Page:Memory; how to develop, train, and use it - Atkinson - 1919.djvu/151

Rh The great difficulty in remembering numbers, to the majority of persons, is the fact that numbers “do not mean anything to them”—that is, that numbers are thought of only in their abstract phase and nature, and are consequently far more difficult to remember than are impressions received from the senses of sight or sound. The remedy, however, becomes apparent when we recognize the source of the difficulty. The remedy is: Make the number the subject of sound and sight impressions. Attach the abstract idea of the numbers to the sense of impressions of sight or sound, or both, according to which are the best developed in your particular case. It may be difficult for you to remember “1848” as an abstract thing, but comparatively easy for you to remember the sound of “eighteen forty-eight,” or the shape and appearance of “1848.” If you will repeat a number to yourself, so that you grasp the sound impression of it, or else visualize it so that you can remember having seen it—then you will be far more apt to remember it than if you merely think of it without reference to sound or form. You may forget that the