PHENOMENAL MEMORIES.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 363, 23 April 1903, Page 3

PHENOMENAL MEMORIES.

IWli ■*§—■■€ WfcoOtewSßaaCwsa ateealtt «■• Kmrnmrn a«

Many af the greatest men bora had phenomenal memories. Caesar know the names of thousands of soldiers In his legions. A modern man of science often has a prodigious memory for special terminology. Prof. Aaa Gray assured me, says Prof. E. S. Holden, in Harper's Magosme, that he could at once recall the names of something like 25,000 plants; Prof. Theodore Gill oan do the same for fishes. Our memory for mere words is itself much more extensive then is generally admitted. The average well-to-do child of two years of age has a vocabulary of some 300 word», and its father may have the command of 30,000 more. The 10,000 verses of the Rig-Veda have for 3,000 years been accurately preserved is the memories of the Brahmins. Not one Brahmin alone, but thousands, oan to-day reoite it word for word. Thousands of Mohammedans, likewise, know the Koran by heart, as all learned Chinese know their classic books. The chiefs of Polynesia can and do repeat hundreds of thousands of words in their genealogies—taking days and even weeks for the recitation. Hundreds of pianists can play all day, and many days, by mem* ory, and I have myself seen Von Buelow conduct Beethoven's fifth symphony without a score. Chess players have a visualizing memory, while arithmetical prodigies may have any. one of the three or a eonabinaMon of all.