MEM
C Stf )
MEN
K diately refides, the Nature of the Memory is obvious:
- for as the Leaves of a Tree, that have been folded
- for fome time, in a certain manner, preferve a Fa-
- cility or Difpofition to be folded again in the fame
- manner 5 fo the Fibres of the Brain, having once re-
- ceiv'd certain Imprefiions by the Courfe of the animal
- Spirits, and by the Action of Objects, preferve, for
- fome time, a Facility to receive the fame Difpofition.
f Now *tis in this Facility that Memory confifts 5 for we 1 think on the fame Things, when the Brain receives the
- fame Difpofitions. Further, as the animal Spirits act
s fometimes more briskly, and fometimes more languidly
- on the Subftance of the Brain ; and as fenfible Objects
- make much deeper, and more Lifting Imprefiions, than
- > the Imagination alone j 'tis eafy, on this Scheme, to con-
- ceive why we don't remember all Things alike : Why a
- Thing, for inftance, feen twice, is reprefented more vi-
- vidly to the Mind, than another feen but once : Why
- Things that have been feen, are ufually remembred
- more diftinctly, than thofe that have been only ima-
- gin'd, £-?c/ See Habitude.
- Old Men are defective in Memory, and cannot learn
« any thing without much difficulty; becaufe they want
t animal Spirits to make new Traces, and becaufe the
, Fibres of the Brain are become too hard to receive, or
i too moift to retain fuch Impreffion. For the fame rea-
f fon, thofe who learn with the greateft Eafe, forget the
c fooneft ; in regard when the Fibres are foft and flex-
t ible, Objects make a flight Impreffion, which the con-
« tinual Courfe of animal Spirits eafily wears off: On the
, contrary, the Fibres of thofe who learn {lowly, being
t lefs flexible, and lefs fubject to be maken, the Traces
are more deeply engraven, and laft the longer. From
all which Obfervations it follows, that the Memory is ab-
folutely dependant on the Body; being impair'd or
- < ftrengthen'd, according to the Changes that befall the
- Body 5 a Fall, the Tranfports of a Fever, £fe. being fre-
- quently found to erafe or blot out all the Traces, to
- bear away all the Ideas, and to caufe an univerfal For-
1 getfulnefs.'
The chief Difficulty that clogs this Doctrine of Memory, is to conceive how fuch an infinite number of Things, as the Head is ftored withal, mould be ranged in fo much order in the Memory, as that the one mould not efface the other: and how in fuch a prodigious Affemblage of Tra- ces imprefs'd on the Brain, the animal Spirits mould a- wake precifely thofe which the Mind has occafion for. See Spirits.
Seneca fays of himfelf, that by the mere Effort of his natural Memory, he was able to repeat two thoufand Words upon once hearing them, each in its orderj tho' they had no Dependance or Connexion on each other. After which he mentions a Friend of his, Fortius Latro, who retain'd in his Memory all the Declamations he had ever fpoke, and never had his Memory fail him, even in a fingle Word. He alfo mentions Cymas, Ambaffador to the Romans from King Fyrrhtts, who in one day had fo well learnt the Names of his Spectators, that the next he faluted the whole Senate, and all the Populace affembled, each by his Name. Flirty fays, that Cyrus knew every Soldier in his Army by Name ; and L. Scipio, all the People of Rome. Charmidas, or rather Carneades, when required, would repeat any Volume found in the Libraries ; as readily as if he were reading. Dr.WaSis tells us, that without the af- filtance of Pen and Ink, or any thing equivalent, he was able in the dark, by mere force of Memory, to perform Arithmetical Operations, as Multiplication, Divifion, Ex- traction of Roots, S$c. to forty-Places. Particularly, that in February i57», at the requeil of a Foreigner (by Night, in Bed) he propos'd to himfelf a Number of fifty-three Places, and found its fquare Root to twenty-feven Places 5 and without ever writing down the Number, dictated 'em from his Memory, at his next "Vifit, twenty Days afterwards.
Local or Artificial Memory, is an Art or Invention, by means whereof, the Memory is fuppofed to be aided, ftrengthen'd, and inlarg'd. This Art feems to confift in nothing elfe but a certain Method of coupling or affo- ciating Ideas of Things to be remembred ; with the Ideas of other Things, already difpos'd orderly in the Mind, or that are before the Eyes. It is of an old ftanding, having been prattis'd by many of the antient Orators ; fome whereof are faid to have made ufe of Paintings, Images, and Emblems, on this occafion : Tho' others contented themfelves with the Parts, Members, Ornaments, Furni- ture, and other Cir.umftances of the Place where they were to fpeak. Muretui tells us, that a young Man of Corjica pretending to do wonders this way, Muretus put him to the Tryal ; and upon dilating to him two or three thoufand Words, fome Greek, fome Latin, fome Barba- rous ; all without any relation to each other, and the grea- teft part without any Meaning at all: the Artift imme- diately, and without any hefitation, or the leaft Bumbling
or mifplacing, repeated them all, from firft to laft, i n the fame order wherein they had been dictated * and rhi 3 done, beginning where he ended, he repeated them all backwards, from laft to firft. Adding, chat this was but a flight Eflay of h\s Memory 5 and that'he would undertake to repeat thirty-fix thoufand Words in the fame manner.
