MEMORY, HOW TO DEVELOP, TRAIN AND USE IT/PART 12
CHAPTER XII.
HOW TO REMEMBER FACES.
The
memory of faces is closely connected with the memory of names, and yet the two
are not always associated, for there are many people who easily remember faces,
and yet forget names, and vice versa. In some ways, however, the memory of
faces is a necessary precedent for the recollection of the names of people. For
unless we recall the face, we are unable to make the necessary association with
the name of the person. We have given a number of instances of face-memory, in
our chapter on name-memory, in which are given instances of the wonderful
memory of celebrated individuals who acquired a knowledge and memory of the
thousands of citizens of a town, or city, or the soldiers of an army. In this
chapter, however, we shall pay attention only to the subject of the
recollection of the features of persons, irrespective of their names. This
faculty is possessed by all persons, but in varying degrees. Those in whom it
is well developed seem to recognize the faces of persons whom they have met
years before, and to associate them with the circumstances in which they last
met them, even where the name escapes the memory. Others seem to forget a face
the moment it passes from view, and fail to recognize the same persons whom
they met only a few hours before, much to their mortification and chagrin.
Detectives,
newspaper reporters, and others who come in contact with many people, usually
have this faculty largely developed, for it becomes a necessity of their work,
and their interest and attention is rendered active thereby. Public men often
have this faculty largely developed by reason of the necessities of their life.
It is said that James G. Blaine never forgot the face of anyone whom he had met
and conversed with a few moments. This faculty rendered him very popular in
political life. In this respect he resembled Henry Clay, who was noted for his
memory of faces. It is related of Clay that he once paid a visit of a few hours
to a small town in Mississippi, on an electioneering tour. Amidst the
throng surrounding him was an old man, with one eye missing. The old
fellow pressed forward crying out that he was sure that Henry Clay would
remember him. Clay took a sharp look at him and said: "I met you in
Kentucky many years ago, did I not?" "Yes," replied the man.
"Did you lose your eye since then?" asked Clay. "Yes, several
years after," replied the old man. "Turn your face side-ways, so that
I can see your profile," said Clay. The man did so. Then Clay smiled,
triumphantly, saying: "I've got you now—weren't you on that jury in the
Innes case at Frankfort, that I tried in the United States Court over twenty
years ago?" "Yes siree!" said the man, "I knowed that ye
know me, 'n I told 'em you would." And the crowd gave a whoop, and Clay
knew that he was safe in that town and county.
Vidocq,
the celebrated French detective, is said to have never forgotten a face of a
criminal whom he had once seen. A celebrated instance of this power on his part
is that of the case of Delafranche the forger who escaped from prison and dwelt
in foreign lands for over twenty years. After that time he returned to Paris
feeling secure from detection, having become bald, losing an eye, and having
his nose badly mutilated. Moreover he disguised himself and wore a beard, in
order to still further evade detection. One day Vidocq met him on the street,
and recognized him at once, his arrest and return to prison following.
Instances of this kind could be multiplied indefinitely, but the student will
have had a sufficient acquaintance with persons who possess this faculty
developed to a large degree, so that further illustration is scarcely
necessary.
The
way to develop this phase of memory is akin to that urged in the development of
other phases—the cultivation of interest, and the bestowal of attention. Faces
as a whole are not apt to prove interesting. It is only by analyzing and
classifying them that the study begins to grow of interest to us. The study of
a good elementary work on physiognomy is recommended to those wishing to
develop the faculty of remembering faces, for in such a work the student is led
to notice the different kinds of noses, ears, eyes, chins, foreheads, etc.,
such notice and recognition tending to induce an interest in the subject of
features. A rudimentary course of study in drawing faces, particularly in
profile, will also tend to make one "take notice" and will awaken
interest. If you are required to draw a nose, particularly from memory, you
will be apt to give to it your interested attention. The matter of interest is
vital. If you were shown a man and told that the next time you met and
recognized him he would hand you over $500, you would be very apt to study his
face carefully, and to recognize him later on; whereas the same man if
introduced casually as a "Mr. Jones," would arouse no interest and
the chances of recognition would be slim.
