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MNEMONICS (from Gr. /IvaoBat, remembe...

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 630 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MNEMONICS (from Gr. /IvaoBat, remember; whence ,uvijswv, mindful; Td jsvnsovuKdv, Sc. r xvrlsa, that which mechanically See also:aids the memory) , the See also:general name applied to devices for aiding the memory. Such devices are also described as memoria technica. The principle is to enable the mind to reproduce a relatively unfamiliar See also:idea, and specially a See also:series of dissociated ideas, by connecting it, or them, in some artificial whole, the parts of which are mutually suggestive. A See also:pupil is far more likely to remember the cities which claimed to be the birthplace of See also:Homer when he remembers that their names can be made to See also:form the See also:hexameter See also:line, " See also:Smyrna, See also:Chios, See also:Colophon, See also:Salamis, Rhodos, See also:Argos, Athenae." Among the most famous examples of metrical mnemonics are the " gender rhymes " of the Latin grammars, the hexameter lines (especially that beginning " See also:Barbara Celarent ") invented by logicians (for a See also:list see See also:Baldwin's Dict. of Philos., vol. ii., s.v. " Mnemonic Verses "), the See also:verse for remembering the number of days in the months (" See also:Thirty days hath See also:September, See also:April, See also:June and See also:November "). Other devices are numerous. Thus the name and See also:lights of the sides of a See also:ship may be remembered because the three shorter words " See also:port," " See also:left," " red," go together, as compared with the longer, " starboard," " right," " See also:green." Memory is commonly classified by psychologists according as it is exercised (a) mechanically, by See also:attention and repetition; (b) judiciously, by careful selection and co-ordination; and (c) ingeniously, by means of artifices, i.e. mnemotechny, mnemonics. It must, however, be observed that no mnemonic is of any value which does not possess the qualities of (a) and (b). A mnemonic is essentially a See also:device which uses attention and repetition, and careful selection is equally necessary. A more accurate description of mnemonics is " mediate" or " indirect " memory. In the technical sense the word " mnemonic " is confined to the systems of general application which have been elaborated by various writers.

Systems.—Mnemonic devices were much cultivated by See also:

Greek See also:sophists and philosophers, and are repeatedly referred to by See also:Plato and See also:Aristotle. In later times the invention was ascribed to the poet See also:Simonides,' perhaps for no other See also:reason than that the strength of his memory was famous. See also:Cicero, who attaches i See also:Pliny, H.N. vii. 24. Cicero, De or. ii. 86, mentions this belief without committing himself to it.considerable importance to the See also:art, but more to the principle of See also:order as the best help to memory, speaks of See also:Carneades (or perhaps Charmades) of See also:Athens and See also:Metrodorus of Scepsis as distinguished examples of the use of well-ordered images to aid the memory. The latter is said by Pliny to have carried the art so far " ut nihil non iisdem verbis redderet auditum." The See also:Romans valued such See also:helps as giving facility in public speaking. The method used is described by the author of Rhet. ad Heren., 16–24; see also See also:Quintilian (Inst. Or. xi. 2), whose See also:account is, however, somewhat incomplete and obscure. In his See also:time the art had almost ceased to be practised. The Greek and See also:Roman See also:system of mnemonics was founded on the use of See also:mental places and signs or pictures, known as " topical mnemonics.

The most usual method was to choose a large See also:

