WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:07.719
How to remember faces. The memory
of faces is closely connected with the memory

2
00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:12.880
of names, and yet the two
are not always associated, for there are

3
00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:19.559
many people who easily remember faces and
yet forget names, and vice versa.

4
00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:25.199
In some ways, however, the
memory of faces is a necessary precedent for

5
00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:30.440
the recollection of the names of people, for unless we recall the face,

6
00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:35.200
we are unable to make the necessary
association with the name of the person.

7
00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:41.280
We have given a number of instances
of face memory in our chapter on name

8
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:47.320
memory, in which are given instances
of the wonderful memory of celebrated individuals who

9
00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:52.759
acquired a knowledge and memory of the
thousands of citizens of a town or city,

10
00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:58.039
or the soldiers of an army.
In this chapter, however, we

11
00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:03.240
shall pay attention only to the subject
of the recollection of the features of persons,

12
00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:08.319
irrespective of their names. This faculty
is possessed by all persons, but

13
00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:15.400
in varying degrees. Those in whom
it is well developed seem to recognize the

14
00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:19.400
faces of persons whom they have met
years before, and to associate them with

15
00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:25.439
their circumstances in which they last met
them, even where the name escapes the

16
00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:30.439
memory. Others seem to forget a
face the moment it passes from view,

17
00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.719
and fail to recognize the same persons
whom they met only a few hours before,

18
00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:42.680
much to their mortification and chagrin.
Detectives, newspaper reporters, and others

19
00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:49.000
who come in contact with many people
usually have this faculty largely developed, for

20
00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:55.079
it becomes a necessity of their work, and their interest and attention is rendered

21
00:01:55.079 --> 00:02:00.840
active thereby. Public men often have
this faculty large developed by reason of the

22
00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:07.879
necessities of their life. It is
said that James G. Blaine never forgot

23
00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:12.199
the face of anyone whom he had
met and conversed with a few moments.

24
00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:19.120
This faculty rendered him very popular in
political life. In this respect, he

25
00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:23.759
resembled Henry Clay, who was noted
for his memory of faces. It is

26
00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:29.199
related of Clay that he once paid
a visit of a few hours to a

27
00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:36.280
small town in Mississippi on an electioneering
tour. Amidst the throng surrounding him was

28
00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:40.960
an old man with one eye missing. The old fellow pressed forward, crying

29
00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:46.599
out that he was sure that Henry
Clay would remember him. Clay took a

30
00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:51.439
sharp look at him and said,
I met you in Kentucky many years ago.

31
00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:57.039
Did I not, Yes, replied
the man. Did you lose your

32
00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:02.240
eye since? Then, asked Clay. Yes several years after, replied the

33
00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:07.319
old man. Turn your face sideways
so that I can see your profile,

34
00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:15.599
said Clay. The man did so. Then Clay smiled triumphantly, saying I've

35
00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:21.719
got you now. Weren't you on
that jury in the Innis case at Frankfort

36
00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:27.080
that I tried in the United States
court over twenty years ago? Yes,

37
00:03:27.159 --> 00:03:30.280
sir ee, said the man.
I knowed that you know me, and

38
00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:36.080
I told him you would, And
the crowd gave a whoop, and Clay

39
00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:42.240
knew that he was safe in that
town and county. Vedoc. The celebrated

40
00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:46.919
French detective is said to have never
forgotten a face of a criminal whom he

41
00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:52.759
had once seen. A celebrated instance
of this power on his part is that

42
00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.800
of the case of de la Franche, the forger who escaped from prison and

43
00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:03.520
dwelt in foreign lands for over twenty
years. After that time, he returned

44
00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:10.120
to Paris, feeling secure from detection, having become bald, losing an eye,

45
00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:16.160
and having his nose badly mutilated.
Moreover, he disguised himself and wore

46
00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:23.519
a beard in order to still further
evade detection. One day, Vidoc met

47
00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:29.120
him on the street and recognized him
at once his arrest and returned to prison.

48
00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:35.519
Following instances of this kind could be
multiplied indefinitely, but the student will

49
00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:42.079
have had a sufficient acquaintance with persons
who possessed this faculty developed to a large

50
00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:48.079
degree, so that further illustration is
scarcely necessary. The way to develop this

51
00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:54.000
phase of memory is akin to that
urged in the development of other phases.

52
00:04:54.600 --> 00:05:01.279
The cultivation of interest and the bestow
of attention as a whole are not apt

53
00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:08.120
to prove interesting. It is only
by analyzing and classifying them that the study

54
00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:13.600
begins to grow of interest to us. The study of a good elementary work

55
00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:18.720
on physiognomy is recommended to those wishing
to develop the faculty of remembering faces,

56
00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:24.319
For in such a work, the
student is led to notice the different kinds

57
00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:30.720
of noses, ears, eyes,
chins, foreheads, etc. Such notice

58
00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:36.480
and recognition tending to induce an interest
in the subject of features. A rudimentary

59
00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:43.079
course of study in drawing faces,
particularly in profile, will also tend to

60
00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:48.480
make one take notice and will awaken
interest. If you are required to draw

61
00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:54.160
a nose, particularly from memory,
you will be apt to give it your

62
00:05:54.279 --> 00:06:00.199
interested attention. The matter of interest
is vital. If you were shown a

63
00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:03.720
man and told that the next time
you met and recognized him, he would

64
00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:09.120
hand you over five hundred dollars,
you would be very apt to study his

