Speaker 1: 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 object 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 largely developed by reason
of the necessities of their life. It is said that
James G. Blaine never forgot the face of any one
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 sideway 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. Vidoc, the celebrated French detective is said to
have never forgotten the 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 return
to prison following instances of this kind could be multiplied indefinitely,
but the student will have had a sufficient acquaintance with
persons who possess 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 bestowal of attention. Faces 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,
et cetera. 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. Hallick 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 pupils 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 I scarcely
asked a 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
kind 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 everyone 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