Speaker 1: Training the eye. Before the memory can be stored with
Speaker 1: sight impressions. Before the mind can recollect or remember such impressions,
Speaker 1: the eye must be used under the direction of the attention.
Speaker 1: We think that we see things when we look at them,
Speaker 1: but in reality we see but few things in the
Speaker 1: sense of registering clear and distinct impressions of them upon
Speaker 1: the tablets of the sub conscious mind. We look at
Speaker 1: them rather than see them. Hallick says, regarding this sight
Speaker 1: without seeing idea, a body may be imaged on the
Speaker 1: retina without insuring perception. There must be an effort to
Speaker 1: concentrate the attention upon the many things which the world
Speaker 1: presents to our senses. A man once said to the
Speaker 1: pupils of a large school, all of whom had seen cows,
Speaker 1: I should like to find out how many of you
Speaker 1: know whether a cow's ears are above, below, behind, or
Speaker 1: in front of her horns. I want only those pupils
Speaker 1: to raise their hands who are sure about the position,
Speaker 1: and who will promise to give a dollar to charity
Speaker 1: if they answer wrong. Only two hands were raised. Their
Speaker 1: owners had drawn cows, and in order to do that,
Speaker 1: had been forced to concentrate their attention upon the animals.
Speaker 1: Fifteen pupils were sure that they had seen cats climb
Speaker 1: trees and descend them. There was unanimity of opinion that
Speaker 1: the cats went up heads first. When asked whether the
Speaker 1: cats came down head or tail first, the majority were
Speaker 1: sure that the cats descended, as they were never known
Speaker 1: to do. Any One who had ever noticed the shape
Speaker 1: of the claws of any beast of prey could have
Speaker 1: answered the question without seeing an actual descent. Farmers boys
Speaker 1: who have often seen cows and horses lie down and rise,
Speaker 1: are seldom sure whether the animals rise with their fore
Speaker 1: or hind feet first, or whether the habit of the
Speaker 1: horse agrees with that of the cow in this respect.
Speaker 1: The elm tree has about its leaf a peculiarity which
Speaker 1: all ought to notice the first time they see it,
Speaker 1: And yet only about five percent of a certain school
Speaker 1: could incorporate in a drawing this peculiarity, although it is
Speaker 1: so easily outlined on paper. Perception to achieve satisfactory results
Speaker 1: must summon the will to its aid to concentrate the attention.
Speaker 1: Only the smallest part of what falls upon our senses
Speaker 1: at any time is actually perceived. The way to train
Speaker 1: the mind to receive clear sight impressions, and therefore to
Speaker 1: retain them in the memory. Is simply to concentrate the
Speaker 1: will and attention upon objects of sight, endeavoring to see
Speaker 1: them plainly and distinctly, and then to practice recalling the
Speaker 1: details of the object some time afterward. It is astonishing
Speaker 1: how rapidly one may improve in this respect by a
Speaker 1: little practice, and it is amazing how great a degree
Speaker 1: of proficiency in this practice one may attain in a
Speaker 1: short time. You have doubtless heard the story of Houdin,
Speaker 1: the French conjurer, who cultivated his memory of sight impressions
Speaker 1: by following a simple plan. He started into practice by
Speaker 1: observing the number of small object in the Paris shop
Speaker 1: windows he could see and remember in one quick glance
Speaker 1: as he rapidly walked past the window. He followed the
Speaker 1: plan of noting down on paper the things that he
Speaker 1: saw and remembered. At first he could remember but two
Speaker 1: or three articles in the window. Then he began to
Speaker 1: see and remember more, and so on each day, adding
Speaker 1: to his power of perception and memory, until finally he
Speaker 1: was able to see and remember nearly every small article
Speaker 1: in a large shop window. After bestowing but one glance
Speaker 1: upon it. Others have found this plan an excellent one,
Speaker 1: and have developed their power of perception greatly, and at
Speaker 1: the same time cultivated an amazingly retentive memory of objects
Speaker 1: thus seen. It is all a matter of use and practice.
Speaker 1: The experiment of Houdin may be varied infinitely with excellent results.
