M I S 



58G 



M N E 



-Missouri 



II 



Mnemo- 

 nics. 



MISSOURI is the name of a large river in North 

 America, which rum into the Mississippi near its 

 source. It is formed oi'three branches, which rise among 

 the rocky mountains, the northern one near 48 N. 

 Lat. the southern near -12" N. Lat. and all near 120 

 W. Long. 



The northern branch, which was the only one explo- 

 red by the travellers who were sent out for that purpose 

 in 180-t, was navigable for 248 miles. The distance 

 from the confluence of these streams to the great ra- 

 pids is 283 miles, from thence to the confluence with 

 Plate River 194.5 miles, and from thence to the con- 

 fluence of the Mississippi 150, making a total of 3106, 

 the distance which the Missouri is navigable above its 

 junction with the Mississippi. As .this junction is 

 J395 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, the total length 

 of the Missouri continued to the sea is 4501 miles. 

 See Morse's American Geography, p. 65. 



MITHRIDATES. See ROME. 



MITYLENE. See METEUN, in this volume, p. 109. 



MNEMONICS (ars mncmonica, from the Greek ftr,~ 

 ft.u, memor,') signifies, in the more general sense of the 

 word, the laws which regulate the exercise of the facul- 

 ty of memory; in its more limited signification, it 

 means a system of rules to assist the memory, by means 

 of association, in recalling past impressions. Such a 

 system was called by the ancients menwria arttficialis, 

 to distinguish it from a naturally good memory, unas- 

 sisted by technical rules. 



There is no doubt that the memory is a faculty high- 

 ly susceptible of cultivation, and also very capable of 

 being assisted, in many cases, by arrangement and as- 

 sociation. We have numerous instances, indeed, both 

 in ancient and modern times, of individuals who pos- 

 sessed and exercised this faculty in a very extraordinary 

 degree; but we are frequently left in doubt whether 

 they depended entirely on the natural strength of an 

 originally good memory, improved, perhaps, by regular 

 and assiduous cultivation ; or whether they had rename 

 to some mechanical aids. Cyneas, who was sent by 

 King Pyrrhus on an embassy to the Romans, learnt, in 

 the course of one day, the names of all those persons 

 whom he had seen, so perfectly, that, on the following 

 day, he could name all the members of the senate, and 

 all the Romans who had assembled round them. King 

 Cyrus could name all the soldiers in his army ; and L. 

 Scipio all the citizens of Rome. Mithridates, the king 

 of two and twenty nations, held courts in as many lan- 

 guages, and could converse with each nation in its own 

 tongue, without using an interpreter. Themistocles is 

 said to have been oppressed by the strength and tenacity 

 of his memory ; and in the course of a year he learnt to 

 speak Persic with perfect propriety. Crassus, while 

 governor of Asia, learnt the five Grek dialects so com- 

 pletely, that he was able to give judgment in each. 

 Hortensius, the Roman orator, was able to repeat a 

 whole oration in the words he had previously conceiv- 

 ed it, without committing it to writing; and to go 

 through the whole arguments of an opponent in their 

 proper order. It is said that he once attended a whole 

 day at a public sale, and, at the end of it, recited, in 

 regular order, the names of all the buyers, the articles 

 void, and their prices, with perfect exactness. Seneca, 

 in his youth, could pronounce two thousand given words 

 in their proper order ; and having got a verse from 

 each of his chool-fello\vs, he repeated more than two 

 hundred of them from the bottom to the top. Avicen- 

 na could, with facility repeat the wh .le books of Aris- 

 totle's metaphysics. Picas de Mirandola repeated two 

 thousand names which had been read over to him. Jo- 



seph Scaligar, when a young man, could repeat above 

 one hundred verses, having once read them ; and, in 

 the course of a few weeks, he could repeat the content-; 

 of whole books in foreign languages. Magliaherhi 

 dictated, from memory, whole books which had been 

 lost. Several individuals are said to have been able to 

 repeat the contents of entire books from the end to the 

 beginning, as is reported of the German poet Klop- 

 stock, with respect to Homer, when he was at the school 

 of Porta. William Lyon, a travelling player, repeated 

 the contents of a newspaper from beginning to end. 

 An Englishman once came to Frederic the Great of 

 Prussia, for the purpose of giving him some specimens 

 of his extraordinary memory. Frederic sent for Vol- 

 taire, who read to his Majesty a pretty long poem which 

 he had just finished. The Englishman was concealed 

 in such a manner as to be able to hear every word tliat 

 was said. When Voltaire had concluded, Frederic ob- 

 served that a foreign gentleman would immediately re- 

 peat the same poem to him, and therefore it could not 

 be original. Voltaire listened with astonishment to the 

 stranger's declamation, and then fell into a great rage, 

 and tore the manuscript in pieces. When Frederic in- 

 formed liim of his mistake, the Englishman again dictat- 

 ed to Voltaire the whole poem with perfect correct 



These instances arc sufficiently remarkable, even af- 

 ter making every reasonable allowance for exaggera- 

 tion. But there is a story told by Antonius Muretus 

 respecting the wonderful memory of a young Corsi- 

 ca^ which is still more astonishing. We shall relate 

 the story nearly in his own words. " At Padua there 

 dwelt, not far from me, a young Corsican, who was be- 

 lieved to be of a good family. He had come thither in 

 order to learn the civil law, and had devoted himself, 

 for several years, to this study, with such diligence ands 

 success, that we all began to entertain a high opinion 

 of his learning. During one summer, he came almost 

 every evening to my house. He was reported to bs in 

 possession of an art of memory, by means of which he 

 could perform things which no one could believe with- 

 out being an eye-witness. I hail scarcely learnt this 

 when I became desirous of seeing some or these won- 

 ders ; and my wish was soon gratified. I told him 

 that, in return for my hospitality, I conceived I had a 

 right to ask to see a specimen of his art, if it were at- 

 tended with no inconvenience to himself. He answer- 

 ed immediately, mid without taking time to reflect, 

 that he would willingly comply, as soon as I should 

 desire it. We went directly into an adjoining room, and 

 sat down. I dictated to him words from the Latin, 

 Greek, and other languages with which he was less fa- 

 miliar, sometimes with and sometimes without mean- 

 ing, so different, so unconnected, and in such number, 

 that I was abundantly fatigued with dictating, the boy 

 who took down the words with writing, and the other 

 persons present with hearing and expectation of there- 

 suit. He alone, still cheerful and unexhausted, always 

 called for more, I told him, however, that every tiling 

 must have its due measure and limits, and that I should 

 be perfectly satisfied if he could repeat but the one 

 half of what 1 had dictated. He then stood for some 

 time silent, with his eyes fixed upon the ground, while 

 we were all full of expectation. At length, this won- 

 derful man began to speak ; and he repeated, to our 

 astonishment, every thing in the very same order, and 

 without the slightest embarrassment or hesitation. He 

 then began with the last word and repeated backwards 

 to the first ; and he afterwards repeated the first, third, 

 fifth word, &c. or in any other given order. I after- 

 wards became better acquainted with him, and found, 



