Assimilative Memory Part 22

2. When the pupil reads a correlation of mine, he should indicate the relations between the words by writing in the figures 1, 2, or 3, and he should pursue the same course with his own correlations.

3. Ofttimes "extremes" are in different planes of thought, so occasionally three intermediates are necessary to cement them; two are often required; but after considerable practice in making correlations one usually suffices.

1. What is fatal to success in making correlations?

2. What do the figures 1, 2, and 3 indicate in Rule 2?

3. How many intermediates should there be?

4. A correlation is a _successive advance_, and an intermediate must not refer back to any except its _immediate_ antecedent, never to its second or third antecedent. A pupil wrote:--_Short steps_ ... stepson ... real son ... more a son ... _Morrison_. Here, "more a son" refers to the comparison between "real son" and "stepson," but the latter is the second antecedent so the correlation is a defective one. He might have said: _Short steps_ ... _stepson_ ... _Morrison_.

5. A word may be used twice but never three times. _Pen_ ... pensive ...

gay ... nosegay ... _Nose_. Here "gay" is properly used twice, and after that, it is dropped and you can go on with the rest of the word, to wit, _nose_.

6. A compound phrase including a verb is rarely allowable, since the intermediates must be the simplest elements, either sensations or perceptions [relations among sensations] or abstractions [relations among relations], or one of these with either of the others, always exemplifying either In., Ex., or Con.

7. My correlations are good for me, but they may not be so vivid to others, especially where the concurrences are used. To fix the date of Magna Charta (1215), the pupil could memorise this Correlation--MAGNA CHARTA ... King John ... Jew's teeth ... DENTAL. But if the pupil did not know _before_ that King John had granted that charter, and if he did not also know the story about the extraction of the Jew's teeth to make him pay the royal exaction, there would be no concurrence as to the first word and second, or second and third, and if he learned the Correlation it would be by mere repet.i.tion without aid from a.n.a.lysis. In such a case he would make and memorise his own Correlation, perhaps thus: MAGNA CHARTA ... magnify ... diminish ... DWINDLE. When a pupil makes his own Correlations, every concurrence he uses is a _real_ concurrence to him, and so with his Ins. and Exs. This is a decisive reason why the Pupil should merely look upon my Correlations as models, but make and memorise his _own_ Correlations in all cases, as being more vivid to _him_ and, therefore, more certainly remembered, as well as more effectively strengthening the Memory in both its Stages.

8. Vivid Ins. by _meaning_ are better than Ins. by S. (the latter when used, should be as perfect as possible). EAR ... EEL makes a weak In. by S. to some persons, but it would make a much more vivid first impression to most persons to deal with them in this way: EAR ... (w)ring ... twist ... wriggle ... EEL. But "Bivou_ac_ ... _aq_ueduct" is a perfect In. by S. as to the last syllable of the former and the first syllable of the latter, since those syllables are p.r.o.nounced exactly alike. We may connect Bivouac to Rain thus: "_Bivouac_ ... aqueduct ... flowing water ... falling water ... RAIN."

9. _Never_--in the early stages of the study of the System--make a _second_ Correlation until you have _memorised the first_.

10. Although _making_ and _memorising_ Correlations serves the useful purpose of fixing specific facts in the memory, yet the MAIN OBJECT in making and memorising Correlations is to develop the latent power of the Natural Memory to such a degree that all facts are hereafter remembered without the aid of conscious Correlations.

11. Never try to find _a.n.a.lytic_ date or number words until you _know the material facts connected with the date or number_ before you. The student wishes to fix the date of Voltaire's birth, in 1694. "The Shaper" and "The Giber" occur to him. If he is ignorant of the facts of Voltaire's life, he will correlate thus: "_Vol_taire ... (1) ...

volatile ... (2) ... 'fixed' ... (1) ... 'The Shaper' {Th}e {Sh}a{p}e{r} (1694);" or "Vol_taire_ ... (1) ... tear to pieces ... (1) ... mocking dissector ... (1) ... {Th}e {G}i{b}e{r} (1694)." If he had known that Voltaire was a born writer, he would have found the a.n.a.lytic relation in "Voltaire ... {Th}e {Sh}a{p}e{r} (1694)" or if he had known that he was a terrible mocker, he would have said: "Voltaire ... {Th}e {G}i{b}e{r} (1694)." If he wished to fix the date of the discovery of America, he might think of "{T}e{r}ra{p}i{n}" (a large tide-water turtle, abounding in Maryland), and correlate thus: "Discovery of America ... (1) ...

