MEM
off, and his breath became fweet; but the' ulcers ftill dif- char»ed peat quantities, and notwithftandmg all that had been done, two large {hankers appeared on the g ans, and a bubo in each groin : He was alfo fe.zed with a cough, and fpit purulent and bloody matter. It was evident that the whole Membram Adipofa had been confumed from the exter- nal part of the body, and the difeafe now began to feize on that Dart of it which invefted the more vital parts ; but nature could fupport it no longer, and he died in the moft extreme degree of a pocky confumption. It is obfervable, that not one bone in the whole body appeared to be touched, though he died with more than forty ulcers upon him. Phil. Tranf.
MembI anaceoo's Ltaf, among botanifts. See the article
MEMBRAS, in ichthyology, a name given by Rondeletius, Aldrovand, and feveral other writers, to the halec or herring. See the articles Halec and Clupea.
MEMIREN, in the materia medica, the name by which Sera- pion and fome other authors have called the pilewort, or fmall celandine. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.
MEMITHA, in the materia medica of the antients, the name -of a plant which fome have fuppofed to be our cerinthe, but others the glaucium, or yellow-horned poppy.
MEMORY (Cycl.)— Many have been the attempts, in all ages, to affilt the Memory. Some have had recourfe to me- dicine, fuch as Horftius % Marfilius Ficinus b , Johnfton % and others. That good health, a good digeftion, and a mind free from care, are helps in this refpeft, is an old obferva- tion '. That attention, application, frequent recapitulation, are neceflary, is known to every one. But whether, befides natural health and parts, and the exercife of our faculties, art may not give a farther afliftance to Memory, has been a queftion. Simonides is faid to be the firft who found out the art of Memory'. His method was by a choice of places and images, as a repofitory of ideas ; fuch, for inftance, as a large houfe divided into feveral apartments, rooms, clofets, tie. All thefe, and their order, were to be rendered ex- tremely familiar to the imagination and Memory. Then, whatever was to be remembered, was by fome fymbolical reprefentatiori or another, as an anchor for navigation, to be connected with fome part of the houfe, or other artificial repofitory, in a regular manner. Cicero ' and Qiiin«ailian ' give us fome account of this method, and fpeak of it with refpecl. Several moderns have attempted improvements of artificial Memory. There was a colleflion of various trea- tifes of this kind publifhed at Leipzig " ; this and Bruxius's Si- monides Redivivus ' are commended by Morhof ". Pafchius gives us fome account alfo of feveral authors who have treated of this art '. It is certainly of ufe in hiftory and chro- nology. The chief artifice, in this refpefl, is to form an artificial word, the letters of which (hall fignify numbers. Hence a date or sera may more eafily be recapitulated and rcmembred than without fuch a contrivance. This invention is mentioned as a fecret known to few, by Pafchius m . It has been profecuted lately in England ", by Dr. Grey.— ["De Sanitat. Studiofor. lib. 2. c. i. * De Vita, lib. I. c. 25. c Johnjlon, Idea Medicin. Prafllc. lib. 8. c. 4. Vid. Pafch. de Nov. Invent, p. 134. ' S>uin8il Inft. Orat. p. 992. ■ 4to;<2.1ib.cit. p. 985. < Ad Herenn. lib. 3. s Lib. cit. h Variorum de Arte Memoriae Tractatus, Lipf. 1678. 8°. ' Polyhiftor. lib. 1. p. 374, 375. " Adami Bruxii, Simonides Redivivus, feu Ars Memoria; & Oblivionis. Lipf. 1640. in 4 . ' Lib. cit. p. 133—140. m Lib. cit. p. 140. Numerus per certas literal, verba memoriali comprehenjas, ex~ primitur. " Vid. Memoria Technica, or a New Method of Artificial Memory, &c. Lond. 1730. 8°. alfo Lowe's Mne- monics.]
The method is this : To remember any thing in hiftory, chronology, geography, C5V. a word is formed, the begin- ning whereof being the nrft fyllable or fyllables of the thing to be remembred, does, by frequent repetition, of courfe draw after it the latter parts, which is fo contrived as to give the anfwer. Thus in hiftory, the deluge happened in the vear before Chrift 2348. This may be fignified by the word D6\-etok ; Del Handing for deluge, and etok for 2348. How thefe words come to fignify thefe things, or contribute to the rcmembring them, is now to be fhewn. The nrft thing to be done, is to learn exactly the following feries of vowels and conlonants, which are to reprefent the numerical figures, fo as to be able at pleafure to form a tech- nical word, which lhall ftand for any number, or to refolve a word already formed into the number it ftands for.
d
3 4
Here a and b ftand for t , e and d for 2, i and * for 3, and fo on. Thefe letters are afiigncd arbitrarily to the refpecrive figures, and may very eafily be remembred. The firft five vowels in order naturally reprefent 1,2, 3, 4, 5. The diph- thong an being compofed of*?, 1, and « a 5, ftands for 6 j 01 for 7, being compofed of s, 4 and /', 3 ; qu for 9, being com- Suppl. Vol. II.
