Speaker 1: How to remember faces. The memory of faces is closely
Speaker 1: connected with the memory of names, and yet the two
Speaker 1: are not always associated, for there are many people who
Speaker 1: easily remember faces and yet forget names, and vice versa.
Speaker 1: In some ways, however, the memory of faces is a
Speaker 1: necessary precedent for the recollection of the names of people,
Speaker 1: for unless we recall the face, we are unable to
Speaker 1: make the necessary association with the name of the person.
Speaker 1: We have given a number of instances of face memory
Speaker 1: in our chapter on name memory, in which are given
Speaker 1: instances of the wonderful memory of celebrated individuals who acquired
Speaker 1: a knowledge and memory of the thousands of citizens of
Speaker 1: a town or city, or the soldiers of an army.
Speaker 1: In this chapter, however, we shall pay attention only to
Speaker 1: the object of the recollection of the features of persons,
Speaker 1: irrespective of their names. This faculty is possessed by all persons,
Speaker 1: but in varying degrees. Those in whom it is well
Speaker 1: developed seem to recognize the faces of persons whom they
Speaker 1: have met years before, and to associate them with their
Speaker 1: circumstances in which they last met them, even where the
Speaker 1: name escapes the memory. Others seem to forget a face
Speaker 1: the moment it passes from view, and fail to recognize
Speaker 1: the same persons whom they met only a few hours before,
Speaker 1: much to their mortification and chagrin. Detectives, newspaper reporters, and
Speaker 1: others who come in contact with many people usually have
Speaker 1: this faculty largely developed, for it becomes a necessity of
Speaker 1: their work, and their interest and attention is rendered active thereby.
Speaker 1: Public men often have this faculty largely developed by reason
Speaker 1: of the necessities of their life. It is said that
Speaker 1: James G. Blaine never forgot the face of any one
Speaker 1: whom he had met and conversed with a few moments.
Speaker 1: This faculty rendered him very popular in political life. In
Speaker 1: this respect, he resembled Henry Clay, who was noted for
Speaker 1: his memory of faces. It is related of Clay that
Speaker 1: he once paid a visit of a few hours to
Speaker 1: a small town in Mississippi on an electioneering tour. Amidst
Speaker 1: the throng surrounding him was an old man with one
Speaker 1: eye missing. The old fellow pressed forward, crying out that
Speaker 1: he was sure that Henry Clay would remember him. Clay
Speaker 1: took a sharp look at him and said, I met
Speaker 1: you in Kentucky many years ago. Did I not, Yes,
Speaker 1: replied the man. Did you lose your eye since? Then,
Speaker 1: asked Clay. Yes several years after, replied the old man.
Speaker 1: Turn your face sideway so that I can see your profile,
Speaker 1: said Clay. The man did so. Then Clay smiled triumphantly,
Speaker 1: saying I've got you now. Weren't you on that jury
Speaker 1: in the Innis case at Frankfort that I tried in
Speaker 1: the United States court over twenty years ago? Yes, sir ee,
Speaker 1: said the man. I knowed that you know me, and
Speaker 1: I told him you would, And the crowd gave a whoop,
Speaker 1: and Clay knew that he was safe in that town
Speaker 1: and county. Vidoc, the celebrated French detective is said to
Speaker 1: have never forgotten the face of a criminal whom he
Speaker 1: had once seen. A celebrated instance of this power on
Speaker 1: his part is that of the case of de la Franche,
Speaker 1: the forger who escaped from prison and dwelt in foreign
Speaker 1: lands for over twenty years. After that time, he returned
Speaker 1: to Paris, feeling secure from detection, having become bald, losing
Speaker 1: an eye, and having his nose badly mutilated. Moreover, he
Speaker 1: disguised himself and wore a beard in order to still
Speaker 1: further evade detection. One day, Vidoc met him on the
Speaker 1: street and recognized him at once his arrest and return
Speaker 1: to prison following instances of this kind could be multiplied indefinitely,
Speaker 1: but the student will have had a sufficient acquaintance with
Speaker 1: persons who possess this faculty developed to a large degree,
Speaker 1: so that further illustration is scarcely necessary. The way to
Speaker 1: develop this phase of memory is akin to that urged
Speaker 1: in the development of other phases. The cultivation of interest
Speaker 1: and the bestowal of attention. Faces as a whole are
Speaker 1: not apt to prove interesting. It is only by analyzing
Speaker 1: and classifying them that the study begins to grow of
Speaker 1: interest to us. The study of a good elementary work
Speaker 1: on physiognomy is recommended to those wishing to develop the
Speaker 1: faculty of remembering faces, For in such a work, the
Speaker 1: student is led to notice the different kinds of noses, ears, eyes, chins, foreheads,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Such notice and recognition tending to induce an
Speaker 1: interest in the subject of features. A rudimentary course of
Speaker 1: study in drawing faces, particularly in profile, will also tend
Speaker 1: to make one take notice and will awaken interest. If
Speaker 1: you are required to draw a nose, particularly from memory,
Speaker 1: you will be apt to give it your interested attention.
