MEM 
fignify thefe things, or contribute to the remembering 
them, is now to be.fhown. 
The firft thing to be clone is to learn exa£fly the fol¬ 
lowing feries of vowels and confonants, which are to re- 
preiant the numerical figures, fo as to be able at pleafure 
to form a technical word, which fhall (land for any num¬ 
ber, or to refolve a word already formed into the num¬ 
ber it Hands for: 
a e i o u an oi ei oh y 
1234s 6 7 8 90 
b d t f l s p k n z 
Here a and b Hand for 1, e and d for 2, i and t for 3, and fo 
on. Thefe letters are affigned arbitrarily to the refpeftive 
figures, and may very ealily be remembered. The firft 
five vowels in order naturally reprefent 1, a, 3, 4, 5. The 
diphthong au, being compofed of a, 1, and u, 5, Hands for 
6 ; oi, for 7, being compofed of o , 4, and i, 3 ; on for 9, 
being compofed of o, 4, and u, 5; the diphthong ei will 
eafily be remembered for 8 (eight), being the initials of 
the w'ord. In like manner for the confonants, where the 
initials could conveniently be retained, they are made 
ufe of to fignify the number, as t for 3, /’for 4, s for 6, 
and n for 9. The reft were affigned without any particu¬ 
lar realon, unlefs that poffibly p may be more eafily re¬ 
membered for 7, or feptem, k for 8, or oxtu, d for 2, or 
duo -, b for 1, as being the firft confonant, and l for 5, 
being the Roman letter for 50, than any others that 
could have been put in their places. It is farther to be 
obferved, that z and y being made ufe of to reprefent 
the cipher, where many ciphers meet together, as 1000, 
1000000, &c. inftead of a repetition of azyzyzy, See. let 
g Hand for 100, tk for a thoufand, and m for a million. 
Thus ag will be 100, ig- 300, oug 900, See. ath 1000, am 
1000000, loum 59000000, Sec. Fractions may be fet down 
in the following manner: let r fignify the line fieparating 
the numerator and denominator, the firft coming before 
the other after it ; as iro, |; urp, \; pouvag, Sec. 
When the numerator is 1 or unit, it need not be exprelled, 
but begin the fraction with r ; as re ri ro 5, &c. So 
in decimals, rag f 6Tj , rath 
This is the principal part of the method, which confifts 
in exprelfing numbers by artificial words. The application 
to hiltory and chronology is alio performed by artificial 
words. This part of the art confifts in making luch a 
change in the ending of the name of a place, perlon, pla¬ 
net, coin, Sec. without altering the beginning of it, as 
Ihall readily fuggeft the thing fought, at the fame time 
that the beginning of the word, being preferved, Ihall be 
a leading or prompting lyllable to the ending of it fo 
changed. Thus in order to remember the years in which 
Cyrus, Alexander, and Julius Csefar, founded their re- 
fpective monarchies, the. following words may be formed: 
for Cyrus,_ Cyr«A; for Alexander, Alexita ; for Julius 
Crefar, Julios. Uts fignifies, according to the powers af¬ 
figned to the letters before mentioned, 536; ita is 331; 
and os is 46. Hence it will be eafy to remember, that the 
empire of Cyrus was founded 536 years before Chrift, that 
of Alexander 331, and that of Julius Ctefar 46. 
For the farther application of this method, we refer to 
the ingenious author’s own account. We Ihall only add, 
that technical verfes contribute much to the affiftance of 
the memory, both as they generally contain a great deal 
.in a little compafs, and alio becaule, being once learned, 
they are feldom or never forgot. The author before 
quoted has given us feveral fpecimens of fuch verfes in 
liiftory, chronology, geography, and aftronomy, as alio 
the Jewilh, Grecian, and Roman, coins, weights, and 
jneafures, &c. He advifes his reader to form the words 
and verfes for his own ufe himfelf; as he perhaps will bet¬ 
ter remember them than thofe formed by the author. 
