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T H E C H E M A W A A M E R IC A N
FEATS OF MEMORY
E very norm al person has a good m em ory for th in g s
th a t in terest him deeply or th a t concern him in tim a te
ly; we all rem em ber some h ap p en in g s, some facts,
e tc ., w ith o u t any conscious effort and we never forget
them .
T h e m em ory is largely susceptible to tra in in g and
to be successful all stu d en ts m ust have m em ories th at
have been eith er consciously or unconsciously train ed
and developed. T h ey concentrate th e ir m inds on th e
th in g s they w ish to rem em bei and associate one set of
facts w ith other sets in order th at all may be properly
classified and pigeon-holed in the brain for ready
reference w hen desired later on.
Some persons have rem arkable pow ers of m em ory.
O ften, how ever, only details of one p articu lar subject
are retained exceptionally well. John W esley, the
fo u n d er of M ethodism , w rote about a m an of his
acq u ain tan ce “ who was so th o ro u g h ly acq u ain ted
w ith th e Bible th at if he was questioned as to any H e
brew w ord in th e Old or any G reek w ord in th e New
T estam en t he would tell, after a little pause, not only
how often th e one or the other occurred in the Bible,
b u t also w h at it m eant in every p la c e .” “ Such a
m a ste r of Bible k n o w led g e,” W esley declared, “ I
never saw before and never expect to see a g a in .”
T . B. M acaulay, the em inent E n g lish historian and
essayist, also had an e x tra o rd in a ry m em ory; it is said
th a t he could repeat “ all D em osthenes by heart and
all M ilton, as well as a great p art of th e B ib le.”
It is related th at w hen a nearly illiterate servant
g irl, em ployed in the hom e of a S cottish preacher, be
cam e delirious in fever she repeated lo n g S crip tu ral
passages in H ebrew . It seems th at th e k itch en w here
she w orked adjoined th e m in iste r’s stu d y and th a t he
w as in the habit of reading the Bible aloud in original
H ebrew . A lth o u g h she had not understood a word or
consciously tak en note of the read in g , her m ind had
seized w hole phrases and sentences and held them
u n til her illness caused a peculiar d istu rb an ce of her
m ental faculties.
L in co ln ’s biographers tell how he com m itted to
m em ory w hole chapters of th e Bible and could repeat
any passage verbatim . In earlier d ay s people d e
pended m uch m ore on th eir m em ory th a n they do
now. Books were few er and these books w ere read
and re-read u n til th e ir co n ten ts were know n by heart.
Now we have so m any books and papers th a t such a
th in g is o rdinarily impossible.
P A P E R A IR -C U SH IO N S
F o r cen tu ries th e Japanese have been m aking a ir
bags for various purposes out of paper. F or such bags
th e y use paper made of bamboo fiber, an ex ceptionally
stro n g paper m aterial. T his paper is b u ilt up of six
or eight th in tissue-like layers, laid so th a t th e grains
of th e different sheets will altern ate. F lex ib le shellac
cem ent is used to hold th e sheets together and to m ake
th e whole fabric a irtig h t. T h e shellac gives th e finish
ed product a dull reddish color w hich is u n attra ctiv e
and m akes th e cushions and other air bags even when
new appear old. T h is dull color was largely resp o n
sible for th e failure of such goods, despite th e rid ic
ulously low price at w hich they w ere offered, to find
a sale in th is co u n try w hen an attem p t was m ade to
in tro d u ce them some 20 years ago.
A paper air-cushion m easuring a foot square or
larger w hen inflated m ay be deflated and folded up
in to sufficiently small com pass to be carried in the
vest pocket. A rticles m ade of th is m aterial are s u r
prisingly lig h t and resistant to w ear. If properly
cared for, it is said, they will last for m any years.
Japanese air-cushions, air-beds, e tc .;a re q u ite cheap,
com pared w ith A m erican-m ade rubber goods for the
sam e purpose, and they give longer service. T h a t
ex p lain s w hy A m erican m an u factu rers have been u n
able to sell th eir ru b b er cushions in Japanese m ark ets.
TH E MOVIE A S A M A G N IF IE R
M icroscopes even of the h ighest m ag n ify in g power
are very lim ited in th e ir scope, for the more they e n
large an object the fainter th e object becomes. But
th e movie cam era can m agnify a th in g alm ost any
n u m ber of tim es and still th e sharpness of every detail
will be preserved. T h is is done not only by m ag n ify
ing the actual object itself but by m agnifying or pro
lo n g ing its m ovem ent*.
F ren ch and G erm an ex p erts have recently w orked
out m ethods by w hich movie pictures can be m ade at
th e trem endous speed of 500 to 2000 a second, in place
of th e usual eig h t or so. T h is is done by aid of the
electric flash. A bullet can be photographed in flight,
and w hen it is thro w n on th e screen it will be seen to
m ove as slow ly as if it were a snail. T he com pressed
gas of the pow der change can be seen leaving the
barrel of th e g u n , and even th e waves of air set up
by the b ullet can be detected.
T h e w ink of a hum an eye can by the same process
be ex ten d ed so th a t it will occupy a m in u te. A m an
ta k in g a flying ju m p can be show n as if poised in the
air, and every p art of his m ovem ents can be studied
w ith the g reatest deliberation. T h e action of th e hands
of a pianist or violinist can th u s be recorded and then
th ro w n on th e screen m agnified—in point of tim e— by
10, 100, 1000 or any num ber as required.
T h e buzzing of a h u m m in g -b ird ’s w ings, w hich is
as sw ift as th a t of an electric fan, can be show n on
th e screen as a leisurely and graceful u n d u la tio n .
E very m ovem ent and process th at h ith erto has baffled
analysis I ecause it was too sw ift for th e eye to study
can now be stretched out so th a t each and every p art
of it can be stu d ied w ith perfect leisure. T h e pos
sibilities of the m ovie for purposes of education are
lim itless and they at e only ju st beginning to be realized.
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