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 ...

MEMORY. 279
greatly, in the case of men of letters, tci cultivate a capacity
for retaining words.
How verbal Memory may be cultivated. - It is surprising of
what a degree of culture our power of retaining a succession,
even of insignificant sounds, is susceptible. Instances sometimes occur, of men who are easily able to commit to Memory a
long poem, composed in a language of which they are wholly
ignorant; and I have myself known more than one instance of
an individual, who, after having forgotten completely the classical
studies of his childhood, was yet able to repeat with fluency
long passages from Homer and Virgil, without annexing an
idea to the words that he uttered.
This susceptibility of Memory with respect to words, is possessed by all men in a very remarkable degree in their early
years, and is, indeed, necessary to enable them to acquire the
use of language; but unless it be carefully cultivated afterwards by constant exercise, it gradually decays as we advance
to maturity. The plan of education which is followed in this
country, however imperfect in many respects, falls in happily
with this arrangement of nature, and stores the mind richly,
even in infancy, with intellectual treasures, which are to remain
with it through life. The rules of grammar, which comprehend
systems, more or less perfect, of the principles of the dead
languages, take a permanent hold of the Memory, when the
understanding is yet unable to comprehend their import; and
the classical remains of antiquity, which, at the time we acquire
them, do little more than furnish a gratification to the ear, supply us with inexhaustible sources of the most refined enjoyment;
and, as our various powers gradually unfold themselves, are
poured forth, without effort, from the Memory, to delight the
imagination, and to improve the heart. It cannot be doubted
that a great variety of other articles of useful knowledge, particularly with respect to geographical and chronological details,
might be communicated with advantage to children iii the form
of memorial lines. It is only in childhood that such details
can be learned with facility; and if they were once acquired
and rendered perfectly familiar to the mind, our riper years