MEM
pofed of 0, 4 and a, 5 : The diphthong el will eafily bs re> membercd for 8, being the initials of the word. In like manner for the confonants, where the initials could conveniently be retained, they are made ufe of to fignify the number, as t for
3, /for 4, s for 6, and n for nine. The reft were affiled without any particular reafon, unlels that poffibly p may be more eafily remembred for 7 or j'eptem, k for 8, or «t», d for 2, or duo j b for 1, as being the firft confonant, and / for 5, being the Roman letter for 50, than any others that could have been put in their places. Memor. Techn. p. 2, 3. 'Tis farther to be obferved, that z and y being made ufe of to reprefent the cypher, where many cyphers meet together, as 1000, 1000000, &c. infteadof a repetition of a zyzyzy, EsV. tetg ftand for 100, th for a thoufand, and m for a million. Thus ag will be 100, ig 300; oug 900, &c. atb 1000, am 1 000000, hum 59000000, fcf>. lb. p. 5.
Fractions may be fet down in the following manner : Let r fignify the line feparating the numerator and denominator, the hrft coming before,, the other after it ; as iro |, urp
4, pourag T V 5 , &c. When the numerator is 1 or unit, it need not be expreffed, but begin the fraction with r ; as re {, ri 4, ro£, &c. So in decimals, rag T su, rath T7 £%. Ibid. This is the principal part of the method, which confifts in expreffing numbers by artificial words. The application to hiftory and chronology is alfo performed by artificial words. The art herein confifts in making fuch a change in the end- ing of the name of a place, perfon, planet, coin, fife, with- out altering the beginning of it, as mall readily fuggeft the thing fought, at the fame time that the beginning of the word, being preferved, fhall be a leading or prompting fyllable to the ending of it fo changed. Thus, in order to remember the years in which Cyrus, Alexander, and Julius Caefar, founded their refpective monarchies, the following words may be formed; for Cyrus, Cyruts j for Alexander, Alextoj for Julius Cafar, JuiiM. Uts fignines, according to the powers affigned to the letters before mentioned, 53b ; ita is 331, and os is 46. Hence it will be eafy to remember, that the empire of Cyrus was founded 536 years before Chrift, that of Alexander 331, and that of Julius Csefar 46. Mem, Techn. Introd. p. viii and lx.
For the farther application of this method, we refer to the ingenious author of the laft cited book. We fhall only add, that technical ver/es contribute much to the affiftance of the Memory, both as they generally contain a great deal in a lit- tle compafs, and alfo becaufe, being once learned, they are feldom or never forgot. The author before quoted has given us feveral fpecimens of fuch verfes in hiftory, chronology, geography, and aftronomy, as alfo the Jewifh, Grecian and Roman coins, weights and meafures, &c. He advifes his reader to form the words and verfes for his own ufe himfelf ; as he perhaps will better remember them than thofe formed by the author. Lib. citat. Introduct. p. xi. It was a practice among the Jews not only to abbreviate Cen- tences and names of many words, by putting together the initial letters of thofe words, and making out of them an arti- ficial word to exprefs the whole, as Ra?nbam for Rabbi Mofes ben Maimon ; but they alfo made ufe of natural words to re- prefent numbers, when they could meet with filch as hap- pened to anfwer the number which they wanted to exprefs a . It is to obfervations of this kind the author laft quoted feems to fay he owed the firft hints of his method b .— [ s Mem.Tech. Introd. p. xv, xvi. b Lib. cit. p. xvii.] As to Simonides's method, Quinctilian fays he will not deny it to be of fome ufe j for inftance, in repeating a multitude of words in the order they occur, and in things of this nature: But he thinks it of lefs ufe in getting by heart a continued oration, and in this refpect rather an incumbrance a . He himfelf advifes, if the fpeech to be remembred be long, to get it by heart in parts, and thofe not very fmall. The partition ou<mt chiefly to be made according to the different topics. He thinks it beft to get things by heart tacitly, and if, the better to fix the attention, the words be pronounced, yet it fhould be in a low voice. Apt divifions help the Memory greatly. But after all, the great art of Memory is exercife ; To get many things by heart, and daily, ifpoflible. No- thing increafe* more by ufe, or fuffers more by neglect, than the Memory. At whatever age a man aims at the improve- ment of this faculty, he fhould patiently fubmit to the uneafy labour of repeating what he has read or written. Here, as in other cafes, where habits are to be acquired, exercife fhould be increafed by degrees *\ — [ a Nonne 'mipediri eorum, quee di- cit, decurfum neceffe ejl duplici memoria cura ? Nam quomoda toterunt copulata fuere, ft propter fmgula verba ad jmgulas formal refpiciendum erit. QuinS. Inft. Orat. Lib. xi. c. 2. p. 989. D guinfi. loc. cit. p. 993. feq.] Lord Bacon enumerates feveral helps to Memory, as order, artificial place, verfe, whatever brings an intellectual thing to ftrike the femes, and thofe things which make an impref- fion by means of a ftrong pafuon, as fear, furprize, f$c, Thofe things alfo fink deepeft, and dwell longeft in the Me- mory, which are imprefled upon a clear mind unprejudiced either before or after the imprefnon ; as the things we learn in childhood, or think of juft before going to fleep ; as like- wife the firft times things are taken notice of.
L A mul.
