MEMORY. 



769 



nice, and discriminating, which, undoubtedly, de- 

 pends, in a great measure, upon their original organ- 

 ization;* but they are susceptible of great improve- 

 ment by exercise ; and it is to be lamented that this 

 point is so much neglected in the case of most chil- 

 dren educated in populous cities. How dull are 

 their senses allowed to grow, and how dull are the 

 impressions they give ! The importance of strength- 

 ening the memory, by direct exercise of its powers, 

 is undoubtedly great, and we may be allowed to say 

 a few words respect'ng what we conceive to be a 

 popular error at the present time. It is constantly 

 repeated that the highest aim of education is the 

 development of the intellect, and that mere learning 

 by heart tends to benumb the active powers ; the 

 consequence of which has been that the strengthen- 

 ing of memory is, generally speaking, much neglected. 

 The suggestion is undoubtedly true, to a certain ex- 

 tent, and it would be well if it were acted on, in 

 some particulars, more consistently than it is. The 

 system of recitation, for instance, whereby the re- 

 petition of the words of an author is substituted for 

 an understanding of his meaning, is carried to an 

 injurious extent in the United States of America and 

 in Britain. In all branches. of study where the great 

 object is that the pupil should form clear conceptions 

 for himself, as in history, geography, natural philos- 

 ophy, &c., the mere committing and reciting stated 

 lessons cannot fail to be injurious ; but, on the other 

 hand, memory is a most important instrument both 

 for the business of life and for self-improvement ; 

 and, certainly, it is one of the chief objects of educa- 

 tion to perfect an instrument which is capable of 

 being strengthened by exercise almost beyond con- 

 ception. Such exercise, however, is greatly neglect- 

 ed, in the present systems of education. The books 

 of reference which now abound make strong powers 

 of memory apparently less necessary than formerly, 

 but it should be remembered that the circle of know- 

 ledge is expanding every day, that the connexion of 

 the various branches of science becomes more inti- 

 mate every day, and that every day more knowledge 

 is required for a given standing in society. Classifi- 

 cation is the great basis of memory. From early 

 childhood, we involuntarily classify : but effort is 

 required to give the memory the full advantage 

 which it may derive from this process. It would be 

 impossible for a shepherd to remember every one of 

 his sheep, as is so commonly the case, had not his 

 mind separated the generic marks from the special, 

 and, by similarities and differences (classification) 

 obtained the means of giving each animal a particular 

 character. A similar process takes place in the 

 mind of the learned historian. How could such a 

 man remember without classification, the wide range 

 of facts which he must embrace ? He has acquired 

 the habit of giving to every remarkable feet its proper 

 place in the series of his knowledge, where it is firm- 

 ly retained by the relations in which it stands to 

 others, as affirming or contradicting them. This 

 process of classification takes place, in different de- 

 grees, in every step of the intellectual scale, from 

 the deepest philosopher to the lowest labourer ; and 

 the memory of every one, in any branch, is the bet- 

 ter the more he classifies. A sailor, who cares not 

 for politics, and hears of a change of ministry, has 

 forgotten it, perhaps, the next day, because it was 

 a mere isolated fact, totally unconnected with the 



* This diversity is obvious to all, in the different sensibility 

 of different persons to the pleasures of music and the beauties 

 of nature. The same diversity undoubtedly exists in the 

 senses of smell, taste, &c. ; and perhaps it is not uncharitable 

 to surmise that the indulgences of the table are, in some in- 

 stances, despised less from philosophical moderation, than from 

 an obtuseness of the organ of ta-te. 

 IV. 



general train of his ideas ; whilst the same sailor, 

 perhaps, would recollect with the greatest distinct- 

 ness, how one of his brother sailors off such an island, 

 made himself the laughing-stock of his comrades by 

 his clumsy way of handling a rope. A courtier will 

 remember for life a smile from his monarch, or an 

 unfortunate sneeze which befell him at court when 

 taking a glass of wine. It is all-important, then, 

 that instructors should habitually accustom their 

 pupils to this process of classification ; but, at the 

 same time, the process of committing to memory is 

 also one which should be steadily pursued. The 

 poets and orators afford the pupil abundant materials 

 for such an exercise. The caprices of memory are 

 often curious. How strange are the associations of 

 ideas which often take place in spite of us ! Every 

 one must have experienced such. The writer re- 

 collects a melancholy instance in the case of an insane 

 boy in an hospital, whose derangement was referred 

 to an irreverent association with the name of God, 

 which occurred to him while singing a hymn in 

 church, and of which he could not divest himself, 

 the painfulness of the impression making it occur to 

 him more forcibly every time he sung in church, till 

 his reason became unsettled. We might observe, in 

 this connexion, tliat, though man can recall past 

 impressions by a voluntary act of recollection, yet 

 he has not the same power to divest himself of the 

 impressions which the memory presents, by a vol- 

 untary forgetfulness. This effect he can produce 

 only by fixing the attention on some other subjects, 

 which may withdraw the attention from the disa- 

 greeable idea. Another caprice of the memory is, 

 that we often try to think of a name, or fact, for 

 days and weeks, without success, and, after the lapse 

 of some time, when we have given up the attempt, 

 it all at once suggests itself, when we are occupied 

 with something totally different. To say that the 

 mind continued its action unconsciously suggests no 

 idea. We cannot compare the process to that of a 

 dog separating itself from the chase in which the 

 rest of the pack are engaged. We have no concep- 

 tion of such divided action of the intellect. Any 

 metaphorical explanation of this sort conveys no 

 more idea than Plato's explanation of weak and 

 strong memories, comparing them to wax tablets, 

 the one harder, the other softer. The progress of 

 philosophy has been much hindered by mistaking 

 illustrations for arguments. Another circumstance 

 worthy of remark is, that old people lose their mem- 

 ory for recent events, but retain a lively impression 

 of the events of their earlier years, which shows how 

 much remembrance is influenced by the liveliness of 

 the original impression. It is remarkable, also, how 

 some people, in consequence of diseases, mostly ner- 

 vous fevers and apoplexies, lose the memory of 

 everything which happened before their sickness, as 

 if it were erased from the Platonic tablet. The ed- 

 itor found his memory seriously impaired after a 

 wound which had severed several nerves in the neck, 

 but by degrees, though slowly, he recovered it. In- 

 stances have been recorded in which some sudden 

 and violent derangement of the system has produced 

 a state in which a person would remember every- 

 thing which happened the day before yesterday, 

 &c., but nothing which happened yesterday, &c. 

 The next day, the relative periods of memory and 

 forgetfulness continuing the same, he would remem- 

 ber what, the day before he had forgotten. We 

 might add to those views of the importance of mem- 

 ory which naturally suggest themselves to everyone, 

 that nations, as well as individuals, often suffer from 

 a deficiency of recollection. How often must the 

 historian exclaim, Oh, if they would but remember ! 

 For the various modes of considering this faculty, 

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