Speaker 1: The matter of interest is vital. If you were shown
Speaker 1: a man and told that the next time you met
Speaker 1: and recognized him, he would hand you over five hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: you would be very apt to study his face carefully
Speaker 1: and to recognize him later on, Whereas the same man,
Speaker 1: if introduced casually as a mister Jones, would arouse no
Speaker 1: interest and the chances of recognition would be slim. Hallick says,
Speaker 1: every time we enter a street car, we see different
Speaker 1: types of people, and there is a great deal to
Speaker 1: be noticed about each type. Every human countenance shows its
Speaker 1: past history to one who knows how to look. Successful
Speaker 1: gamblers often become so expert in noticing the slightest change
Speaker 1: of an opponent's facial expression that they will estimate the
Speaker 1: strength of his hand by the involuntary signs which appear
Speaker 1: in the face, and which are frequently checked the instant
Speaker 1: they appear. Of all classes, perhaps artists are more apt
Speaker 1: to form a clear cut image of the features of
Speaker 1: persons whom they meet, particularly if they are portrait painters.
Speaker 1: There are instances of celebrated portrait painters who were able
Speaker 1: to execute a good portrait after having once carefully studied
Speaker 1: the face of the sitter, their memory enabling them to
Speaker 1: visualize the features at will. Some celebrated teachers of drawing
Speaker 1: have instructed their scholars to take a sharp, hasty glance
Speaker 1: at a nose, an eye, an ear, or chin, and
Speaker 1: then to so clearly visualize it that they could draw
Speaker 1: it perfectly. It is all a matter of interest, attention,
Speaker 1: and practice. Sir Francis Galton cites the instance of a
Speaker 1: French teacher who trained his pupils so thoroughly in this
Speaker 1: direction that after a few months practice, they had no
Speaker 1: difficulty in summoning images at will, in holding them steady,
Speaker 1: and in drawing them correctly. He says of the faculty
Speaker 1: of visualization thus used, a faculty that is of importance
Speaker 1: in all technical and artistic occupations, that gives accuracy to
Speaker 1: our perceptions and justice to our generalizations, is starved by
Speaker 1: lazy disuse, instead of being cultivated judiciously in such a
Speaker 1: way as will, on the whole bring the best return.
Speaker 1: I believe that a serious study of the best means
Speaker 1: of developing and utilizing this faculty without prejudice to the
Speaker 1: practice of abstract thought and symbols is one of the
Speaker 1: many pressing desiderata in the yet unformed science of education.
Speaker 1: Fuller relates the method of a celebrated painter, which method
Speaker 1: has been since taught by many teachers of both drawing
Speaker 1: and memory. He relates it as follows. The celebrated painter
Speaker 1: Leonardo da Vinci invented a most ingenious method for identifying faces,
Speaker 1: and by it is said to have been able to
Speaker 1: reproduce from memory any face that he had once carefully scrutinized.
Speaker 1: He drew all the possible forms of the nose, mouth, chin, eyes, ears,
Speaker 1: and forehead, numbered them one, two, three, four, et cetera,
Speaker 1: and committed them thoroughly to memory. Then, whenever he saw
Speaker 1: a face that he wished to draw or paint from memory,
Speaker 1: he noted in his mind that it was chin, four eyes,
Speaker 1: two nose, five ears, six, or whatever the combinations might be,
Speaker 1: And by retaining the analysis in his memory, he could
Speaker 1: reconstruct the face at any time. We could I scarcely
Speaker 1: asked a student to attempt so complicated a system, and
Speaker 1: yet a modification of it would prove useful. That is,
Speaker 1: if you would begin to form a classification of several
Speaker 1: kind of noses, say about seven the well known Roman, Jewish, Grecian,
Speaker 1: giving you the general classes in connection with straight, crooked,
Speaker 1: pug and all the other varieties, you would soon recognize
Speaker 1: noses when you saw them, and the same with mouths.
Speaker 1: A few classes being found to cover the majority of cases.
Speaker 1: But of all the features, the eye is the most
Speaker 1: expressive and the one most easily remembered when clearly noticed.
Speaker 1: Detectives rely much upon the expression of the eye. If
Speaker 1: you ever fully catch the expression of a person's eye,
Speaker 1: you will be very apt to recognize it thereafter. Therefore,
Speaker 1: concentrate on eyes in studying faces. A good plan in
Speaker 1: developing this faculty is to visualize the faces of persons
Speaker 1: you have met during the day. In the evening, try
Speaker 1: to develop the faculty of visualizing the features of those
Speaker 1: whom you know. This will start you off right. Draw
Speaker 1: them in your mind, see them with your mind's eye,
Speaker 1: until you can visualize the features of very old friends.
Speaker 1: Then do the same with acquaintances and so on, until
Speaker 1: you are able to visualize the features of everyone you know.
Speaker 1: Then start on to add to your list by recalling
Speaker 1: in the imagination the features of strangers whom you meet.
Speaker 1: By a little practice of this kind you will develop
Speaker 1: a great interest in faces, and your memory of them
Speaker 1: and the power to recall them, will increase rapidly. The
Speaker 1: secret is to study faces, to be interested in them.
Speaker 1: In this way you add zest to the task and
Speaker 1: make a pleasure of a drudgery. The study of photographs
Speaker 1: is also a great aid in this work, but study
Speaker 1: them in detail, not as a whole. If you can
Speaker 1: arouse sufficient interest in features and faces, you will have
Speaker 1: no trouble in remembering and recalling them. The two things
Speaker 1: go together