house, of which the apartments, walls, windows, statues, See also:furniture, &c., were severally associated with certain names, phrases, events or ideas, by means of symbolic pictures; and to recall these it was only necessary to See also:search over the apartments of the house till the particular See also:place was discovered where they had been deposited by the See also:imagination. In accordance with this system, if it were desired to See also:fix an historic date in the memory, it was localized in an imaginary See also:town divided into a certain number of districts, each with ten houses, each house with ten rooms, and each See also:room with a See also:hundred quadrates or memory-places, partly on the See also:floor, partly on the four walls, partly on the roof. Thus, if it were desired to fix in the memory the date of the invention of See also:printing (1436), an imaginary See also:book, or some other See also:symbol of printing, would be placed in the thirty-See also:sixth quadrate or memory-place of the See also:fourth room of the first house of the historic See also:district of the town. Except that the rules of mnemonics are referred to by Martianus See also:Capella, nothing further is known regarding the practice of the art until the 13th See also:century. Among the voluminous writings of See also:Roger See also:Bacon is a tractate De arte memorativa. Raimon See also:Lull devoted See also:special attention to mnemonics in , connexion with his ars generalis. The first important modification of the method of the Romans was that invented by the See also:German poet Konrad See also:Celtes, who, in his See also:Epitome in utramque Ciceronis rhetoricam cum arte memorativa nova (1492), instead of places made use of the letters of the See also:alphabet. About the end of the 15th century Petrus de See also:Ravenna (b. 1448) awakened such astonishment in See also:Italy by his mnemonic feats that he was believed by many to be a necromancer. His See also:Phoenix artis memoriae (See also:Venice, 1491, 4 vols.) went through as many as nine See also:editions, the seventh appearing at See also:Cologne in 16o8. An impression equally See also:great was produced about the end of the 16th century by See also:Lambert See also:Schenkel (Gazophylacium, 161o), who taught mnemonics in See also:France, Italy, and See also:Germany, and, although he was denounced as a sorcerer by the university of See also:Louvain, published in 1593 his tractate De memoria at See also:Douai with the See also:sanction of that celebrated theological See also:faculty. The most See also:complete account of his system is given in two See also:works by his pupil See also:Martin See also:Sommer, published at Venice in 1619.

In 1618 See also:

John See also:Willis (d. 1628?) published Mnemonica; sive ars reminiscendi (Eng. version by Leonard Sowersby, 1661; extracts in Feinaigle's New Art of Memory, 3rd ed., 1813), containing a clear statement of the principles of topical or See also:local mnemonics. See also:Giordano See also:Bruno, in connexion with his exposition of the ars generalis of Lull, included a memoria technica in his See also:treatise De umbris idearum. Other writers of this See also:period are the Florentine Publicius (1482); Johann Romberch (1533); Hieronimo Morafiot, Ars memoriae (1602); B. Porta, Ars reminiscendi (1602). In 1648 See also:Stanislaus See also:Mink von Wenussheim or See also:Winckelmann made known what he called the " most fertile See also:secret " in mnemonics—namely, the use of consonants for figures, so as to See also:express See also:numbers by words (vowels being added as required); and the philosopher See also:Leibnitz adopted an alphabet very similar to that of Winckelmann in connexion with his See also:scheme for a form of See also:writing See also:common to all See also:languages. Winckelmann's method, which in fact is adopted with slight changes by the See also:majority of subsequent " See also:original " systems, was modified and supplemented in regard to many details by See also:Richard See also:Grey (1694–1771), who published a Memoria technica in 1730. The See also:principal See also:part of Grey's method (which may be compared with the Jewish system by which letters also stand for numerals, and therefore words for See also:dates) is briefly this: " To remember anything in See also:history, See also:chronology, See also:geography, &c., a word is formed, the beginning whereof, being the first syllable or syllables of the thing sought, does, by frequent repetition, of course draw after it the latter part, which is so contrived as to give the See also:answer. Thus, in history, the See also:Deluge happened in the See also:year before See also:Christ two thousand three hundred See also:forty-eight; this is signified by the word Del-etok, Del See also:standing for Deluge and etok for 2348." To assist in retaining the mnemonical words in the memory they were formed into memorial lines, which, however, being composed of See also:strange words in difficult hexameter scansion, are by no means easy to memorize. The vowel or consonant, which Grey connected with a particular figure, was chosen arbitrarily; but in 18o6 Gregor von Feinaigle, a German See also:monk from See also:Salem near See also:Constance, begap in See also:Paris to expound a system of mnemonics, one feature (based on Winckelmann's system) of which was to represent the numerical figures by letters chosen on account of some similarity to the figure to be represented or some accidental connexion with it. This alphabet was supplemented by a complicated system of localities and signs. Feinaigle, who apparently published nothing himself, came to See also:England in 1811, and in the following year one of his pupils published The New Art of Memory, which, beside giving Feinaigle's system, contains valuable See also:historical material about previous systems.