65
00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:15.399
face carefully and to recognize him later
on, Whereas the same man, if

66
00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:20.680
introduced casually as a mister Jones,
would arouse no interest and the chances of

67
00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:28.759
recognition would be slim. Halleck says, every time we enter a street car,

68
00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:31.759
we see different types of people,
and there is a great deal to

69
00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:38.959
be noticed about each type. Every
human countenance shows its past history to one

70
00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:45.240
who knows how to look. Successful
gamblers often become so expert in noticing the

71
00:06:45.319 --> 00:06:49.800
slightest change of an opponent's facial expression
that they will estimate the strength of his

72
00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:56.560
hand by the involuntary signs which appear
in the face, and which are frequently

73
00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:02.240
checked the instant they appear. Of
all classes, perhaps artists are more apt

74
00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:06.199
to form a clear cut image of
the features of persons whom they meet,

75
00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:14.519
particularly if they are portrait painters.
There are instances of celebrated portrait painters who

76
00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:18.920
were able to execute a good portrait
after having once carefully studied the face of

77
00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:26.839
the sitter, their memory enabling them
to visualize the features at will. Some

78
00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:32.360
celebrated teachers of drawing have instructed their
scholars to take a sharp, hasty glance

79
00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:38.000
at a nose, an eye,
an ear, or chin, and then

80
00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:44.000
to so clearly visualize it that they
could draw it perfectly. It is all

81
00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:49.680
a matter of interest, attention,
and practice. Sir Francis Galton cites the

82
00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:56.319
instance of a French teacher who trained
his pupil so thoroughly in this direction that

83
00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:01.879
after a few months practice, they
had no difficulty in summoning images at will,

84
00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:07.279
in holding them steady, and in
drawing them correctly. He says of

85
00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:13.519
the faculty of visualization thus used,
a faculty that is of importance in all

86
00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:20.519
technical and artistic occupations, that gives
accuracy to our perceptions and justice to our

87
00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:28.639
generalizations, is starved by lazy disuse, instead of being cultivated judiciously in such

88
00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:33.320
a way as will, on the
whole bring the best return. I believe

89
00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:39.000
that a serious study of the best
means of developing and utilizing this faculty without

90
00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:45.679
prejudice to the practice of abstract thought
and symbols is one of the many pressing

91
00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:52.919
desiderata in the yet unformed science of
education. Fuller relates the method of a

92
00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:58.600
celebrated painter, which method has been
since taught by many teachers of both drawing

93
00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:05.759
and memory. He relates it as
follows. The celebrated painter Leonardo da Vinci

94
00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:13.399
invented a most ingenious method for identifying
faces, and by it is said to

95
00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:18.360
have been able to reproduce from memory
any face that he had once carefully scrutinized.

96
00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:24.559
He drew all the possible forms of
the nose, mouth, chin,

97
00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:30.039
eyes, ears, and forehead,
numbered them one, two, three,

98
00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:35.799
four, et cetera, and committed
them thoroughly to memory. Then, whenever

99
00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:39.159
he saw a face that he wished
to draw or paint from memory, he

100
00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:45.639
noted in his mind that it was
chin, four eyes, two nose,

101
00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:52.879
five ears, six, or whatever
the combinations might be, and by retaining

102
00:09:52.919 --> 00:09:56.960
the analysis in his memory, he
could reconstruct the face at any time.

103
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:03.759
We could scarcely asked the student to
attempt so complicated a system, and yet

104
00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:09.159
a modification of it would prove useful. That is, if you would begin

105
00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:16.240
to form a classification of several kinds
of noses, say about seven the well

106
00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:22.399
known Roman, Jewish, Grecian,
giving you the general classes. In connection

107
00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:28.039
with straight, crooked, pug and
all the other varieties, you would soon

108
00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:33.720
recognize noses when you saw them,
and the same with mouths, a few

109
00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:39.399
classes being found to cover the majority
of cases. But of all the features,

110
00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:45.840
the eye is the most expressive and
the one most easily remembered when clearly

111
00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:52.440
noticed. Detectives rely much upon the
expression of the eye. If you ever

112
00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:58.200
fully catch the expression of a person's
eye, you will be very apt to

113
00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:05.399
recognize it thereafter. Therefore, concentrate
on eyes in studying faces. A good

114
00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:11.200
plan in developing this faculty is to
visualize the faces of persons you have met

115
00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:16.960
during the day. In the evening, try to develop the faculty of visualizing

116
00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:22.080
the features of those whom you know. This will start you off right.

117
00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:28.440
Draw them in your mind, see
them with your mind's eye, until you

118
00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:33.600
can visualize the features of very old
friends. Then do the same with acquaintances,

119
00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:39.639
and so on, until you are
able to visualize the features of every

120
00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:45.279
one you know. Then start on
to add to your list by recalling in

121
00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:50.879
the imagination the features of strangers whom
you meet. By a little practice of

122
00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:56.879
this kind, you will develop a
great interest in faces, and your memory

123
00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:03.360
of them and the power to recall
them, will increase rapidly. The secret

124
00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:09.159
is to study faces, to be
interested in them. In this way you

125
00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:15.039
add zest to the task and make
a pleasure of a drudgery. The study

126
00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:18.879
of photographs is also a great aid
in this work, but study them in

127
00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:26.039
detail, not as a whole.
If you can arouse sufficient interest in features

128
00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:31.600
and faces, you will have no
trouble in remembering and recalling them. The

129
00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:33.279
two things go together