6 



MNEMONICS MOBILE. 



Caesar arrived at the supreme power 46 B.C., we 

 may change the Julias into Julius, which will be 

 easily remembered win-never we think of Julius, 

 mid os signifies, according to the above plan, 4G. 

 If we wish to remember that Alexander the Great 

 founded his empire 331 B. C., we change Alexander 

 into Alexita, ita signifying 331, according to the 

 above. In the same way Cyrus, changed into Cy- 

 rttts, gives the year of the foundation of his great 

 empire. This method may much facilitate the re- 

 taining of facts to a certain extent; but it would 

 seem as if the changes themselves might become too 

 numerous to be easily remembered. 



Systems of mnemonics of a more general character 

 have been proposed ; few, however, or none, have 

 remained in vogue for any length of time. Generally 

 speaking, mnemonics ought to be individual ; each 

 individual ought to find out that method of assisting 

 his memory which is most convenient to himself; and 

 this will vary, of course, with his habitual associa- 

 tions. The only true basis of a philosophic memory, 

 however, is just classification. (See Memory.) Con- 

 siderable Hid to the memory may be derived from 

 the use of rhymes, or a rhythmical arrangement of 

 words. Remote antiquity made use of rhythm to 

 preserve the memory of historical facts before the 

 invention of writing. The ancients were well ac- 

 quainted with mnemonics; according to some, the 

 science came from the east to the Greeks; others 

 consider the poet Simonides as the inventor of them; 

 but such inventions cannot be properly assigned to 

 any particular individual. In the time of Cicero it 

 was known among the Romans (see Cicero De 

 Oratore ii. 86 et seq.; Auct. ad Herenn. iii. 16 

 seq.; Quinctil. x, 1, 11 seq. After Quinctilian's 

 time, mnemonics again declined. In considering 

 the use of mnemonics by the ancient orators, we 

 should remember that they delivered long orations 

 indeed, but had nothing like our debates, in which a 

 member of a deliberative body sometimes rises, and 

 speaks for hours in succession, recapitulating all 

 which has been saftl before him on the question, and 

 therefore, to a considerable degree, without premed- 

 itation. Most of the systems of mnemonics devised 

 for the ancients, would be useless for a parliamentary 

 orator of the present day. In the place of the 

 ancient mnemonics, the schoolmen used the tabellary 

 method. Conrad Celtes, in the fifteenth century, and 

 Schenkel, in the sixteenth, re-established the ancient 

 system. In modem times, several scholars have 

 pi ven much attention to this subject. Some of the 

 best works areKaslner's Mncmonik, odcr dieGediicht- 

 nisskunst der Allen (Leipsic, 1805); Systematische 

 Anleitungzitr Theorie und Praxis der Mncmonik, by 

 Aretin (Sulzbach, 1810) ; Feinagle's New Art of Me- 

 mory, to which is prefixed some Account of the Prin- 

 cipal Systems of Artificial Memory (London, 1812); 

 Gray's Memoria Technica (1730). The degree to 

 which the power of memory has been sometimes car- 

 ried, is almost incredible. Thus Seneca states, that, by 

 the mere effort of his natural memory, he was able to 

 repeat 2000 words upon once hearing them, each in its 

 order, though they had no dependence or connexion on 

 each other. He also mentions Cyneas, ambassador to 

 the Romans from king Pyrrhus, who in one day so well 

 learned the names of the people whom he saw, that 

 the next day he saluted all the senators, and all of the 

 populace assembled, each by his proper name. Pliny 

 says that Cyrus knew every soldier in his army by 

 name, and L. Scipio all the people of Rome. Char- 

 mipas, or rather Carneades, when required, it is said, 

 would repeat any, volume found in the libraries as 

 readily as if he were reading. Doctor Wallis tells 

 us, that, without the assistance of pen and ink, or any 

 thing equivalent, he was able in the dark, by the 



ere force of memory, to perform arithmetical opera- 

 tions, as nmluplicatiuii, division, extraction of roots, 

 c., to forty places. It is said of Magliabecchi, that 

 a gentleman, having lent him a manuscript which he 

 was going to print, came to him soon after it was 

 returned, and, pretending that he had lost it, desired 

 him to repeat as much of it as he could ; on which 

 Magliabecchi wrote down the whole, without missing 

 a word or varying the spelling;. 



MNEMOSYNE (Greek, Memory), in the Grecian 

 mythology ; daughter of Uranus (Coelus, Heaven) 

 and Gaia (Terra, Earth), and by Jupiter the mother 

 of the nine Muses, (q. v.) 



Mo signifies tribe, nation, in many idioms of 

 Southern Africa. 



MOAB ; the land of the Moabite.s, an Arabian 

 tribe, dwelling in the mountainous region east of the 

 Dead sea, from Zoar to the river Arnon, between the 

 Midianites, Edomites, and Amorites. According to 

 the Mosaic account (Gen. xix. 30), the Moabites 

 were descended from Moab, the son of Lot by his 

 eldest daughter. In the time of the judges, they were 

 for eighteen years masters of the Hebrews, but in 

 the time of David, were rendered tributaries to them. 

 After the Babylonish captivity, they lost their separ- 

 ate national existence. Their principal leaders men- 

 tioned in scripture, are Balak and Eglon ; their idols 

 were Peor and Chemosh. 



MOALLAKAT (i. e. the hung up) ; seven Ara- 

 bian poems of the time immediately preceding Mo- 

 hammed, which, on account of their excellence, were 

 suspended in public, on the temple at Mecca. An 

 English translation with arguments, and the Arabic 

 text, was published by Sir W. Jones (London, 1783.) 

 See Arabian Literature. 



MOAT, or DITCH, in fortification, a deep trench 

 dug round the rampart of a fortified place, to prevent 

 surprises. The brink of the moat next the rampart, 

 is called the scarp ; and the opposite one, the counter- 

 scarp. A dry moat round a large, place, with a strong 

 garrison, is preferable to one full of water ; because 

 the passage may be disputed inch by inch, and the 

 besiegers, when lodged in it, are continually exposed 

 to the bombs, grenades, and other fire-works, which 

 are thrown incessantly from the rampart into their 

 works. In the middle of dry moats, there is some- 

 times another small one called lunette, which is gen- 

 erally dug till the water fills it. The deepest and 

 broadest moats are accounted the best ; but a deep 

 one is preferable to a broad one; the ordinary 

 breadth is about twenty fathoms, and the depth about 

 sixteen. To drain a moat that is full of water, a 

 trench is dug deeper than the level of the water, to 

 let it run oft', and then hurdles are thrown upon the 

 mud and slime, covered with earth or bundles of 

 rushes, to make a sure and firm passage. 



MOBILE; a city, port of entry, and capital of 

 Mobile county, Alabama, on the west side of Mo- 

 bile river, at its entrance into the bay. It is thirty 

 miles north of Mobile point, which is on the east 

 side of the mouth of the bay; fifty-five miles w.est by 

 north from Pensacola ; and 160 east from New Or- 

 leans ; lat. 30 40' N.j Ion. 88 21' \V. In 1813, 

 this town came into the possession of the United 

 States, and then contained about 300 inhabitants. 

 In 1822, its population was estimated at 2800 ; and 

 in 1830, it contained 3194. Mobile is situated con- 

 siderably above the overflow of the river, in a dry 

 and pleasant place; but access to the city is rendered 

 somewhat difficult by a swampy island opposite. It 

 has, moreover, swampy lands and stagnant waters 

 back of it ; and near it is a sterile country of pine 

 woods. The city has several times been ravaged by 

 the yellow fever, and has once been almost wholly 

 destroyed by fire. Advantage was taken of the 