Speaker 1: The Hindus train their children along these lines by playing
Speaker 1: the site game with them. This game is played by
Speaker 1: exposing to the side of the children a number of
Speaker 1: small objects at which they gaze intently, and which are
Speaker 1: then withdrawn from their sight. The children then endeavor to
Speaker 1: excel each other in writing down the names of the
Speaker 1: objects which they have seen. The number of objects is
Speaker 1: small to begin with, but is increased each day until
Speaker 1: an astonishing number are perceived and remembered. Rudyard Kipling, in
Speaker 1: his Great Book Kim, gives an instance of this game
Speaker 1: played by Kim and a trained native youth, Lurgan Sahib.
Speaker 1: Exposes to the site of the two boys a tray
Speaker 1: filled with jewels and gems, allowing them to gaze upon
Speaker 1: it a few moments before it is withdrawn from sight.
Speaker 1: Then the competition begins as follows. There are under that paper,
Speaker 1: five blue stones, one big, one smaller, and three small,
Speaker 1: said Kim. In all haste. There are four green stones,
Speaker 1: and one with a hole in it. There is one
Speaker 1: yellowstone that I can see through, and one like a
Speaker 1: pipe stem. There are two red stones, and and give
Speaker 1: me time. But Kim had reached the limit of his powers.
Speaker 1: Then came the turn of the native boy. Here, my count,
Speaker 1: cried the native child. First are two flawed sapphires, one
Speaker 1: of two ruttees and one of four. As I should judge,
Speaker 1: the four rutty sapphire is chipped at the edge. There
Speaker 1: is one turkestan turquoise plain with green veins, and there
Speaker 1: are two inscribed, one with the name of God in guilt,
Speaker 1: and the other being cracked across, for it came out
Speaker 1: of an old ring I cannot read. We have now
Speaker 1: the five blue stones. Four flame emeralds there are, but
Speaker 1: one is drilled in two places, and one is a
Speaker 1: little carvin their weight, said Lurgan sahib impassively. Three five,
Speaker 1: five and four rattis. As I judge it, There is
Speaker 1: one piece of old greenish amber, and a cheap cut
Speaker 1: topaz from Europe. There is one ruby of burma one
Speaker 1: of two rattis without a flaw, and there is a
Speaker 1: balis ruby flawed of two ruttis. There is a carved
Speaker 1: ivory from China representing a rat sucking an egg. And
Speaker 1: there is last Aha, a ball of crystal as big
Speaker 1: as a bean set in gold leaf. Kim is mortified
Speaker 1: at this bad beating and asks the secret. The answer
Speaker 1: is by doing it many times over till it is
Speaker 1: done perfectly, for it is worth doing. Many teachers have
Speaker 1: followed plans similar to that just related. A number of
Speaker 1: small articles are exposed and the pupils are trained to
Speaker 1: see and remember them, the process being gradually made more
Speaker 1: and more difficult. A well known American teacher was in
Speaker 1: the habit of rapidly making a number of dots on
Speaker 1: the blackboard and then erasing them before the pupils could
Speaker 1: count them in the ordinary way. The children then endeavored
Speaker 1: to count their mental impressions, and before long they could
Speaker 1: correctly name the number up to ten or more with ease.
Speaker 1: They said they could C six or C ten, as
Speaker 1: the case may be, automatically and apparently without the labor
Speaker 1: of consciously counting them. It is related in works dealing
Speaker 1: with the detection of crime that in the celebrated thieves
Speaker 1: schools in Europe, the young thieves are trained in a
Speaker 1: similar way the old scoundrels acting as teachers, exposing a
Speaker 1: number of small articles to the young ones and requiring
Speaker 1: them to repeat exactly what they had seen. Then follows
Speaker 1: a higher course in which the young thieves are required
Speaker 1: to memorize the objects in a room, the plan of houses,
Speaker 1: et cetera. They are sent forth to spy out the
Speaker 1: land for future robberies in the guise of beggars soliciting alms,
Speaker 1: and thus getting a rapid peep into houses, offices, and stores.
Speaker 1: It is said that in a single glance they will
Speaker 1: perceive the location of all of the doors, windows, locks, bolts,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Many nations have boys games in which the
Speaker 1: youngsters are required to see and remember after taking a peep.
