Ideatypics; or, an Art of Memory/Appendix

by William Tanner Imeson

Layout 2

Appendix.
A.

The Bardic Traditions, moulded into the regular form of Triads, and annually recited in public by the ancient Britons, shew the early application of the Ideatypic principle. The following example of a preceptive Triad will shew the manner in which a visible object was united to a well known duty or practice, and connected with a moral maxim, which thus was fixed more firmly in the memory. The translation of a Triad is given here.

'Mid the snow, green plants arise; All are bound by Nature’s ties: Anger dwells not with the wise.

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Appendix. B.

There are those who can hardly bring their minds to localize systematically, i. e. to put anything to be remembered in any given place; and yet every day's business is similarly managed, though without method. This is through deficient education. There are those also who have not the faculty of localizing in any great degree. For these I have a room very simple in its divisions; so that while the division into 100 places is suited to the student, the division into 50 is suited to the every-day requirements and wants of ordinary men.

The lines represented in the wood-cut are to be regarded in practice as imaginary, not real, and as furnishing us with 50 places. We begin at the floor, instead of the roof, for places 1 to 9. The left-hand, or first wall, has places 11 and upwards, including 19. The second or front wall has places 21 to 29 inclusive. The third or right-hand wall has places 31 to 39 inclusive. The fourth^[1] wall with the door, the position of the spectator, has places 41 to 49 inclusive. The ceiling, as shewn in the wood-cut, has the 50th place in the centre, and its four corners only unoccupied.

If we need a second room, it is divided in precisely the same way. For, if we wish to reckon places 50 to 100, the place in the second room is shewn from the first, by adding 50 to it; e. g. the place which is 31 in the first room, is 31 + 50 = 81st in the second. Again, the 44th place in the first room is 44 + 50 = 94th in the second. This arrangement may be soon learnt and applied in connection with other parts of the system. The simplest division to which we can arrive, is the floor divided into 9 places, the seat of the units. We have in this also the law of the series, and we are able at once to determine the relative place of every figure, more especially in my division of one room into 100 places. There can be no difficulty in determining the situation of any figure, as the fives are uniformly in the centre—the threes always occupy one corner—so also every other figure occupies its relative place.

Students should often ask themselves questions similar to this, as an exercise: On what wall, &c. shall I find such a number?

 

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APPENDIX. C.

In constructing a scale of numbers, many important considerations were to be attended to. Among others, to join efficient with inefficient letters—those that are more frequently found with those that are less common, l, m, n, r, are letters of great power, and severally represent 5, 6, 7, 8. Other letters of less power, or of a different character, are placed in groups, classified principally with a view to ready and extensive combination, in accordance with certain philological laws. Certain combinations of articulate sounds are incapable of being pronounced hence a rule arises, that "Two (or more) mutes of different degrees of sharpness and flatness, are incapable of coming together in the same syllable."—Latham. Without attention to this, then, there might have been a very unequal distribution of the numeral representatives, instead of my present very extended means of operation in making words and phrases.

We have therefore put f and v together, as much also for the ease with which these similar sounds may be remembered, or changed the one for the other. But ph and f are identical in many words, to the ear, though not to the eye. gh and f are often identical. Hence, to a certain extent, the reason of the groupings in the scale, page 77. Fig. 3, Pl. II. is very easy to learn, and may be used as less extended than the scale, but it is much less efficient. A further view of the relationship of letters is presented here.

(Hard)

Sharp

—

p

. . . .

t

. . . .

k

. . . .

s

. . . .

f

(Soft)

Flat

—

b

. . . .

d

. . . .

g

. . . .

z

. . . .

v,

&c.

k and g were belter placed apart, on account of sound. In evolving what is currently called Grimm's law, Comparative Etymology presents us with the frequent interchange of similarly enunciated letters. I have, therefore, while attending to other considerations, attempted to join those consonants together which are most nearly related, as t, d, th.

I will now give some help to the recollection of the extended scale, p. 77. Take nine symbols, each made out of a letter or two which belong to the place designed for the symbol, and with each symbol associate the objects or words that belong to its own place, thus:—

	HOPE	OAK	IDA
S	AGE	LEO	EMU
	INO	ROE	YEW

0. S, the initial letter of serpent, may be the symbol, or a serpent that hisses, and enunciates the sounds c, s, z, and sc as s.
1. Near the symbol Hope (p)^[2] imagine a bee (b) flying.
2. Near the symbol Oak (k) imagine an axe (x) and cask (c and sk), and carve Quick (q and ck) ch and gh hard, on the Oak.
3. Imagine yourself to be at (t) the (th) mount IDA (d).
4. Near the symbol of age (g) personified, let there be a jay, uttering ti, si, zr, pronounced as sh. On the foot of age there might be a shoe (sh), and written on this tu and su, pronounced as snu.
5. The symbol Leo, or Lion, (l).
6. The symbol Emu (m) a bira.
7. The symbol Ino (n), a female in ancient mythology.
8. The symbol Roe (r).
9. The symbol Yew (w) may have attached to it Ivy (v) that a Foe (f) tries to pull down. We might further imagine ph and gh, pronounced as f, to be chalked on the back of the foe.

These nine symbols will be very serviceable as points of attachment in connection with these numbers, when we wish to use them. We might extend symbols to all the places of a room, by taking something as a symbol that the figures of each place would furnish. If our symbols were all things that we could suppose animated, they would be preferable; mythological characters, for instance, or such personifications as Wisdom, Justice, Peace, &c. In short, available modes may be greatly multiplied. It is left to the ingenuity of the learner to carry one out for himself.

1. The fourth wall could not be represented in the wood-cut.
2. The letters in parentheses are the letters of the numeral scale, p. 77, for which the words preceding them are placed.