The Pelman System of Mind and Memory Training - Lessons I to XII. Anon

       LESSON I.

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       A History of Memory Training

      As the legend goes, one day the Ancient Greek lyric poet, Simonides of Ceos (566 - 468 BCE), was giving a speech in thanks at a dinner party. When the recital was complete, the host selfishly told Simonides that he would only pay him half of the agreed upon payment for the panegyric, and that he would have to obtain the balance from the two gods he had mentioned during its course. A short time later, Simonides was told that the two gods were waiting for him outside, and went outside to meet his visitors. Then, while he was outside the banquet hall, it collapsed, crushing everyone within. The bodies were so disfigured that they could not be identified for proper burial. However, Simonides had remembered where each of the guests was sitting at the table, and so was able to identify them for burial. This episode gave birth to the 'method of loci.'

      Simonides' revolutionary scheme was a system of mnemonics, based on images and places – and was a key component of the 'Art of Memory'. This art consists of a number of loosely associated mnemonic principles and techniques, used to organize memory impressions, improve recall, and assist in the combination and 'invention' of ideas. It is an 'art' in the Aristotelian sense, which is to say a method or set of prescriptions that adds order and discipline to the pragmatic, natural activities of human beings. It has existed as a recognized group of principles and techniques since at least as early as the middle of the first millennium BCE, and was usually associated with training in rhetoric or logic, but variants of the art were employed in other contexts, particularly the religious and the magical.

      The insights of Simonides were based on the simple premise that people have a far better memory for the tangible (physical spaces and images), than they have for abstract concepts, such as numbers, words and ideas. The method of loci involved choosing a physical space (think of the famous 'mind palace' of Sherlock Holmes) and populating it with vivid representations of the concepts one wishes to remember. Memory techniques were very common during the classical ages, due to the tradition of committing speeches and even entire books to memory – combined with the relative lack of written words. The early Christian monks adapted memory techniques as an art of composition and meditation, and it became the basic method for reading and meditating upon the Bible. Saint Thomas Aquinas was an important influence in promoting the art, when he defined it as a part of 'Prudence' and recommended its use to meditate on the virtues and to improve one's piety.

      From the ancient Greeks until the Renaissance, the 'method of loci' was a key aspect of intellectual and religious life. The decline in memory training techniques is generally attributed to one thing – the rise of the book. In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg (1398 - 1468) established his printing press. His invention of mechanical, movable type printing started the 'Printing Revolution' and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period. It sparked the intellectual blossoming of the Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Ironically, whilst the printing press laid the material basis for modern knowledge-based economies and the spread of learning to the masses – it also signalled the demise of 'memory'.

      In keeping with these general developments, the 'art of memory' came to be defined as a part of dialectics (discourse and reasoned arguments to establish 'truth'), and was assimilated in the seventeenth century by Francis Bacon and René Descartes into the curriculum of Logic – where it survives to this day as a necessary foundation for the teaching of 'Argument'. Simplified variants of the art of memory were also taught through the nineteenth century as useful to public orators, including preachers and after-dinner speakers. The most intriguing development in memory training came with the 'Pelman System' however. This was established in the 1890s by William Joseph Ennever (1869 - 1947), and promised to cure a whole plethora of problems such as forgetfulness, depression, phobias, procrastination and a 'lack of system.'

      The Pelman system of training consisted of a set of grey books, which strengthened and developed the mind, just as physical training developed the body. The course provided a mixture of common-sense memory advice (in a similar manner to earlier Greek systems of the 'art of memory'), psychological counselling and logical puzzles – all delivered through the mail. At its height of popularity, this training system gave rise to 'Pelman Institutes' in eleven different countries, and was famously used by former British prime minister Herbert Asquith, Sir Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scout movement), novelist Sir Rider Haggard, and playwright Jerome K. Jerome.

      In the present day, memory training has taken on a new lease of life. With the advent of the internet, there is even less need for 'traditional' memory of facts and figures, yet 'brain training', i.e how to think, has really taken off. There are memory championships and competitions all over the world, and the related improved mental faculties have been linked to higher IQs, anti-ageing, and prevention of mental health problems such as alzheimers and dementia. Whereas the Pelman adherents had to wait for weeks for their results in the post, computer algorithms are now able to give feedback in seconds. The ease and accessibility of such endeavours, has also meant that 'brain training' has spread to a much larger audience than previously thought possible.

      As is evident from this very brief introduction, memory training has a long and varied history – providing a fascinating insight into past societies, as well as the present day. It allows us to gain an understanding of how logic, argument, social conventions and knowledge have been structured. We hope the reader enjoys this book, and is inspired to try some 'memory training' for themselves.

       CONTENTS

       LESSON I.