Chapter II: Preface

Prof. A. Loisette wishes to call the attention of those who are now for the first time becoming acquainted with his System of Memory Training, that he was the first teacher of a Memory System to announce and to insist that Memory is not a _separate faculty_ whose office it is to carry the recollective burdens of the other faculties--but that Memory is a Physiological and Psychological property of each mental act, and that such act retains the traces and history of its own action, and that there are as many memories as there are kinds of mental action, and that, therefore, Memory is always concrete, although, for convenience sake, we do speak of it in the abstract, and that consequently all Memory improvement means _improvement of the Action_ or _Manner_ of action of the Mental powers, and that what he imparts is the right way to USE the Intellect and Attention--and that hence his System does make and must make better observers, clearer and more consecutive thinkers, and sounder reasoners as well as surer rememberers; that in short the fundamental principle of his System is Learn by Thinking, and that his achievements as a mind-trainer are completed when he has helped the student of his System to acquire the Habit of Attention and the Habit of Thinking on that to which he is attending on all occasions, which two Habits combined constitute the Habit of Assimilation, and that when this Habit of Assimilation is thus established in the pupil's mind, the System as such is no longer consciously used.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

1--FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ASSIMILATIVE MEMORY. 1

2--BRAIN TONIC; or, The stimulating Power of the Method. 6

3--Educating the Intellect to stay with the senses of
Sight and Hearing; or, Cure of Mind Wandering. 15

4--Learning any Series of Proper Names--American
Presidents. 25

5--The Unique Case of the English Sovereigns--How to learn
their Succession quickly. 31

6--NUMERIC THINKING; or, Learning the longest sets of
figures almost instantly. 38

7--DECOMPOSITION OR RECOMPOSITION, AND INTELLECTUAL
INQUISITION; or, How to learn Prose and Poetry by
heart, with numerous examples, including Poe's Bells. 47

8--ANALYTIC SUBSTITUTIONS; or, A Quick Training in Dates,
etc., Dates of the Accession of American Presidents
and of the English Kings, Specific Gravities, Rivers,
Mountains, Latitudes and Longitudes, etc. 66

9--THOUGHTIVE UNIFICATIONS; or, How to never forget Proper
Names, Series of Facts, Faces, Errands, Conversations,
Speeches or Lectures, Languages, Foreign Vocabularies,
Music, Mathematics, etc., Speaking without notes,
Anatomy, and all other Memory wants. 109

10--ACME OF ACQUISITION; or, Learning unconnected facts,
rules and principles in the Arts, Sciences, Histories,
etc., etc., chapters in books, or books themselves, in
one reading or study. 149

11--Learning one hundred facts in the Victorian Era, with
dates of year, month, and day of each in one
thoughtive perusal. 159

ASSIMILATIVE MEMORY.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.

What is the basic principle of my system? It is, _Learn_ by _Thinking_. What is _Attention_? It is the will directing the activity of the _intellect_ into some particular channel _and keeping it there_. It is the opposite of mind-wandering. What is thinking? It consists in _finding relations_ between the objects of thought with an _immediate awareness_ of those relations.

What is the Sensuous memory? It is association through the eye or ear of a _succession_ of sights or sounds without any reflection or consideration of the units of the succession, or what they stand for, or represent. It is learning by _rote_--mere repetition--mere brainless or thoughtless repetition--a mode of learning that is not lasting--and always causes or promotes mind-wandering.

What is Assimilative memory? It is the _habit_ of so _receiving_ and _absorbing_ impressions or ideas that they or their representatives shall be _ready for revival or recall whenever wanted_. It is learning through relations--by thinking--from grasping the ideas or thoughts--the meaning and the comprehension of the subject matter. This mode of learning promotes attention and prevents mind-wandering.

What are the two stages of the Memory? Let me illustrate: Last week, month, or year you saw a military procession pass along the streets. Note how your mind was affected. Into your eyes went impressions as to the number composing the procession, their style of costume or dress, the orderliness or otherwise of their march, the shape and form of the musical instruments in the hands of the band, and the appearance of the officer in charge on horseback. Into your ears went impressions of the sound of the tramp and tread of the soldiers, the tune played by the band, and any commands uttered by the officer. These impressions commingling in your brain made up your experience of the passing of the procession--your first and only experience of it at _that_ time. I call this the First Stage of the Memory--the stage of the _First Impression_, which is always the precursor of the Second Stage.

What is the Second Stage of the Memory? This moment you recall what? Not the procession itself; for it is no longer in existence. You saw and heard it then, but you do not see or hear it now. You only recall the impression left upon your mind by the procession. A ray of Consciousness is passed over that impression and you re-read it, you re-awaken the record. This is the Second Stage of the Memory--the _revival_ of the previous experience--the recall to consciousness of the First Impression. The First Impression with no power to revive it afterward, gives no memory. However great the power of Revival, there is no memory unless there was a First Impression. There are three conditions of memory--(1) Impression. (2) Its Preservation. (3) Its Revival. We are mainly concerned here with the Impression and its Revival.

There are (_five_) kinds of memories rising from the natural aptitudes of different individuals--(1) First Impressions are apt to be feeble and the power to revive them weak--a poor memory. (2) First Impressions are usually weak but the power to revive them is strong--still a poor memory. (3) First Impressions are usually vivid but the power to revive them is weak--a poor memory. (4) First Impressions on all subjects are strong and the power to revive them is strong--a first-class memory. (5) First Impressions in some particulars are very strong and the reviving power in regard to them is very strong--a good memory for these particulars, or a memory good for mathematics, or music, or faces, or reciting, or languages, &c., but usually weak in most other respects.

SINCE WE ARE TO LEARN BY THINKING WE MUST AT THE OUTSET LEARN THE DEFINITION OF THE THREE LAWS OF THINKING.

THREE LAWS OF MEMORY OR OF THINKING.

_The first and principal thing the pupil requires to do in this lesson after learning the definition of the following Three Laws--is to be able to clearly understand the examples under each Law, and whether they verify or illustrate that Law._