A CONTRAST.—When unconnected ideas have to be united in the memory so that hereafter one will recall the other, the teachers of other Memory Systems say: “What can I invent to tie them together—what story can I contrive—what foreign extraneous matter can I introduce—what mental picture can I imagine, no matter how unnatural or false the juxtaposition may be, or what argument or comparison can I originate—no matter how far-fetched and fanciful it may be, to help hold these ‘Extremes’ together?” They do not reflect that all these mnemonical outside and imported schemes must also be remembered, and that being in the form of sentences expressing loose relation of mere physical juxtapositions or the complex relations invented by constructive imagination or subtle intellect, they are, to most, more difficult to recollect than the extremes would be without these ponderous aids. Hence, in their professed attempt to aid the memory, they really impose a new and additional burden upon it.
- Are you required to make any original correlations?
- How many?
- Between what extremes?
- Do you find it difficult?
- Have you any evidence given here that others have experienced any difficulty in making them?
- Did they finally succeed?
- What question is frequently asked by other memory teachers?
On the other hand, I simply ask the memory what it already knows about the “Extremes.” The first intermediate of a correlation is directly connected through In., Ex., or Con., with the first “Extreme,” and the last intermediate with the last “Extreme,” and the intervening intermediate (if there be one) with the other two, and thus, the intermediates being already in the memory, and not the result of invention or ingenuity, my Method of Correlation is purely and solely a Memory process. In this way, I use the Memory to help the Memory, I use the reviving power of the memory to make a vivid First Impression between two hitherto unconnected “Extremes.” I add nothing to the “Extremes,” import nothing from abroad in regard to them, invent nothing. I simply arouse, re-waken to consciousness, what is already stored away in the memory in regard to those “Extremes,” and, by reciting the Correlation a few times forwards and backwards, cement the “Extremes” themselves so vividly together, that henceforth one “Extreme” revives the other “Extreme” without the recall of the intermediates.
And in the chapter on Recollective Analysis, and also in the previous part of this chapter, I have given the attentive student such a familiarity with the Memory Laws of In., Ex., and Con., that he can make Correlations as easily as he breathes.
When learning prose or poetry by means of endless repetitions to acquire, and endless views to retain, the mind soon wanders, and thus discontinuity is promoted; but, in reciting a Correlation forwards and backwards from memory, the mind cannot wander, and thus the continuity is greatly strengthened. Again, memory is improved by exercise, and improved in the highest degree by making and memorising correlations, because in making them the reviving power of the memory is exercised in conformity to Memory’s own laws; and in memorising the Correlations both stages of memory are most vividly impressed. Thus, making and memorising the Correlations TRAINS both Memory and Continuity. And if to this training process there be added the habit of Assimilation which the use of the Analytic-Synthetic and Interrogative Analysis Methods of learning Prose and Poetry by heart imparts, as well as my other training methods, then the NEW memory thus acquired will not demand the further use of the System any more than the adult swimmer will need the plank by which as a boy he learned to swim.
- What new burden do they impose on the memory?
- What do I require from my pupils?
- To what is the first intermediate connected?
- Through what?
- How do I deal with the other intermediates?
- What is a memory process?
- Is the memory used to help the memory in any way?
- Do I add anything to the extremes?
- Is memory improved by exercise?
- When is the System laid aside?
LEARNING FOREIGN WORDS.
“The Guide to Memory, or a New and Complete Treatise of Analogy between the French and English Languages,” compiled by Charles Turrell, Professor of Languages, and published in 1828, contains the words which are the same in each language (alphabet, banquet, couplet, &c.), and those almost the same—“Letters necessary in English, and superfluous in French, are included in a parenthesis, thus Bag(g)age. Letters necessary in French, and superfluous in English are printed in Italics, thus Hommage.” At first sight it seems as if this plan were a good one (and some still recommend it[ Footnote [J]). But of the words which are the same in both languages, some of them have meanings one rarely if ever needs to express, while others are seldom seen except in Dictionaries, so the student who uses this method does not make much useful progress. The Rev. W. Healy, of Johnstown (Kilkenny), long before he had finished my course of lessons, stated: “I wrote out the French words that correspond to the English of everything around us and that are in common use, and found that by the aid of Rec. Syn. I could commit them much faster than the time taken to write them out.”
The words he had made himself familiar with were those most frequently met with in reading, and useful in speaking and writing.
Mr. D. Nasmith employed a clerk in finding the number of occurrences of the same word in three books. Some words occurred thousands of times, and others only five, or fewer. The words which frequently occurred he arranged in order, the commonest first, and compiled exercises to suit them. His “Linguists” (German and French) are published by Mr. D. Nutt, of 270, Strand, London, and by the aid of them, and of my System, a useful knowledge of German (or French) can be rapidly acquired.