Assimilative memory, or, How to attend and never forget / by A. Loisette.

  • Loisette, A. (Alphonse)
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Assimilative memory, or, How to attend and never forget / by A. Loisette. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    54/184 (page 42)
    1784, a double Concurrence—Lefranc de Pompignan— [pompous In. by S.], and Samuel Johnson. General Foy, an orator and artillery officer, fond of lit- erature, was born the same year [Concurrence] 1775, as the o7'ator [Inclusion], Daniel O’Connell. He died in 1825, the same year [Concurrence] as Paul-Louis Courier, who was also an artillery officer [Inclusion], fond of litera- ture [Inclusion], and moreover, like O’Connell, a violent pamphleteer [Inclusion]. Two illustrious, uncompromising characters [Inclusion], both brilliant composers [Inclusion], the one musical, the other literary, the one a representative of the music of the future, the other of the obsolete polemic of the past [Ex- clusion], Richard Wagner and Louis Veuillot, were born in the same year, 1813, and died in the same year, 1883. The last point is a double Concurrence. Two foremost harbingers of modern thought [Inclusion], Voltaire and J. J. Rousseau, died in 1778 —[Concurrence]. Both gained for themselves the reputation of having been the most reckless antagonists of Christianity [Inclusion]. And still the one dedicated a church to the service of God, whilst the other in his “Emile” wrote a vindication of Christianity [^Exclusion as to each of them. Inclusion as to both of them]. A little practice makes the pupil prompt in dealing with any figures whatever. Take the height of Mount Everest, which is 29,002 feet. We have all heard that it is more than five miles high. Let us test this statement. There are 5,280 feet in a mile, multiply 5,280 by 5, and we have 26,400. Hence we see that Mount Everest being 29,002 feet high must be more than five miles high. Half of a mile is 5,280 feet divided by 2, or 2,640 feet. Add this to 26,400 and we have 29,040. Hence we see that Mount Everest is 5J miles high lacking 38 feet, or that if we add 38 feet to its height of 29,002, it would then be exactly 5J miles high. Can we then forget that it is exactly 29,002 feet high ? Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in i6i6. The First Folio Edition of his works was printed in 1623, the Second in 1632, the Third in 1664, and the Fourth in 1685. Can we fix these events infallibly in our memories?