The Trained Memory | Page 9

These methods are based wholly on the principle that
_that is most easily recalled which is associated in our minds with the most complex and
elaborate groupings of related ideas_.
[Sidenote: Methods of Pick]
Thus, Pick, in "Memory and Its Doctors," among other devices, presents a well-known
"figure-alphabet" as of aid in remembering numbers. Each figure of the Arabic notation is
represented by one or more letters, and the number to be recalled is translated into such
letters as can best be arranged into a catch word or phrase. To quote: "The most common
figure-alphabet is this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

t n m r l sh g f b s d j k v p o ch c g qu z
"To briefly show its use, suppose it is desired to fix 1,142 feet in a second as the velocity
of sound, t, t, r, n, are the letters and order required. Fill up with vowels forming a phrase
like 'tight run' and connect it by some such flight of the imagination as that if a man tried
to keep up with the velocity of sound, he would have a 'tight run.'"
[Sidenote: Scientific Pedagogy]
The same principle is at the basis of all efficient pedagogy. The competent teacher
endeavors by some association of ideas to link every new fact with those facts which the
pupil already has acquired.
In the pursuit of this method the teacher will "compare all that is far off and foreign to
something that is near home, making the unknown plain by the example of the known,
and connecting all the instruction with the personal experience of the pupil--if the teacher
is to explain the distance of the sun from the earth, let him ask, 'If anyone there in the sun
fired off a cannon straight at you, what should you do?' 'Get out of the way,' would be the
answer. 'No need of that,' the teacher might reply; 'you may quietly go to sleep in your
room and get up again; you may wait till your confirmation day, you may learn a trade,
and grow as old as I am--then only will the cannon-ball be getting near, then you may
jump to one side! See, so great as that is the sun's distance!'"
We shall now show you how to apply this principle in improving your memory and in
making a more complete use of your really vast store of knowledge.
Rule I. Make systematic use of your sense-organs.
[Sidenote: How to Remember Names]
Do you find it difficult to remember names? It is because you do not link them in your
mind with enough associations. Every time a man is introduced to you, look about you.
Who is present? Take note of as many and as great a variety of surrounding facts and
circumstances as possible. Think of the man's name, and take another look at his face, his
dress, his physique. Think of his name, and at the same time his voice and manner. Think
of his name, and mark the place where you are now for the first time meeting him. Think
of his name in conjunction with the name and personality of the friend who presented
him.
Memory is not a distinct faculty of mind in the sense that one man is generously endowed
in that respect while another is deficient. Memory, as meaning the power of voluntary
recall, is wholly a question of trained habits of mental operation.
Your memory is just as good as mine or any other man's. It is your indifference to what
you would call "irrelevant facts" that is at fault. Therefore, cultivate habits of observation.
Fortify the observed facts you wish to recall with a multitude of outside associations.
Never rest with a mere halfway knowledge of things.

[Sidenote: Five Exercises for Developing Observation]
To assist you in training yourself in those habits of observation that make a good memory
of outside facts, we append the following exercises:
a. Walk slowly through a room with which you are not familiar. Then make a list of all
the contents of the room you can recall. Do this every day for a week, using a different
room each time. Do it not half-heartedly, but as if your life depended on your ability to
remember. At the end of the week you will be surprised at the improvement you have
made.
b. As you walk along the street, observe all that occurs in a space of one block, things
heard as well as things seen. Two hours later make a list of all you can recall. Do this
twice a day for ten days. Then compare results.
c. Make a practice of recounting each night the incidents of the day. The prospect