Halleck
says: "Every time we enter a street car we see different types of people,
and there is a great deal to be noticed about each type. Every human
countenance shows its past history to one who knows how to look.... Successful
gamblers often become so expert in noticing the slightest change of an
opponent's facial expression that they will estimate the strength of his hand
by the involuntary signs which appear in the face and which are frequently
checked the instant they appear."
Of
all classes, perhaps artists are more apt to form a clear cut image of the
features of persons whom they meet—particularly if they are portrait painters.
There are instances of celebrated portrait painters who were able to execute a
good portrait after having once carefully studied the face of the sitter, their
memory enabling them to visualize the features at will. Some celebrated
teachers of drawing have instructed their scholars to take a sharp hasty glance
at a nose, an eye, an ear, or chin, and then to so clearly visualize it that
they could draw it perfectly. It is all a matter of interest, attention, and
practice. Sir Francis Galton cites the instance of a French teacher who
trained his pupils so thoroughly in this direction that after a few months'
practice they had no difficulty in summoning images at will; in holding them
steady; and in drawing them correctly. He says of the faculty of visualization
thus used: "A faculty that is of importance in all technical and artistic
occupations, that gives accuracy to our perceptions, and justice to our
generalizations, is starved by lazy disuse, instead of being cultivated
judiciously in such a way as will, on the whole, bring the best return. I
believe that a serious study of the best means of developing and utilizing this
faculty, without prejudice to the practice of abstract thought in symbols, is
one of the many pressing desiderata in the yet unformed science of
education."
Fuller
relates the method of a celebrated painter, which method has been since taught
by many teachers of both drawing and memory. He relates it as follows:
"The celebrated painter Leonardo da Vinci invented a most ingenious method
for identifying faces, and by it is said to have been able to reproduce from
memory any face that he had once carefully scrutinized. He drew all the
possible forms of the nose, mouth, chin, eyes, ears and forehead, numbered them
1, 2, 3, 4, etc., and committed them thoroughly to memory; then, whenever he
saw a face that he wished to draw or paint from memory, he noted in his mind
that it was chin 4, eyes 2, nose 5, ears 6,—or whatever the combinations might
be—and by retaining the analysis in his memory he could reconstruct the
face at any time." We could scarcely ask the student to attempt so
complicated a system, and yet a modification of it would prove useful. That is,
if you would begin to form a classification of several kind of noses, say about
seven, the well-known Roman, Jewish, Grecian, giving you the general classes,
in connection with straight, crooked, pug and all the other varieties, you
would soon recognize noses when you saw them. And the same with mouths, a few
classes being found to cover the majority of cases. But of all the features,
the eye is the most expressive, and the one most easily remembered, when
clearly noticed. Detectives rely much upon the expression of the eye.
If you ever fully catch the expression of a person's eye, you
will be very apt to recognize it thereafter. Therefore concentrate on eyes in
studying faces.
A
good plan in developing this faculty is to visualize the faces of persons you
have met during the day, in the evening. Try to develop the faculty of
visualizing the features of those whom you know—this will start you off right.
Draw them in your mind—see them with your mind's eye, until you can
visualize the features of very old friends; then do the same with
acquaintances, and so on, until you are able to visualize the features of every
one you "know." Then start on to add to your list by recalling in the
imagination, the features of strangers whom you meet. By a little practice of
this kind you will develop a great interest in faces and your memory of them,
and the power to recall them will increase rapidly. The secret is to study
faces—to be interested in them. In this way you add zest to the task, and make
a pleasure of a drudgery. The study of photographs is also a great aid in this
work—but study them in detail, not as a whole. If you can arouse sufficient
interest in features and faces, you will have no trouble in remembering and
recalling them. The two things go together.
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