[Memory Training; or, Memory as a Power of Knowledge, by William L. Evans, M. A.; published by A. S. Barnes and Co., New York, 1889.]

The author presents in this book a "complete and practical system of developing and confirming the memory." His scheme of mnemonics is based upon the psychological explanation of the faculty of memory. The four faculties which are especially to be cultivated by this scheme are concentration of attention, retention of the impression, reproduction and localization. Carrying out this main idea the author has constructed a number of ingenious tables or series of related objects, joining them together by what he calls "links of suggestion." These tables are to be memorized by general training. In memorizing selections of prose, the plan is to select the leading words, and from them to construct a mnemonic chain. The idea of mnemonic series is not a new one, and at first glance it seems doubtful whether this method will prove of more service than the others that have been suggested. To most minds the effort required to memorize a mnemonic chain is as great as that in learning the original.