MARVELS OF MEMORY

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Sep 28, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 38.

MARVELS OF MEMORY.

Some good instances of remarkable memories are to be gathered from the records of Greece and Rome. Themistocles, a famous Greek general, is said to have known every citizen in Athens. No doubt Otho, the Roman emperor, owed much of his success to a remarkable memory. He learned the name of every soldier and officer in his army, and this, among other things, rendered him so popular that he was at length acclaimed emperor.

Hortensius, the Roman orator, is said to have been able, after sitting a whole day at a public sale, to give an account from memory of all things sold, with the prices and names of the purchasers.

Coming to later times, the following anecdote affords an instance of wonderful powers of memory: An Englishman went to Frederick the Great of Prussia for the express purpose of giving him an exhibition of his powers of recollection. Frederick sent for Voltaire, who was then residing at the Prussian court. At the King's request Voltaire read a long poem which he had just composed. The Englishman was present and was in such a position that he could hear every word of the poem, tho he was concealed from Voltaire's notice. After the reading of the poem Frederick observed to the author that the production could not be an original one, as there was a foreign gentleman present who could recite every word of it, Voltaire listened in amazement to the stranger as he repeated, word for word, the poem which he had been at so much pains in composing, and, giving way to a momentary outbreak of passion, he tore the manuscript in pieces. He was then informed how the Englishman had become acquainted with his poem, and his anger being appeased he was willing to do penance by copying down the work from the second repetition of the stranger, who was able to go through it as before.

As again showing that retentive gifts were not found in the educated alone, there is a notable instance of “Blind Jamie,” who lived some years ago in Stirling. He was a poor, uneducated man and totally blind, yet he could actually repeat after a few minutes’ consideration any verse required, from any part of the Bible, even the obscurest and least important.

An instance of a wager being won by a feat of memory was that of a person who repeated an entire newspaper, advertisements as well, after a single reading.

Another instance of a wager being won by a feat of recollection was that of Mr. Futter, who several years ago was a well-known tithe collector in Norfolk. He wagered that he could recollect every word of a sermon that was to be preached and afterward write it out verbatim. He was not seen to take notes and at the close of the sermon retired to a room and wrote out the sermon. On comparison with the manuscript, which the preacher had been asked to bring for the purpose, it was found to vary in one instance only, where a synonym had been used, but in that Mr. Futter was proved to be correct, for the clergyman had a distinct recollection of substituting one word for the other in his delivery.

When reporting was forbidden in the Houses of Parliament and any one seen to make notes was immediately ejected, the speeches, nevertheless, were published in the public press. It was discovered that one Woodfall used to be present in the gallery during the speeches and, sitting with his head between his hands, actually committed the speeches to memory. They were afterward published.

Lord Macaulay had a marvelous facility for remembering what he read. He once declared that if by accident all the copies of Milton's “Paradise Lost” were destroyed he would be able to write out the whole of this long poem without a single error. In fact, he once performed the marvelous feat of repeating the whole poem, making only one omission.

Charles Dickens, after once walking down a street, could remember the names of all the shopkeepers and their businesses.—London Spare Moments.