170 NOVUM OROANUM 



which excites and assists memory. The constitutive in 

 stances are order or distribution, which manifestly assists 

 memory: topics or commonplaces in artificial memory, 

 which may be either places in their literal sense, as a gate, 

 a corner, a window, and the like, or familiar persons and 

 marks, or anything else (provided it be arranged in a deter 

 minate order), as animals, plants, and words, letters, char 

 acters, historical persons, and the like, of which, however, 

 some are more convenient than others. All these common 

 places materially assist memory, and raise it far above its 

 natural strength. Yerse, too, is recollected and learned 

 more easily than prose. From this group of three instances 

 order, the commonplaces of artificial memory, and verses 

 is constituted one species of aid for the memory, 46 which 

 may be well termed a separation from infinity. For when 

 a man strives to recollect or recall anything to memory, 

 without a preconceived notion or perception of the object 

 of his search, he inquires about, and labors, and tarns from 

 point to point, as if involved in infinity. But if he have 

 any preconceived notion, this infinity is separated off, and 

 the range of his memory is brought within closer limits. 

 In the three instances given above, the preconceived notion 

 is clear and determined. In the first, it must be something 

 that agrees with order; in the second, an image which has 

 some relation or agreement with the fixed commonplaces; 

 in the third, words which fall into a verse: and thus infinity 

 is divided off. Other instances will offer another species, 

 namely, that whatever brings the intellect into contact with 



46 The author s own system of Memoria Technica may be found in the De 

 Augmentis, chap. xv. &quot;We may add that, notwithstanding Bacon s assertion 

 that he intended his method to apply to religion, politics, and morals, this is 

 the only lengthy illustration he has adduced of any subject out of the domain 

 of physical science. Ed. 