Speaker 1: The Italians have a game called Morro, in which one
Speaker 1: boy throws out a number of fingers which must be
Speaker 1: instantly named by the other boy, a failure resulting in
Speaker 1: a forfeit. The Chinese youths have a similar game, while
Speaker 1: the Japanese boys reduce this to a science. A well
Speaker 1: trained Japanese youth will be able to remember the entire
Speaker 1: contents of a room after one keen glance around it.
Speaker 1: Many of the Orientals have developed this faculty to a
Speaker 1: degree almost beyond belief. But the principle is the same
Speaker 1: in all cases, the gradual practice and exercise beginning with
Speaker 1: a small number of simple things, and then increasing the
Speaker 1: number and complexity of the objects. The faculty is not
Speaker 1: so rare as one might imagine at first thought. Take
Speaker 1: a man in a small business and let him enter
Speaker 1: the store of a competitor, and see how many things
Speaker 1: he will observe and remember after a few minutes in
Speaker 1: the place. Let an actor visit a play in another theater,
Speaker 1: and see how many details of the performance he will
Speaker 1: notice and remember. Let some women pay a visit to
Speaker 1: a new neighbor, and then see how many things about
Speaker 1: that house they will have seen and remembered, to be
Speaker 1: retailed to their confidential friends afterward. It is the old
Speaker 1: story of attention following the interest, and memory following the attention.
Speaker 1: An expert whist player will see and remember every card
Speaker 1: played in the game, and just who played it. A
Speaker 1: chess or checker player will see and remember the previous
Speaker 1: moves in the game if he be expert and can
Speaker 1: relate them Afterward, a woman will go shopping and will
Speaker 1: see and remember thousands of things that a man would
Speaker 1: never have seen, much less remembered. As Houdine said, Thus,
Speaker 1: for instance, I can safely assert that a lady, seeing
Speaker 1: another pass at full speed in a carriage, will have
Speaker 1: had time to analyze her toilet from her bonnet to
Speaker 1: her shoes, and be able to describe not only the
Speaker 1: fashion and quality of the stuffs, but also say if
Speaker 1: the lace be real or only machine made. I have
Speaker 1: known ladies to do this, But remember this, for it
Speaker 1: is important. Whatever can be done in this direction by
Speaker 1: means of attention inspired by interest may be duplicated by
Speaker 1: attention directed by will. In other words, the desire to
Speaker 1: accomplish the task adds and creates an artificial interest just
Speaker 1: as effective as the natural feeling. And as you progress
Speaker 1: the interest in the game task will add new interest,
Speaker 1: and you will be able to duplicate any of the
Speaker 1: feats mentioned above. It is all a matter of attention,
Speaker 1: interest natural or induced, and practice. Begin with a set
Speaker 1: of dominoes, if you like, and try to remember the
Speaker 1: spots on one of them rapidly. Glanced at, then two,
Speaker 1: then three. By increasing the number gradually, you will attain
Speaker 1: a power of perception and a memory of sight impressions
Speaker 1: that will appear almost marvelous. And not only will you
Speaker 1: begin to remember dominoes, but you will also be able
Speaker 1: to perceive and remember thousands of little details of interest
Speaker 1: in everything that have heretofore escaped your notice. The principle
Speaker 1: is very simple, but the results that may be obtained
Speaker 1: by practice are wonderful. The trouble with most of you
Speaker 1: is that you have been looking without seeing, gazing but
Speaker 1: not observing the objects around you have been out of
Speaker 1: your mental focus. If you will but change your mental
Speaker 1: focus by means of will and attention, you will be
Speaker 1: able to cure yourself of the careless methods of seeing
Speaker 1: and observing that have been hindrances to your success. You
Speaker 1: have been blaming it on your memory, but the fault
Speaker 1: is with your perception. How can the memory remember when
Speaker 1: it is not given anything in the way of clear impressions.
Speaker 1: You have been like young infants in this matter. Now
Speaker 1: it is time for you to begin to sit up
Speaker 1: and take notice, No matter how old you may be.
Speaker 1: The whole thing in a nutshell is this. In order
Speaker 1: to remember the things that pass before your sight, you
Speaker 1: must begin to see with your mind instead of of
Speaker 1: with your retina. Let the impression get beyond your retina
Speaker 1: and into your mind. If you will do this, you
Speaker 1: will find that memory will do the rest.