Page:Memory Systems, New and Old (Middleton).djvu/71

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Then there are the old syllogistic symbols so dear to the logician, which were arranged as a memory aid as follows:—

Barbara, Celarent, Darii, Ferioque prioris.Cesare, Camestres, Festino, Baroko, secundæ. Tertia, Darapti, Disamis, Datisi, Felapton.Bokardo, Ferison habet, quarta insupur additBramantip, Camenes, Dimaris, Fesapo, Fresison.

The fact that smooth rhymes strongly impress the memory has always been taken advantage of. This fact suggested to Brayshaw his mnemonical system; and Stokes remarks that he prefers rhyming to being prosy.

Southey, the poet, was not above writing the following doggerel as a memory aid for his daughter:—

"A cow's daughter is called a calf;A sheep's child a lamb. My darling must not say 'I are,'But always say 'I am.'"

Rhyming "Books of the Bible," "Parts of Speech," &c., are common, and have often been found useful. The following on the Zodiacal Signs is not so well known:—

"The Ram, the Bull, the Heavenly Twins,And next the Crab the Lion shines, The Virgin, and the Scales,The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea-Goat,The man who holds the watering-pot,And the Fish with glittering scales."

Another instance of the utility of mnemonics may be adduced. When, in February, 1870, the Government took over the private companies' telegraphic systems, they had to provide for the inevitable increase of work by immediately teaching telegraphy to an enormous number of learners. At this juncture some quick process was needed, and a mnemonical arrangement was adopted for the rapid learning of the telegraphic symbols. The Morse alphabet, as is well known, is composed of dots and dashes. To simplify the learning of the symbols they were divided into groups—One group, T M O Ch, was represented by one to four dashes respectively, and to fix the order of these four letters in the