A simplified form of Feinaigle's method was published by Aime Paris (Principes et applications diverses de la mnemonique, 7th ed., Paris, 1834), and the use of symbolic pictures was revived in connexion with the latter by a See also:

Pole, Antoni Jaiwifisky, of whose system an account was published by the See also:Polish general J. See also:Bem, under the See also:title Expose general de la methode mnemonique See also:polonaise, perfectionnee a Paris (Paris, 1839). Various other modifications of the systems of Feinaigle and Aime Paris were advocated by subsequent mnemonists, among them being the Phrenotypics of See also:Major Beniowsky, a Polish refugee, the Phreno-Mnemotechny (1845) of See also:Francois Fauvel Gouraud the Mnemotechnik of Karl See also:Otto See also:Reventlow (generally known as Karl Otto), a Dane, and the Mnemotechny of the See also:American Pliny See also:Miles. The more complicated mnemonic systems have fallen almost into complete disuse; but methods founded chiefly on the so-called See also:laws of association (see ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS) have been taught with some success in Germany by, among others, See also:Hermann Kothe, author of Lehrbuch der Mnemonik (2nd ed., See also:Hamburg, 1852), and Katechismus der Geddchtnisskunst (6th ed. by Montag, See also:Leipzig, 1887); and See also:Hugo See also:Weber-Rumpe, author of Mnemonische Zahlworterbuch (See also:Breslau, 1885) and Mnemonische Unterrichtsbriefe (1887–1888); in England by Dr See also:Edward Pick, whose Memory and the Rational Means of Improving it (5th ed., 1873) and Lectures on Memory Culture (1899) obtained a wide circulation. Passing over the See also:work of See also:William See also:Day (New Mnemonical See also:Chart and See also:Guide to the Art of Memory, 1845), Rev. T. Brayshaw (Metrical Mnemonics, a very rare work), Fairchild and W. See also:Stokes, the next name of any importance is the Rev. J. H. Bacon, a pupil of Edward Pick. His book (A Complete Guide to the Improvement of the Memory, 3rd ed., rev.

1890) contains a See also:

good See also:summary of the history of mnemonics and a very reasonable account of the principles; it gains in value by its See also:comparative simplicity. More or less successful systems were issued by See also:Lyon See also:Williams (1866), T. See also:Maclaren (1866), See also:Thomas A. See also:Sayer (1867), Rev. See also:Alexander See also:Mackay (1869), See also:George See also:Crowther (1870), F. See also:Appleby (188o), John Sambrook, who made use of similarities in sounds (See also:gun, r; See also:Jew, 2), the See also:French scientist See also:Abbe Moigno, J. H. See also:Noble, and See also:Allan Dalzell. Considerable See also:interest was roused both. in See also:London and in See also:America by the controversy which raged See also:round the system of "See also:Alphonse Loisette," who taught his "art of never forgetting" successively in London and See also:Washington. It claimed to be original in system, but was attacked in England by F. Appleby and in America by George S. See also:Fellows, and is generally regarded as both unoriginal and inferior on the whole to preceding systems (for the litigation in America see e.g.

Part II. of See also:

Middleton's Memory Systems, pp. 96 sqq.). An interesting work (Memoranda mnemonica) was published by See also:James Copner in 1893, containing a system based partly on the use of letters for figures and words for dates, as well as a large number of rhymes for remembering facts in biblical, Roman, Greek and See also:English history. He made use of Grey's system, but endeavoured as far as possible to invent, where necessary, words and terminations which in them-selves had some special fitness in place of Grey's monstrosities. More complicated systems are the Keesing Memory System (See also:Auckland, 1896), the See also:Smith-See also:Watson System of Memory and Mental Training (Washington), and the Pelman memory system.

End of Article: MNEMONICS (from Gr. /IvaoBat, remember; whence ,uvijswv, mindful; Td jsvnsovuKdv, Sc. r xvrlsa, that which mechanically aids the memory)

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