PREFACE ONE of the most marked features of the present age is the invention of labour and time saving appliances; it is evident that time saved is time gained. In an age which is specially characterised by intellectual progress, much time must necessarily be expended in the acquirement of knowledge, which will serve as a basis for further development. I hope, therefore, that any rules which will lighten labour in this direction will be found useful. After discovering the facts which led me to write on the subject of Memory, I found that I could learn a subject in about a fifth of the time that it previously took me. I hope that those who read this book will be able to improve their memories in a corresponding degree. 6 RAVENSFIELD VILLAS, HENDON, N.W. F. W. EDRIDGE-GREEN. MEMORY AND ITS CULTIVATION CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION WHAT is MEMORY? It is the process by means of which impressions of the external world and ideas are retained for use on future occasions. Memory is the most important function of the brain; without it life would be a blank. Our knowledge is all based on memory. Every thought, every action, our very conception of personal identity, is based on memory. Without memory, all experience would be useless; reasoning would be based on insufficient data, and would be, therefore, fallacious. A bad memory makes an otherwise able man appear foolish he looks his acquaintances in the face without recognising them; he forgets his appointments; and though he may be well acquainted with the ordinary rules of society, he forgets what to do under particular circumstances. ; Memory must be clearly distinguished from remembrance and recollection. Recollection is the power of |