or three careful perusals.

But, by one who speaks without notes is generally understood one who has only memorised his leading ideas, and it is always a judicious practice for a beginner to rehea.r.s.e his leading topics and their amplifications in private, _that he may test his memory_, and then _become familiar_ with a procedure _in private_ in order to be sure to be _perfect in it before the public_. This private discipline is all the more necessary in the early stages of extempore speaking--if the speaker is at all troubled by nervous anxieties or mind-wandering.

Suppose a teacher of the Art of Expression has studied Moses True Brown's [see his Synthetic Philosophy of Expression] reduction of Delsarte's Nine Laws of Gesture to Brown's One Law of Correspondence--and suppose this teacher wishes to explain to his cla.s.s, or to an audience, how Mr. Brown proceeded. If he desires to do this without notes, he must memorise the order of those Nine Laws; they are abstractly stated and difficult to correlate, but it can be done. The Laws are as follows:--

Motion, Velocity, Direction or Extension, Re-action, Form, Personality, Opposition of Agents, Priority, or Sequence, Rhythm.

The teacher must correlate these heads or topics of his discourse together, and so memorise his correlations that he can recall the series in the exact order. Perhaps he may proceed thus:

MOTION.

[Rate of motion.]

VELOCITY.

[Relation of motion to time and _s.p.a.ce_--.]

DIRECTION or Extension.

[Direction reversed.]

RE-ACTION.

[Mould of Action.]

FORM.

[Form of the Human.]

PERSONALITY.

[Its extremes.]

OPPOSITION OF AGENTS.

[First opponent.]

PRIORITY or Sequence.

[Periodicity of Sequence.]

RHYTHM.

Knowing these Nine Laws in the above _order_, he can discuss them one after the other. When he has finished his explanation of the reduction of the three Forms of Motion [Concentric, Poise, and Eccentric] to the Law of Correspondence, he can proceed to the consideration of the sub-topics under Velocity, and so on. When he has fixed the other of his topics in mind, he has a mental chart or map to guide him in his exposition, and similarly in other cases.

EXERCISE.

Learn some of the "Antidotes," and at least two of the following series.

Do _not_ learn the extracts from Quain's Anatomy unless you understand what is meant, or are a medical student.

DISTANCES OF PLANETS FROM THE SUN.

MERCURY--36,000,000 [{M}ercury {Sh}ines].

VENUS--67,000,000 [{Sh}e's a {G}oddess].

EARTH--93,000,000 [{P}lanetary {M}other].

MARS--141,000,000 [{Th}is Wo{r}ld's Ou{t}sider].

JUPITER--482,000,000 [{R}ather {F}lattened E{n}ds, or, A {R}oundish {F}orm U{n}equalled].

SATURN--885,000,000 [{F}loods o{f} {L}ight].

URa.n.u.s--1,780,000,000 [{D}isturbances {C}aused {F}ruitful {S}earchings].

NEPTUNE--2,789,000,000 [{N}eptune {C}onst.i.tutes a {F}rontier {B}oundary].

1. How many planets are here mentioned? Make your own correlations between each.

EXTRACTS FROM QUAIN'S ANATOMY.

TO BE STUDIED BY NONE BUT MEDICAL STUDENTS.

"The Branches of the External Carotid Artery are eight in number, _viz._, three directed forwards, the superior thyroid, the lingual, and the facial; two directed backwards, the occipital and the posterior auricular; and three extending upwards, the ascending pharyngeal branch, together with the temporal and internal maxillary, the two terminal branches into which the artery divides."

Dissect, or study a model or diagram of these branch arteries, and then the facts are easily learned by means of Correlations:--

CAROTID ... rotten ... ruinous ... IVY (eight branches) ... growth ... advance ... go forwards ...

FORWARDS ... lead forwards ... conduct ... ductless ... THYROID ... spheroid ... earth ... many languages ... LINGUAL ... tongue ... mouth ... face ... FACIAL ... front ... back ...

BACKWARDS ... back of head ... occiput .... OCCIPITAL ... occult ... secret ... confession ... AURICULAR ... ocular ... eye ... high up ...

UPWARDS ... ascending ... ASCENDING PHARYNGEAL ... congeal ... frozen Thames ... temporary ... TEMPORAL ... pour out shot ... Maxim gun ...

_or_ "be temperate" ... maxim ... MAXILLARY

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 a.s.sistance of h.o.m.ophones, &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?