How to remember faces. The memory of faces is closely connected with the memory
of names, and yet the two are not always associated, for there are
many people who easily remember faces and yet forget names, and vice versa.
In some ways, however, the memory of faces is a necessary precedent for
the recollection of the names of people, for unless we recall the face,
we are unable to make the necessary association with the name of the person.
We have given a number of instances of face memory in our chapter on name
memory, in which are given instances of the wonderful memory of celebrated individuals who
acquired a knowledge and memory of the thousands of citizens of a town or city,
or the soldiers of an army. In this chapter, however, we
shall pay attention only to the subject of the recollection of the features of persons,
irrespective of their names. This faculty is possessed by all persons, but
in varying degrees. Those in whom it is well developed seem to recognize the
faces of persons whom they have met years before, and to associate them with
their circumstances in which they last met them, even where the name escapes the
memory. Others seem to forget a face the moment it passes from view,
and fail to recognize the same persons whom they met only a few hours before,
much to their mortification and chagrin. Detectives, newspaper reporters, and others
who come in contact with many people usually have this faculty largely developed, for
it becomes a necessity of their work, and their interest and attention is rendered
active thereby. Public men often have this faculty large developed by reason of the
necessities of their life. It is said that James G. Blaine never forgot
the face of anyone whom he had met and conversed with a few moments.
This faculty rendered him very popular in political life. In this respect, he
resembled Henry Clay, who was noted for his memory of faces. It is
related of Clay that he once paid a visit of a few hours to a
small town in Mississippi on an electioneering tour. Amidst the throng surrounding him was
an old man with one eye missing. The old fellow pressed forward, crying
out that he was sure that Henry Clay would remember him. Clay took a
sharp look at him and said, I met you in Kentucky many years ago.
Did I not, Yes, replied the man. Did you lose your
eye since? Then, asked Clay. Yes several years after, replied the
old man. Turn your face sideways so that I can see your profile,
said Clay. The man did so. Then Clay smiled triumphantly, saying I've
got you now. Weren't you on that jury in the Innis case at Frankfort
that I tried in the United States court over twenty years ago? Yes,
sir ee, said the man. I knowed that you know me, and
I told him you would, And the crowd gave a whoop, and Clay
knew that he was safe in that town and county. Vedoc. The celebrated
French detective is said to have never forgotten a face of a criminal whom he
had once seen. A celebrated instance of this power on his part is that
of the case of de la Franche, the forger who escaped from prison and
dwelt in foreign lands for over twenty years. After that time, he returned
to Paris, feeling secure from detection, having become bald, losing an eye,
and having his nose badly mutilated. Moreover, he disguised himself and wore
a beard in order to still further evade detection. One day, Vidoc met
him on the street and recognized him at once his arrest and returned to prison.
Following instances of this kind could be multiplied indefinitely, but the student will
have had a sufficient acquaintance with persons who possessed this faculty developed to a large
degree, so that further illustration is scarcely necessary. The way to develop this
phase of memory is akin to that urged in the development of other phases.
The cultivation of interest and the bestow of attention as a whole are not apt
to prove interesting. It is only by analyzing and classifying them that the study
begins to grow of interest to us. The study of a good elementary work
on physiognomy is recommended to those wishing to develop the faculty of remembering faces,
For in such a work, the student is led to notice the different kinds
of noses, ears, eyes, chins, foreheads, etc. Such notice
and recognition tending to induce an interest in the subject of features. A rudimentary
course of study in drawing faces, particularly in profile, will also tend to
make one take notice and will awaken interest. If you are required to draw
a nose, particularly from memory, you will be apt to give it your
interested attention. The matter of interest is vital. If you were shown a
man and told that the next time you met and recognized him, he would
hand you over five hundred dollars, you would be very apt to study his
face carefully and to recognize him later on, Whereas the same man, if
introduced casually as a mister Jones, would arouse no interest and the chances of
recognition would be slim. Halleck says, every time we enter a street car,
we see different types of people, and there is a great deal to
be noticed about each type. Every human countenance shows its past history to one
who knows how to look. Successful gamblers often become so expert in noticing the
slightest change of an opponent's facial expression that they will estimate the strength of his
hand by the involuntary signs which appear in the face, and which are frequently
checked the instant they appear. Of all classes, perhaps artists are more apt
to form a clear cut image of the features of persons whom they meet,
particularly if they are portrait painters. There are instances of celebrated portrait painters who
were able to execute a good portrait after having once carefully studied the face of
the sitter, their memory enabling them to visualize the features at will. Some
celebrated teachers of drawing have instructed their scholars to take a sharp, hasty glance
at a nose, an eye, an ear, or chin, and then
to so clearly visualize it that they could draw it perfectly. It is all
a matter of interest, attention, and practice. Sir Francis Galton cites the
instance of a French teacher who trained his pupil so thoroughly in this direction that
after a few months practice, they had no difficulty in summoning images at will,
in holding them steady, and in drawing them correctly. He says of
the faculty of visualization thus used, a faculty that is of importance in all
technical and artistic occupations, that gives accuracy to our perceptions and justice to our
generalizations, is starved by lazy disuse, instead of being cultivated judiciously in such
a way as will, on the whole bring the best return. I believe
that a serious study of the best means of developing and utilizing this faculty without
prejudice to the practice of abstract thought and symbols is one of the many pressing
desiderata in the yet unformed science of education. Fuller relates the method of a
celebrated painter, which method has been since taught by many teachers of both drawing
and memory. He relates it as follows. The celebrated painter Leonardo da Vinci
invented a most ingenious method for identifying faces, and by it is said to
have been able to reproduce from memory any face that he had once carefully scrutinized.
He drew all the possible forms of the nose, mouth, chin,
eyes, ears, and forehead, numbered them one, two, three,
four, et cetera, and committed them thoroughly to memory. Then, whenever
he saw a face that he wished to draw or paint from memory, he
noted in his mind that it was chin, four eyes, two nose,
five ears, six, or whatever the combinations might be, and by retaining
the analysis in his memory, he could reconstruct the face at any time.
We could scarcely asked the student to attempt so complicated a system, and yet
a modification of it would prove useful. That is, if you would begin
to form a classification of several kinds of noses, say about seven the well
known Roman, Jewish, Grecian, giving you the general classes. In connection
with straight, crooked, pug and all the other varieties, you would soon
recognize noses when you saw them, and the same with mouths, a few
classes being found to cover the majority of cases. But of all the features,
the eye is the most expressive and the one most easily remembered when clearly
noticed. Detectives rely much upon the expression of the eye. If you ever
fully catch the expression of a person's eye, you will be very apt to
recognize it thereafter. Therefore, concentrate on eyes in studying faces. A good
plan in developing this faculty is to visualize the faces of persons you have met
during the day. In the evening, try to develop the faculty of visualizing
the features of those whom you know. This will start you off right.
Draw them in your mind, see them with your mind's eye, until you
can visualize the features of very old friends. Then do the same with acquaintances,
and so on, until you are able to visualize the features of every
one you know. Then start on to add to your list by recalling in
the imagination the features of strangers whom you meet. By a little practice of
this kind, you will develop a great interest in faces, and your memory
of them and the power to recall them, will increase rapidly. The secret
is to study faces, to be interested in them. In this way you
add zest to the task and make a pleasure of a drudgery. The study
of photographs is also a great aid in this work, but study them in
detail, not as a whole. If you can arouse sufficient interest in features
and faces, you will have no trouble in remembering and recalling them. The
two things go together