THE FALLACY OF MOST MEMORY SYSTEMS


[Sidenote: _Practice in Memorizing Inadequate_]

It is evident that if what we have been describing as the process of
recall is true, then the commonly accepted idea that _practice_ in
memorizing makes memorizing _easier_ is false, and that there is no
truth in the popular figure of speech that likens the memory to a muscle
that grows stronger with use.

So far as the memory is concerned, however, practice may result in a
more or less unconscious improvement in the _methods_ of memorizing.

_By practice we come to unconsciously discover and employ new
associative methods in our recording of facts, making them easier to
recall, but we can certainly add nothing to the actual scope and power
of retention._

[Sidenote: _Torture of the Drill_]

Yet many books on memory-training have wide circulation whose authors,
showing no conception of the processes involved, seek to develop the
general ability to remember by incessant practice in memorizing
particular facts, just as one would develop a muscle by exercise.

The following is quoted from a well-known work of this character:

"I am now treating a case of loss of memory in a person advanced in