Lowe’s “Mnemonics delineated in a fmall Compafs and 
eafy Method, &c.” 8vo. Lond. 1737, is confidered by Dr, 
Watts as a ipaterial improvement of Grey’s treatife, and 
accordingly it lias been annexed to the eighth and lalt 
O R Y. 79 
edition of that -work. In Feyjoo’s “ Cartas Eruditas y 
Curiofas,” 4to. 5 tom. Madrid, 1781, there is a diflertation 
on remedies for the memory, and one on the art of me¬ 
mory. In another effay, the principles of the art are 
ftated to confift in particular places and images ; and a 
fphere or globe is divided into various compartments. In 
a lection ot this effay, Feyjoo fpeaks of remembering cer¬ 
tain words by the means of images-, and in another febtion 
he illuftrates the application of the art to poetry. Since 
the pofthumous publication of thefe effays, the author 
having died in 1765, (after having been with difficulty 
faved from the horrors of the Inquilition, for the freedom 
of his cenlures on the licentioufnels of the clergy, and 
the luperftitions of the Romilh church,) no mention of 
the local and lymbolical memory occurs until the year 
1806, when it was announced in the Philofopliical Maga¬ 
zine, vol. xxvi. that theftudy ofthefcience of mnemonics 
was revived in Germany. In 1807, M. Gregor Von Fein- 
aigle, a native of Baden, vifited Paris, and delivered lec¬ 
tures on his New Syftem of Mnemonics and Methodics. 
As foon as his firft courfe was ended, and in confequence 
of repeated farcafms in the public prints, M. Feinaigl* 
thought fit to give a public exhibition; at which, with¬ 
out his own appearance, twelve or fifteen of his pupils 
attended, and each made fuch an application of the me¬ 
thod as his fituation in life required. The principal parts 
were the following: hiftory, about names and years; geo¬ 
graphy, with reipeft to longitude, latitude, number of 
inhabitants, lquare miles, Scc. Scc. grammar in various 
languages, about different editions of the fame work; 
pandebts, their divifion, and title of each book, Sec. dif¬ 
ferent lyftems of botany, poetiy, arithmetic, Sec. Sec. At 
laft one defired the company to give him one thoufand 
words, without any connection whatfoever, and without 
numeric order: for inltance, the word ajhonomer, for 
No. 62. wood, for No. 188. lovely, for No. 370. dynajiy, for 
No. 23. David, for No. 90, Sec. Sec. till all the numbers 
were filled; and he repeated the whole (notwithftanding 
he heard thefe words, without order, and but once) in 
the numerical order; or he told what word was given 
againft any one number, or what number any one word 
bore. 
Early in 1811, M. Feinaigle vifited England; and, hav¬ 
ing made ufe of his own fyftem in the acquirement of th# 
language, he in the month of June gave at the Royal 
Inibitution a public experiment of the efficacy of his me¬ 
thod of facilitating and aflifting memory. Four children^ 
two boys and two girls, all under fourteen years of age, 
had been put under Mr. Feinaigle’s care but two or three 
days before: he had one of the girls but ait hour and a 
half; and the longelt tuition that any of them had received 
was but four hours and a half. One of them repeated 
Goldlinith’s Hermit backward and forward, and ftated the 
ftanza, the line, and the order of any remarkable word 
required of him. One little girl anfwered to queftions in 
the chronology of the Roman emperors; and another mul¬ 
tiplied, without Hate or paper, two fums of eight figures 
by eight, and declared that lhe had not previoully been 
taught arithmetic. A boy determined the geographical 
fituation, in degrees and minutes, of fifty different cities ; 
and on a planil’phere chalked out on a board, marked 
down the true fituation of places named to him. Mr. 
Fincher, of the Inftitution, alfo recited the Mineralogieal 
Tables of Hatiy, the fecond part of which he had taught 
himfelf on Mr. Feinaigle’s fyftem, together with the firft 
part of Briffon’s Ornithologic Syllem; and he declared, 
Irom his own experience, that the principles of Mr. Fein¬ 
aigle’s art were equally calculated to give facility in the 
acquifition, and certainty in the retention, of the tables 
of any other lcience—a fabl which was confirmed by le- 
verai gentlemen prefent, who had attended the private 
courles of the profeflbr. 
Thefe experiments, with fome extraordinary additions^, 
were repeated in various parts of the kingdom with the. 
kune iuGtds in that and' the following years; during 
whiqfer 
