MNEMONICS

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MNEMONICS (from the Greek ^moveiu), to remember); the art of assisting the memory. In the article Memory, the liveliness with which ideas are often recalled by accidental associations, has been spoken of. This very naturally led men to attach ideas, words, &c, purposely, to certain things familiar to the mind, in order to be assisted by the latter in remembering the former. One kind of mnemonics, and perhaps the earliest, is to attach the idea to be remembered to some impression of the senses, such as the external objects which are most familiar to our eyes (topology, from r6nos, place): some persons make use of a picture, arbitrarily drawn, to which they attach the subjects to be remembered, in a certain order (symbolics, from cv^o\oV, mark); others make use of numbers. There are certain natural aids to the memory, which we all employ; for instance, if we put a piece of paper in a conspicuous spot of our room, or make a knot in a handkerchief, in order to be reminded of certain things at particular times. As to topology, an orator who intends to deliver a long speech without notes, may derive assistance from previously entering the room where he is to speak, and attaching in his mind to certain prominent objects in the room the chief heads of his speech. To remember dates, several methods have been devised. The one proposed in Gray's Memoria Technica is to make certain changes in the names of persons, places, &c, in such a way that the words shall signify also certain numbers, according to apian previously adopted. A table must be drawn up, similar to the following:a e i o u au oi ei ou y 123 456 789 0 b d t f I s p k n xIf we now wish to impress in our memory that Julius Caesar arrived at the supreme power 46 B. C, we may change the Julius into Julios, which will be easily remembered whenever we think of Julius, and os signifies, according to the above plan, 46. If we wish to remember that Alexander the Great founded his empire 331 B. C, we change Alexander into Alex^ ita, ita signifying 331 according to th& above. In the same way Cyrus, changed into Cyruts, gives the year of the foundation of his great empire. This method may much facilitate the retaining of facts to a certain extent; but it would seem as it the changes themselves might become too numerous to be easily remembered.S37stems of mnemonics of a more general character have been proposed ; few, however, or none, have remained in vogue for any length of time. Generally speaking, mnemonics ought to be individual; each individual ought to find out that method of assisting his memory which is most convenient to himself; and this will vary, of course, with his habitual associations. The only true basis of a philosophic memory, however, is just classification, (See Memoiy.) Considerable aid to the memory may be derived from the use of rhymes, or a rhythmical arrangement of words. Remote antiquity made use of rhythm to preserve the memory of historical facts before the invention of writing. The ancients were well acquainted with mnemonics; according to some, the science came from the East to the Greeks; others consider the poet Simonides as the inventor of them ; but such inventions cannot be properly assigned to any particular individual. In the time of Cicero it was known among the Romans (see Cicero De Orat. ii, 86 et seq.; Auct. ad Herenn. hi, 16 seq.; Quinctil. x, 1,11 seq. After Q,uinctilian's time, mnemonics again declined. In considering the use of mnemonics by the ancient orators, we should remember that they delivered long orations indeed, but had nothing like our debates, in which a member of a deliberative body sometimes rises, and speaks for hours in succession, recapitulating all which has been said before him on the .question, and therefore, to a considerable degree, without premeditation. Most of the .systems of mnemonics devised for the ancients, would be useless for a parliamentary orator of the present day. In the place of the ancient mnemonics, the schoolmen used the tabellary method. Conrad Celtes, in the fifteenth century, and Schenkel, in the sixteenth, reestablished the ancient system. In modern times, several scholars have given much attention to this subject. Some of the best works are Kastner's Mnemonik, oder die Gedachtriisskunst der Alten (Leipsic, 1805); Systematische Anleitung zur Theorie und Praxis der Mnemonik, by Aretin (Sulzbach, 1810); Feinagle's New Art of Memory, to which is prefixed some Account of the Principal Systems of Artificial Memory (London, 1812); Gray's Memoria Technica (1730). The degree to which the power of memory has been sometimes carried, is almost incredible. Thus Seneca states, that, by the mere effort of his natural memory, he was a?ble to repeat 2000 words upon once hearing them, each in its order, though they had no dependence or connexion on each other. He also mentions Cyneas, ambassador to the Romans from king Pyrrhus, who in one day so weir learnt the names of the people whom he saw^ that the next day he saluted all the senators, and all of the populace assembled, each by his proper name. Pliny says that Cyrus knew every soldier in his army by name, and L. Scipio all the people of Rome. Charmipas, or rather Carneades, when required, it is said, would repeat any volume found in the libraries as readily as if he were reading. Doctor Wallis tells us, that, without ;the assistance of pen and ink, or anything equivalent, he was able, in the dark, by the mere force of memory, to perform arithmetical operations, as multiplication, division, extraction of roots, &c, to forty places. It is said of Magliabecchi, that a gentleman, having lent him a manuscript which fie was going to print, came to him soon after it was returned, and, pretending that he had lost it, desired him to repeat as much of it as he could; on which Magliabecchi wrote down the Whole, without missing a word or varying the spelling. ]VtNEMOSYNE (Greek, Memory), in the Grecian mythology; daughter of Uranus Ccelus, Heaven), and Gaia (Terra, Earth), and by Jupiter the mother of the nine ftluses. (q.v.jMo signifies tribe, nation, in many idioms of Southern Africa. MOAB ; the land of the Moabites, an Arabian tribe, dwelling in the mountainous region east of the Dead sea, from Zoar to the river Arnon, between the Midianites, Edomites and Amorites. According to the Mosaic account (Gen. xix, 30), the Moabites were descended from Moab, the son of Lot by his eldest daughter. In the time of the judges, they were for eighteen years masters of the Hebrews, but in the time of David, were rendered tributaries to them. After the Babylonish captivity, they lost their separate national existence. Their principal leaders mentioned in scripture, are Balak and Eglon ; their idols were Peor and Chemosh.