Maryland ... (3) ... {T}e{r}ra{p}i{n} (1492)." But if he remembers that Con. covers all cases of Cause and Effect, Instrument or Means to End, Person by whom, &c., and if he reflects that this discovery has been a blessing to the Old as well as the New World, he would say: "Discovery of America ... (3) {T}{r}ue {B}oo{n} (1492)." Or, if he considers that the moment America was made known to Europe the whole of the Western Continent was open to every new-comer, he would find a.n.a.lytic date-words thus: "Discovery of America ... (3) ... {D}oo{r} o{p}e{n} (1492)." If he merely wants to fix the fraction 92, he could use the first two consonants of the name of one of his ships, and say: "Discovery of America ... {P}i{n}ta (1492)."

ISOLATED FACTS.

Correlate an _Isolated Fact_ to something (to some fact in its environment or _entourage_ that is BEST KNOWN and) which you are sure to THINK OF when you wish to recall the Isolated Fact.

HOW TO REMEMBER PROPER NAMES WHEN INTRODUCED.

An infallible method of remembering proper names is (1) Get the name when introduced. If not quite sure, ask for it. (2) _p.r.o.nounce_ the _name aloud_ whilst _looking at_ the person. Do this several times, if possible. The object is to produce a concurrence or connection between the _sight-image of the Person_ and a _sound-image of his Name_. (3) To help the ear for sound, always p.r.o.nounce everyone's name aloud whenever you meet him. This helps nature. These directions carried out never fail to make a pupil perfect in remembering proper names.

To remember PROPER NAMES in the absence of the person, correlate the Person's Name to the name of some Peculiarity of the Person (as the BEST KNOWN and) which you are sure to THINK of whenever you think of the Person. If you _memorise_ the Correlation, you will recall the Name whenever you think of this Peculiarity (whatever struck you about him).

To remember a proper name, Mnemonists resort to In., by S. But this _alone_ gives no starting point, no "Best Known" which you are certain to think of, and which will enable you to recall the name, _provided_ you cement by a memorised Correlation the "Best Known" to the name itself; in fact, a similarity of sound _alone_ and _by itself_ is likely to mislead you into reviving itself instead of the name. A celebrated Member of Parliament (who in the days of his youth, before he had greatly tested Mnemonics, gave a high opinion of its value) was to deliver an address at the Birkbeck Inst.i.tution, some years ago. Having difficulty in remembering proper names, he thought he would _fix_ the name of its founder in his memory by the Mnemonical device of finding a word that sounded like it; he said to himself, "It reminds me of 'Pinchbeck.'" He commenced as follows: "Before coming to the subject on which I am to speak this evening, I desire to pay a deserved tribute of praise to the founder of this great Inst.i.tution, the celebrated Mr.

PINCHBECK." A shout of laughter revealed to him that Mnemonics may get us into trouble, and fail to help us out: he could not remember the real name, Birkbeck, until it was told him. If he had mastered this System, his NEW memory-power would have enabled him to remember the true name _without any device_; or, if he was but a beginner at my System he could have remembered the name Birkbeck--which he was afraid he would forget--by correlating it to the word--"Founder," which he did remember, thus:--FOUNDER ... lost way ... hark-back ... Birkbeck; or, FOUNDER ...

foundered horse ... chestnut horse ... chestnut ... bur ... BIRKBECK. If he had memorised either of these Correlations, or one of his own, by repeating the intermediates forwards and backwards two or three times, and then recalled the two extremes, "Founder," "Birkbeck," several times, the moment he thought of Founder, he would instantly have recalled Birkbeck, one extreme recalling the other without the intermediates being recalled. When one has received only a third of the benefit of this System as a Memory-TRAINER, the mere _making_ of a Correlation ensures remembering two extremes together without thinking of intermediates.

1. To what must we correlate a person's name?

2. What will be the result if we memorise the correlation?

3. To what do Mnemonists resort to remember proper names?

4. Does this _alone_ give a starting point?

5. What is a similarity of sound alone likely to do?

[Dr. Johnson, when introduced to a stranger repeated his name several times aloud and sometimes _spelled_ it. This produced a vivid first impression of the man's _name_; but it did not _connect_ the name to the man who bore it. People who have adopted the Johnsonian Method sometimes remember the name but apply it to the wrong person, because they did not establish any relation between the name and the man to whom it belonged.]

EXERCISES IN CORRELATING.

Make 20 of your own Correlations between faces and names (or between words and meanings), using some of the extremes given by me, and, as other extremes (words, &c., of your own selection, or) names and faces of your own acquaintances.

