Elements of the philosophy of the human mind. By Dugald Stewart. Rev. and abridged, with critical and explanatory notes, for the use of colleges and schools. By Francis Bowen ...

~MEMo RY 267
I shall only add further on this head, that, as far as my own
personal observations have extended, the forgetfulness of proper
names incident to old men, is chiefly observable in men of
science, or in those who are habitually occupied with important
affairs; and this, I apprehend, is what might reasonably have
been expected a priori; partly from their habits of general
thought, and partly from their want of constant practice in that
trivial conversation which is every moment recalling particulars
to the mind.
In endeavoring thus to account, from the general laws of our
constitution, for some of the phenomena which are commonly
referred immediately to physical changes in the brain, I would
not be understood to deny, that age often affects the memory
through the medium of the body. This, indeed, is one of those
melancholy truths to which every day's experience bears witness. It is beautifully and pathetically stated by Locke in the
following words: "' The pictures drawn in our minds are laid in
fading colors, and, if not sometimes refreshed, vanish and disappear. Thus the ideas, as well as children, of our youth, often
die before us; and our minds represent to us those tombs to
which we are approaching; where, though the brass and marble
remain, yet the inscriptions are effaced by time, and the imagery
moulders away." *
them. It is certain, also, that we often think in words; and there is probably, at such times, some slight impulse on the organs of speech, analogous
to what is perceived when a musical note or tune is called to mind. But a
lesion of the power of utterance may break a link in the chain of association, and thus add to the partial defect of memory now under consideration." - (Percival's Worklcs, Vol. II. p. 7.3.); In ordinary cases, I confess, I strongly suspect that the physical effects
of old age on this part of our constitution are not so great as is commonly
imagined; and that much of what is generally imputed to advanced years,
may be fairly ascribed to a disuse of the faculty, occasioned by a premature
retreat from the business of the world. One thing is certain (as Cicero
has remarked) that those old men who have force of mind to keep up their
habits of activity to the last, are, in most cases, distinguished by a strength
of memory unusual at their years; to which I may add, that this faculty,
after a temporary decline, frequently recovers a great deal of its former vigor.
" I never yet heard of any old man," says Cicero, in the character of