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MNKMO.VICS 



M<> A 



The Latin student is thankful for the mnemonic 

 rhyme 



In March, July, October, May, 



The ides are on the lUleenth day, 

 The nonrs 1 on tin- seventh lay ; 

 The rut thirteenth and fln.h alway ; 



and for centuries no text-book on logic has 

 omitted the live hexameter lines ( Itiirlwm, Celar- 

 ent, &f.) which compress the doctrine of the 

 syllogism into a marvellous minimum of space. 

 In these, however, aa well as in the case of those 

 numberless Latin verses over which so much 

 time was till recently spent in our grammar- 

 schools, the only help afforded is from the associa- 

 tion of the sounds of certain liarluirous dactyls 

 and spondees in the ear. The perfection of 

 mnemotechny is when there is an association by 

 sense or natural suggestivenesa. The thought of 

 A will frequently bring Z to the mind sooner than 

 I), because there is something not only not similar 

 but grotesquely dissimilar in the ideas they awaken. 

 Whoever practises the art of memory with success 

 always selects unconsciously such associations as 

 are best suited to the situation from his own [mint 

 of view ; and thus the art cannot be imparted in 

 detail. 



The value of mnemotechny under certain aspects 

 is incontestable, considering that many in every 

 class of life are constantly applying some method 

 of storing ami then utilising their knowledge. The 

 art is, however, to IK' distinguished from the general 

 faculty memory, which is the essential and dis- 

 tinctive faculty of ' mind.' As such it depends 

 not only on attention (as philosophers have ever 

 taught), but on the healthy action of the nervous 

 system and general physique, assisted perhaps in 

 some individuals by a certain plastic and assimi- 

 lative brain-power. Cicero approved of the art of 

 artificial memory, and probably applied the topical 

 m. -ill... I (to be mentioned presently) in some of his 

 elaborate s|>eeches ; but Quintilian implies (lust. 

 xL 2, 40) that to rememlwr a subject properly we 

 must master it in all its details. Practice and 

 lalmur, he affirms, constitute the real mncmoteclmv : 

 the best method of learning much by heart is fiv 

 long, and if possible, daily study. The aim in such 

 a case, however, was widely 'different from that 

 which is now generally sought by using artificial 

 memory. 



The topical mnemonics (Gr. topoi, ' place') of the 

 ancients in adapted for recalling in order the argu- 

 ments and illustrations of a public speech, or the 

 succession of ideas in a poem or narrative. Besides 

 the Roman writers, it is referred to by Plato and 

 Aristotle, and was attributed to Simonides the 

 Greek poet, who died 409 B.C. The speaker having 

 selected, for example, a house with which he is so 

 familiar as to remember well the position, not only 

 of each room and passage, but of all the prominent 

 objects in every room, associates as vividly as pos- 

 sible the introduction of his discourse with the 

 entrance-hall, and systematically assigns thought 

 after thought to the chief points there visible. The 

 tint main division of his subject may then IK; iden- 

 tified, as it were, with the dining- room ; and every 

 piece of furniture, every picture, "&c., lw judiciou-ly 

 ntilixi'd for recalling the succession of arguments 

 with their illustrations and results. The second 

 main division may then be associated in like 

 manner with the drawing-room, and everything in 

 it if need be ; and thus for the rest of his UMOOtM, 

 till the successive rooms, statues, mid windows, 

 &c. are pressed into service, and all the series of 

 his thought* passed under review. The principle 

 is that to recall a series of ideas they can Ira 

 associated more easily with familiar (and, as it 

 were, visible) objects or places than with each 

 other. Another form of topical mnemotechny was 



based on imagining the four walls of each room, 

 and its floor, to l>e each divided into nine /ilacet, 

 and a distinct object such a- a particular bust, 

 picture, or tree, &c, to be inseparably associated 

 with each place. When these objects are 

 thoroughly known so as to be promptly and fault- 

 lessly recalled, then the muemotcchnist who has a 

 succession of things to be remembered assigns them 

 to a particular room ami compels himself to detect 

 some association, no matter how incongruous, be- 

 tween each of them and one of the 'hieroglyphs' 

 which are to serve as memorial links. 



Many minor systems for learning date- and 

 detached numbers have been based on that of 

 Gregor von Feinaigle, a German who lectured in 

 London, 1811. His scheme was 



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 tnmrldkbps 

 each letter was more or bs nigge-tive of the figure 

 which it represents : moreover. /> may lie supplanted 

 by ./, /. by c or g, and b by r or ir, &c. Thus, as 

 an example, the Anglian kingdom from the 

 Humlier to the Firth of Forth was founded in .">I7, 

 and by Feinaigle's scheme that date becomes 

 Irk. Hy inserting vowels we form the mnemonic 

 words lark, lurk, large, lyric, Alaric, &c., any one 

 of which the historical student may choose to suit 

 hi- notions of King Ida the Flamebearer, so as to 

 remember the date of his landing in Yorkshire. 

 Another student, for the same date, might prefer 

 la race, la rage, &c. , or Lat. lorica ( ' cuirass ' ). 



The following system (1730), that of Kit-hard 

 Grey, D.D. (1694-1771), does not require, like 

 Feinaigle's, the insertion of arbitrary vowels, and 

 is therefore not so elastic : 



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bdtfl spkn i 

 a e 1 o u an ot el on y 



A recent mnemotechnist, Dr Pick, has improved 

 Feinaigle's method by introducing a principle not 

 unlike that which we have noted in describing the 

 topical systems. Given a list of detached words-- 

 e.g. 'garden, hair, watchman, philosophy,' &c. 

 they can l>e recalled in order by inserting between 

 each pair a connective word wliich links them or 

 forms a bridge. Thus, garden, maidenhair fern ; 

 hair, bonnet; vxitcitman, wake, study ; ////(<///// >/, 

 &c. Other nincmotechnists have been Schenkcl, 

 1547; Aime Paris, 1833; Karl Otto, 1840: Gour- 

 aud, 1845; and I.oisette. Grey's system was really 

 a modification of that of \Vinckelmann, which 

 attracted the notice of Leibnitz and gave him the 

 suggestion of a universal alphabet. 



llm-ino S)ll\ in Greek Mythology, the daugh- 

 ter of Uranus, and mother ot the nine muses by 

 /ens. The principal seat of her worship was at 

 Klcuthene, in Ikeotia. 



Mon( Dinornit, ' monstrous bird"), the name given 

 by the Maoris to agenns of extinct ostrich-like birds 

 that inhabited New Zealand and, to a less extent, 

 Australia. It is siippo-ci! that none has IKM-II seen 

 alive since about the middle of the 18th century, 

 but the Maoris have many traditions relating to 

 them, and nioa-hunting was a recognised sport. 

 Their liones have lieen found in great Biunben 

 imbedded in the sands of the shore, and of lakes, 

 swamps, and river-lieds. A few remains of eggs 

 have also IK-CII found, and one nearly complete one 

 containing a young bird ; the eggs were almut 10 

 inches hui-_- and 7 broad. leathers and a part of 

 the neck with muscles and skin attached have ! n 

 discovered. There were several species of various 

 size, the smallest almnt 2 feet, the largest aliout 

 14 feet in height. Their chief pcculiaiity was the 

 entire absence of wings, not even the smallest 

 rudiments having been found ; associated with thia 



