32 



SCIENCE. 



[VuL. XII. No. 285 



binations of meaningless sounds, of which the ' Barbara, celarent,' 

 etc., is a typical survival ; the translation of letters into numbers 

 and associations formed on ridiculous principles, seasoned with 

 wretched puns, — all these flourished, and had their day. One 

 ■doctor even invented a pill that would improve the memory ; while 

 another announced with great i!clat that the seat of the memory is 

 the occiput, and that roasted fowl, small birds, and other delicious 

 things, acted favorably on this organ. Even the pledging of the 

 pupils to secrecy is not a new invention. These systems have been 

 well likened to the keys, with enormous brass stars attached, that 

 one gets on steamboats. The object of the appendage is to pre- 

 vent one from forgetting to leave the key behind, but the encum- 

 brance one has to carry to secure this end is a greater annoyance 

 than the task of remembering to return the key. 



Only in very recent times has the scientific study of memc^y as 

 s. psychic function been seriously undertaken, and the subject been 

 popularly treated in a sound manner. The name of Dr. Pick de- 

 serves to be mentioned as among those who first broke away from 

 ■utterly artificial systems, and, while modestly claiming the success 

 of his teaching, presented the topic on a natural basis. His present 

 volume is mainly a reprint of former lectures, with a history of 

 mnemonics, and a series of testimonials of the success of his teach- 

 dng. It seems to have been brought out by the unjust use of his 

 work by Loisette. 



Dr. Kay's work has many points that deserve high commenda- 

 tion. "The author has little faith in arts for improving the mem- 

 ory in two or three lessons, but he has unbounded faith in systems 

 of education, properly conducted, to effect incredible improvements 

 in this direction." Accordingly he approaches the problem from a 

 broad psychological point of view, with no haste to suggest star- 

 tling practical results. A very small portion of the book is devoted 

 to a study of what is currently understood as memory. The main 

 object is to show the position of memory in the hierarchy of mental 

 powers, and set forth the modern doctrine of its physiological con- 

 comitants. An entire chapter is devoted to the relation of body 

 and mind ; an equally full description of the senses and their mode 

 of acquiring information is given ; the nature of mental images, 

 and the role of the unconscious, are similarly treated. We are 

 then prepared to consider the special processes upon which a good 

 ■memory depends. First and foremost is close and accurate atten- 

 tion to the impression at its first appearance. The attention must 

 be trained, and sense-perception made quick and accurate, if mem- 

 ory is to be retentive. Not less important is the association of our 

 knowledge by natural links, and along the lines of our own inter- 

 •ests. It is only by such means that a serviceable memory can be 

 developed, if by memorj' we mean, not the power of performing a 

 few striking mental gymnastics, but the power of having our 

 knowledge ready to hand, and carrying it with little effort. That 

 this problem changes its character with each individual, goes with- 

 out saying. Mr. Kay's book is full, in fact over-full, of citations 

 irom various authorities, and is an admirable book to put in the 

 hands of an intending student of the subject. It is a pity that his 

 physiology is sometimes at fault, that his authorities are at times 

 promiscuously chosen, and especially that he has not taken advan- 

 tage of the most recent technical studies of the memory, of which 

 the work of Dr. Ebbinghaus is so excellent a type. These seem to 

 be omitted because they are in a foreign tongue. From the liberal 

 use that Mr. Kay makes of translated works, one can infer how 

 much his book would have increased in value had he gone to the 

 ■originals. 