_Peculiarity._ _Correlation._ _Proper Names._

Cross-eyed Cross-bow ... bowman Mr. Archer Wavy hair dancing wave ... Morris dance Mr. Morrison Black eyes white ... snow ... pure as snow Mr. Virtue Retreating chin retiring ... home-bird Mr. Holmes High instep high boots ... mud ... peat Mr. Peat Crooked legs broken legs ... crushed Mr. Crushton Apprehension suspension ... gallows Mr. Galloway Sombre sad ... mourning ... hat-band Mr. Hatton Music stave ... bar Mr. Barcroft Violinist violin ... high note ... whistle Mr. Birtwistle Painter paint ... colored cards ... whist Mr. Hoyle Plumber plum-pudding ... victuals Mr. Whittles Joiner wood ... ash Mr. Ashworth

1. Is it ever possible to remember two extremes without thinking of the intermediates?

2. In what cases?

3. What did Dr. Johnson sometimes do when introduced to a stranger?

4. What sometimes occurs with people who have adopted the Johnsonian Method?

5. Why is this?

6. As Max Muller names mental acts in this order: Sensation, Perception, Conception, Naming, and Memory, would he hold that failure to remember names implies weakness of naming power? No!

Remembering a name is an act wholly unlike imposing a name in the first instance. Such failure arises from weakness of the auditory function, or of the perception of individual peculiarities or failure of the sight-image to become cemented to the sound image.

=A CONTRAST.=--When unconnected ideas have to be united in the memory so that hereafter one will recall the other, the teachers of other Memory Systems say: "What can I invent to tie them together--what story can I contrive--what foreign extraneous matter can I introduce--what mental picture can I imagine, no matter how unnatural or false the juxtaposition may be, or what argument or comparison can I originate--no matter how far-fetched and fanciful it may be, to help hold these 'Extremes' together?" They do not reflect that all these mnemonical outside and imported schemes must _also_ be remembered, and that being in the form of sentences expressing loose relation of mere physical juxtapositions or the complex relations invented by constructive imagination or subtle intellect, they are, to most, more difficult to recollect than the extremes would be without these ponderous aids.

Hence, in their professed attempt to aid the memory, they really impose a _new_ and _additional burden_ upon it.

1. Are you required to make any original correlations?

2. How many?

3. Between what extremes?

4. Do you find it difficult?

5. Have you any evidence given here that others have experienced any difficulty in making them?

6. Did they finally succeed?

7. What question is frequently asked by other memory teachers?

On the other hand, I simply ask the memory what it _already knows_ about the "Extremes." The first intermediate of a correlation is _directly_ connected through In., Ex., or Con., with the first "Extreme," and the last intermediate with the last "Extreme," and the intervening intermediate (if there be one) with the other two, and thus, the _intermediates being already in the memory_, and not the result of invention or ingenuity, my Method of Correlation is purely and solely a MEMORY process. In this way, I use the MEMORY TO HELP THE MEMORY, I use the _reviving_ power of the memory to make a vivid FIRST IMPRESSION between two hitherto unconnected "Extremes." I add nothing to the "Extremes," import nothing from abroad in regard to them, invent nothing. I simply _arouse_, _re-waken_ to consciousness, _what is already stored away_ in the memory in regard to those "Extremes," and, by reciting the Correlation a few times forwards and backwards, cement the "Extremes" themselves so vividly together, that henceforth one "Extreme" revives the other "Extreme" without the recall of the intermediates.

And in the chapter on Recollective a.n.a.lysis, and also in the previous part of this chapter, I have given the attentive student such a familiarity with the Memory Laws of In., Ex., and Con., that he can make Correlations as easily as he breathes.

When learning prose or poetry by means of endless repet.i.tions to acquire, and endless views to retain, the mind soon wanders, and thus discontinuity is promoted; but, in reciting a Correlation forwards _and backwards_ from memory, the mind cannot wander, and thus the continuity is greatly strengthened. Again, memory is improved by exercise, and _improved in the highest degree_ by _making_ and _memorising_ correlations, because in _making_ them the _reviving_ power of the memory is exercised in conformity to Memory's own laws; and in _memorising_ the Correlations both stages of memory are most vividly impressed. Thus, making and memorising the Correlations TRAINS both Memory and Continuity. And if to this training process there be added the habit of a.s.similation which the use of the a.n.a.lytic-Synthetic and Interrogative a.n.a.lysis Methods of learning Prose and Poetry by heart imparts, as well as my other training methods, then the NEW memory thus acquired _will not demand the further use of the System any more than the adult swimmer will need the plank by which as a boy he learned to swim_.

1. What new burden do they impose on the memory?

2. What do I require from my pupils?

3. To what is the first intermediate connected?

4. Through what?

5. How do I deal with the other intermediates?

6. What is a memory process?

7. Is the memory used to help the memory in any way?

8. Do I add anything to the extremes?

9. Is memory improved by exercise?

10. When is the System laid aside?

LEARNING FOREIGN WORDS.