THE POWER OF MIND. William Walker Atkinson
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to receive intense impressions which will be readily recalled.
It has been found that by a little analytical work the meaning of a thing is brought out so plainly that the mind will readily grasp it and hold on to it. The best way to investigate a thing is to ask questions about it. The best way to bring out your knowledge of a subject is to ask yourself questions about it, as we have shown in the first part of this chapter. The best way to fix a thing in your mind is to ask yourself questions calculated to bring out its full meaning.
To illustrate this idea, let us take the well known line:
“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,”
and dissect or analyze it. What does the curfew do? It tolls the knell of parting day. What tolls the knell of parting day? The curfew. What does the curfew toll? It tolls the knell. The knell of what does it toll? The knell of parting day. The knell of what part of the day does the curfew toll? The knell of parting day. The knell of parting what? The knell of parting day. If you have gone over the above questions and answers, in earnest, you will never forget this line. It will stand out clearly in your mind.
In the above sentence the active word is, of course, the verb, tolls, and the rest of the sentence is dependent upon its active part. The attention, as a rule, is attracted by a moving thing more readily than by something at rest, and if the action of the verb is impressed on the mind, the rest of the sentence will be connected with it by the law of association. It helps the memory to picture the verb’s meaning in the mind. In committing a thing to memory, find out what it all means, by this analytical method, and you will have simplified matters very materially.
Chapter XIII.
Memory of Figures, Dates and Prices.
Treating of the development of the memory upon these most interesting lines, which are so important to the man and woman in their everyday and business life— There is nothing so annoying to the student as to forget dates, and the failure to remember prices and figures has proved the undoing of many a promising young business man—This chapter goes into the subject clearly, and gives explanations of poor memory along these lines, and points out the methods whereby improvement may be had—Exercises and directions are given, which will prove valuable to the student.
There is a great difference between persons regarding the remembrance of dates, prices, figures, etc., the difference being caused by the varying degrees of development of the faculty of number. Those in whom this faculty is largely developed will invariably store away a clear and lasting impression of figures and everything connected with them, while those in whom the faculty is deficient will find it quite difficult to remember anything connected with the subject. The latter class should develop the faculty by making use of it in the direction of having much to do with figures, especially in the branch of mental arithmetic. If you are one of this class, buy an elementary Mental Arithmetic, such as is used in the primary grades of schools, and carefully study it, working out every example given. Take up one lesson every day, and in a short time you will find that you are developing quite an interest in figures, and are beginning to remember them much better. The most satisfactory results may be obtained from practice of this kind. The development thus gained is permanent, and the faculty will continue to develop and register clearer impressions of figures and all concerning them.
DATES.
To those who find difficulty in remembering or recalling dates, the plan of forming a mental image of the date as attached to some important character or thing connected with the date has proven helpful. For instance, suppose that you wish to remember the year of the discovery of America by Columbus. You will find it easy if you will form a mental picture of Columbus standing on the shores of the newlydiscovered land, with the figures 1492 over his head. Or if you wish to remember the date of the Declaration of Independence, form the picture of Liberty Bell with 1776 painted on it in bright figures. Or, in the case of the beginning of the Civil War, the mental picture of Fort Sumter with 1861 appearing on its sides in large figures. Or the date of Napoleon’s death, by the mental picture of his tomb with 1821 graven on its side. In forming the mental picture it is well to have the date marked on a piece of paper, in large figures, upon which the eye should intently gaze while the mental picture is built around the figures. Then close the eyes, or turn away the head, and revive the impression. If this is done several times the memory of the figures will be indelibly impressed upon the mind.
We know of a schoolboy who remembered the beginning and ending of the term of each President by marking the dates upon the foreheads of each, in the pictures of his school history, but we scarcely advocate the following of this plan. A strong mental image may be formed by the average person, and when a strong impression of the date, accompanying the person or object, is stored away, it is likely to prove permanent and the associated impressions will always appear when the subject is recalled.
The above plan proves of the greatest value to those whose “eye memory” is good. In some cases, however, the “ear memory” is better, and in such cases it will be found that the verbal repetition of the date by the student, or better still by a friend, will fix the sound in the memory so that it may be readily recalled. Others find that they can best remember dates by doggerel rhymes committed to memory, such as—
“In fourteen hundred and ninetytwo
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”
“In eighteen hundred and sixtyone
America’s Civil War begun.”
“In seventeen hundred and seventysix
Jonathan taught John Bull a few tricks.”
“In eighteen hundred and twentyone,
At last did set Napoleon’s sun.”
“In eighteen hundred and ninetyeight
The Spanish fleets did meet their fate.
For in that year, the first of May,
Dewey entered Manila Bay;
And two months later, on third of July,
Cervera’s fleet was sunk by Schley.”
The average schoolboy has no trouble in composing this grade of doggerel to order, and many an important date and event has been memorized in this way.
But of all the above plans of memorizing dates, we prefer the first mentioned plan of “visualizing,” or forming a mental image of the date in connection with the person or object connected with the date. It is more easily acquired than might be imagined, and after a little practice becomes almost automatic. One can form a mental picture of almost any historical event, and the portraits of the leading characters in history may readily be recalled.
In the case of students who have many important dates to remember, it is a good plan to connect the name of the person or event with the date, by the law of associated impressions. By always speaking of “Waterloo 1815”; or “Yorktown 1781”; or “Hastings 1066,” the dates of these battles will become inseparably associated with the events themselves, and the two impressions will become fused. Of course, this will require the frequent repetition of the event and associated date, to fix the combined impression in the mind. If the date and event had been associated in this way from the beginning, there would have been no more trouble about the association than in the case of the words “Washington” and “George,” or “Napoleon” and “Bonaparte.” If we had not heard Washington’s first name, or Napoleon’s last name, until long after we had formed a clear impression of the other name of each, we would have sometimes forgotten the last learned name, whereas, having learned them both together, the two names are practically one so far as our memory is concerned. If teachers would always speak of “Waterloo 1815,” the students would never forget the date of that battle, so long as they remembered its name.
PRICES.