The last volume on our list has little claim to serious considera- 

 tion, were it not for the practical service that a knowledge of its pur- 

 pose may render. Mr. Fellows here prints the whole of Loisette's 

 lesson-papers, urging that they have not been copyrighted, and 

 that his signature to a pledge of secrecy was secured on false pre- 

 tences. He furthermore gives evidence that casts a serious doubt 

 upon the honesty of Loisette's career. The system itself is cer- 

 tainly a most wonderful combination of the endless repetition of a 

 few cant expressions ; of persistent reference to the originality and 

 ■excellence of the Loisettian method, duly emphasized by Italics and 

 bold type ; of most careful prescriptions against breathing an atom 

 of this sacred information ; and of a general unacknowledged se- 

 lection from previous writers on the topic. A sentence will proba- 



bly suffice to illustrate the tone of the teaching : " My Discovery, 

 so far as it pertains to this Lesson, demonstrated what had ?iever 

 bee7i suspected by any otte before, — that all memories — the strong- 

 est as well as the weakest — are PRODIGIOUSLY STRENGTH- 

 ENED in both Stages by learning and reciting forwards and back- 

 wards, or, what is better still, by maki7ig and repeating from mem- 

 ory both ways a series of from 100 to 500 words arranged in con- 

 formity to the three Laws given below, which Laws were revealed 

 to me, on their Physiological, or only true side, by my Discovery." 

 It is certainly surprising that this 'system ' should have met with 

 the success it had ; and it is hoped that its publication in this form 

 will not only prevent the swelling of the list of the victimized, but 

 will warn all against any one who advertises a royal road to any 

 mental acquisition the gate of which is opened only by a fee and a 

 pledge of secrecy. 



The Animal Life on Our Sea-Shore. By Angelo Heilprin. 

 Philadelphia, Lippincott. I2'^^. 50 cents. 



This is a handbook on the local fauna of Philadelphia and of the 

 much-frequented New Jersey and south Long Island coasts, which 

 will certainly prove extremely interesting to all who care to know 

 something of the animal forms they may see during their summer 

 vacations. The book may be relied upon as being thoroughly ac- 

 curate ; but it is in no way hard reading for the unscientific, and 

 tells them just what they want to know, which is what they may 

 see by the seashore, and where to see it, at the same time giving in 

 each case the life-history of any specimen they may procure. We 

 already have Emerton's ' Life on the Seashore,' designed for the 

 New England coast, and this little book covers another region 

 largely frequented during the summer season. It treats of the 

 shell-fish, the jelly-fish, the star-fish, the worms and sponges, and 

 some coastwise fishes. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The letters in recent numbers of Science describing a peculiar 

 form of northern lights serve to call to the mind of the editor of 

 the Progressive Age a sight that he witnessed in August of last 

 year when on board the steamship ' Ozama,' passing along the 

 north-east coast of the island of Santo Domingo, and near to the 

 northern entrance to Mona Passage which connects, between the 

 islands of Porto Rico on the east, and Santo Domingo on the west, 

 the Atlantic Ocean on the north, and the Caribbean Sea on the 

 south. " We were southward bound, and the hour was about nine 

 o'clock at night. The moon was at its full, or thereabouts, and 

 very bright, as is the case in the tropics, especially in the summer 

 season. The sky was entirely clear at the time, with the exception 

 of a small cloud forward of xthe ship some distance, but between 

 the moon and the coast, which is low and flat for many miles at 

 that part. Suddenly a sharp shower of rain commenced to fall 

 from the cloud, and immediately there appeared over the land, ap- 

 parently close to the edge of the coast, the most perfect and beau- 

 tiful rainbow it has ever been the pleasure of the writer to see. 

 Everybody but the writer and the captain, who was on the bridge, 

 were below at the time. The latter said it was the first occurrence 

 of the kind that had come under his observation. That was cer- 

 tainly the case with me." 



— The number of words in a person's vocabulary has been fre- 

 quently and variously estimated. The old philologists thought that 

 few persons used more than ten thousand words, while the ordi- 

 nary unlettered man possessed from three thousand to four thou- 

 sand words. It is well known that Shakspeare's vocabulary in- 

 cludes fifteen thousand words, and Milton's eight thousand words. 

 A Swiss writer, M. Edmont de Beaumont, has recently made esti- 

 mates far in advance of these. He maintains that rustics have at 

 their command as many as seven thousand words ; artisans, ten 

 thousand ; tradesmen, fifteen thousand ; men of culture, twenty 

 thousand; and university graduates, twenty-five thousand. The 

 minimum number of words " without which one makes a pitiful 

 figure in a conversation among cultivated persons is ten thousand." 

 M. Beaumont himself claims to have the use of twenty thousand 

 words in several languages. 



