1. What difficulty did the Congressman have in connection with Z. Taylor?
  2. What caused it?
  3. What would have been his best aid to remember the name?

‌HOW TO HELP THE MEMORY.

There are therefore two ways of helping the memory. (1) By a device resorted to in each separate case to help make a more vivid First Impression. Nearly all Memory Systems hitherto taught have only been such Devices; of little benefit except in the cases where they have been actually applied—mere temporary appliances, and many of them of doubtful value, devoid of any strengthening power. (2) By a Method of Memory Training. This is the unique character of my System. It is used as a device during the process of developing the latent powers of the Memory and the Attention, but the result of its use is to so strengthen the Memory that, as a Device it is no longer required. As a trainer my System operates in three ways. (1) It increases the general Impressionability, so that all First Impressions must be more vivid than they have ever been before. (2) It increases the general Revivability, so that First Impressions are more under the control of the will, and can be afterward recalled when desired. (3) It compels the Intellect to stay with the senses and thereby it abolishes mind-wandering.

  1. Did he have a record of the name in his mind?
  2. How many ways are there of helping the memory?
  3. What is the first way?
  4. The second?
  5. What is meant by Memory Training?
  6. What is the unique character of my system?
  7. What is the result of its use?
  8. In how many ways does my system operate as a Trainer?
  9. What are they?

A one-sided view of the Memory proclaims that if vivid First Impressions are made in all cases, that is enough. This opinion implies a limited acquaintance with the different kind of memories. In some cases where a person is troubled with chronic forgetfulness, a vivid First Impression may be received, and no recollection of it will long survive. That a vivid impression was received is proved by the fact that, shortly after the occurrence, his memory of the details of it is possibly nearly perfect, and yet, after the lapse of a few days, or weeks, or months, the recollection of every trace of the occurrence has vanished. After the total oblivion of the matter in his waking moments, he will sometimes recall all the details of the affair in a dream. This is demonstration irresistible that the trouble in this‌ case lies, not in receiving vivid First Impressions, but in the weakness of his reviving power. In fact, some memories are much oftener weak from deficiency in reviving power than from feebleness of first impressions. If, however, Impressionability be increased to the highest degree in all cases, and Revivability be strengthened to the same extent, all memories will be good, however bad some of them may theretofore have been in any or in all respects.

MODES OF ESTABLISHING CONNECTIONS.

Recollective Analysis is used to memorise a series of words or facts between every pair of which the relation of In., Ex., or Con. exists. It equally applies to a single pair of such words or facts.

Recollective Synthesis or Thoughtive Unification is used where no relation exists.

A revivable connection is established in such cases by means of a Correlation which always consists of one or more unifying intermediates. And the words, hitherto un-united, which are thus cemented together, are called Extremes.

We had experience in learning the Series in the first chapter that the application of the Laws of In., Ex., and Con. enable us to memorise those Series in much less time than it would have taken had we not known how to make use of those Laws. Many people could never have committed to memory such Series by mere rote or repetition, and not one in a hundred could have learnt to say them backwards by rote alone. Yet my Pupils easily learn them both ways, because Analysis affords the highest possible aid to the Natural‌ Memory. In fact, the deepest and most abiding impression that can be made upon the Natural Memory is by impressing it with relations of In., Ex., or Con.; because these are the Memory-Senses (if the phrase be allowed), these are the Eyes, Ears, Touch, Taste, and Smell of the Memory: and we have only to impress the Memory according to the laws of its own nature and the Memory will retain the impression. This is exactly what my Art does: for I translate every case of Synthesis into an Analytic series by supplying one or more Memory-intermediates that grow out of the “Extremes,” each one of which is an instance of In., Ex., or Con.—Thus, every example of Synthesis is a developed or extended Analysis. To make this translation from Synthesis into Analysis requires no intellectual ingenuity—no constructive power of imagination—but only a recall to consciousness, through In., Ex., or Con., of what we already know about the “Extremes.” I call a specimen of developed Analysis a Correlation, because the Intermediates sustain the direct, immediate, and specific relation of In., Ex., or Con. to the “Extremes” (having nothing in common, in principle or nature, with the old-fashioned Mnemonical “Links,” or “Phrases”).