114 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP. 



to places and visual images. As to thousands 

 and perhaps tens of thousands of specimens and 

 plants, can remember the exact spot where each 

 was gathered. As to a multitude of facts that 

 should have interested me, my memory is a 

 blank and the original impression revived with 

 difficulty if at all. . . . Very retentive and 

 accurate as to the sequence of impressions from 

 early childhood onwards. 



" Father Remarkably retentive - memory ; 

 quoted long passages from classical authors not 

 seen for a very long time previous. Shortly 

 before his death, at 73, recited a long passage 

 from ' Gibbon/ not read for fifty years before. 

 Mother Memory not reliable generally, but 

 clinging strongly to special scenes and events.'* 



2. "I recognize most of the animal forms 

 which I have previously examined, but I forget 

 easily the details of their structure, also their 

 systematic names (specific, not generic). Like- 

 wise I have a good memory for faces, but not 

 for names of persons ; could never remember 

 historical dates/' 