The truth is, this Art feems better calculated for re- taining things without any Coherence or Dependance on one another, as mere Words or Sounds, &c. than for things where Reafon or Judgment are any way required.
Raim. Lully took fo much pains with ir, that it now goes by hisName, being call'd Lidly's Art.
MEMPHITES, or Laps Mempuiticus, a fort of Stone mentioned by Diafcondes, Fliny, and other Natural Hjftorians. 'Tis fuppos'd to be found in Egypt not far from the City Cairo, the antient Memphis? whence its Name. The Property it is famed for, is, that being pulverized, and fmear'd on any part of the Body to be cut off, it deadens it fo, as that the Patient /hall perceive no pain from the Operation.
MEN ANDRIANS, the moft antient Branch ofGno/Fw, thus call'd from Menander their Chief, a Difciple of Simon Magus, and himfelf a Magician. See Gnostics.
He taught, that no Perfon could be faved unlefs he were baptized in his Name : He confer'd a peculiar fort of Bap- tifm, which would render thofe who receiv'd it immortal in the next World. Sr. hen^us reprefents him, as pre- tending to be, That firft Virtue hitherto unknown to the World, and to have been fent by the Angels for the Salvation ot all Mankind. He took upon him, fays St. Epi- phanizs, Hat. z. to be greater than his Mailer ; which con- tradicts Theodoret, who makes Menander a fubordinate Virtue to Simon Magus, the great Virtue of all. See Simonians.
MENDICANTS, q. d. Beggars ; a Term apply'd to feveral Orders of Religious, who live on Alms, and go a begging from Door to Door.
There are four antient Orders which pafs principally by the Name of the Four Mendicants ; The Carmelites, Jacobines, Cordeliers, and Augujlins. See Carmelites, Jacobin es, gje. each under their proper Articles.
Among the Number of Mendicants, are alfo ranked the Capuchins, RecolleBs, Minims, and others. See Capu- chins, Recollects, £>c
.. The Mendicant -.sat the time of their firft Eftablifhment, could not have any Revenues. The Multitudes of Mendi- cants, are now a kind of Tax on the People.
MENINGES in Anatomy, the Coats, or Membranes wherewith the Brain is inclofed. See Brain.
The Arabsc&\\ them Mothers 5 whence we alfo ufually call them in Latin the Fia and Dura Mater. See Pi a and Dura Mater.
There are two ofthefe Meninges, the External andlnternal. The external one, being the groffeft, is call'd the Dura, or Crafja Meninx or Mater. It lies immediately under the Cranium, and covers the whole Subftance of the Brain, and the Spinal Marrow, and affords a Coat to the Trunks of the larger Nerves. See Nerve, &c. It is connected on the upper part to the Ferwjlium by means of Fibres, and on the other fide to the Fia Mirer by the Branches of the Sinus's, and by the Arteries and Nerves. It confiils of two leffer Coats or Membranes, which fome have taken for two Dura Maters ; the exrerior, hard ; and the inner, more fmooth, foft, and moift! It defcends double between the two Hemifpheres of the. Brain, which it divides as deep as the Corpus Callojum, and by reafon of its Curvature, occa- fion 'd by the Convexity of the Brain in that parr, is called Falx, from its refemblance to a Sickle. See Falx. It likewife infinuates itfelf between ths Brain and Cerebellum, and fo prevents the Brain from lying too hard on the Cere- helium. In the Duplicaturcs thereof, are feveral Cavities call'd Sinus's, which are a fort of venous Canals fervinp for the reconveyance of the Blood. Ofthefe there are four confiderable ones, viz, the Longitudinales and Latera- les. See Sinus.
Under the Dura M.iter, immediately upon the Brain, lies the Miriinx tenuis, or Fia Mater, which is a fine thin Membrane adhering fo clofely, and infinuating itfelf into all the Folds and anfractuous parts of the Brain, that it is fcarce to be feparated from it. This Membrane covers the whole Brain, Cerebellum, and Medulla Oblongata, and ferves, together with the other, for the Defence of the Brain, and the Support of its Veffels.
Between the two, lies another fine tranfparent Mem- brane, call'd Arachnoides $ but the belt Anatomifts take this for no more than the external Lamina of the Fia Mater. See Arachnoides.
MENIPPEAN, or Satyr a Menippea, a kind of Satyr compofed both in Profe and Verfe. See Satyr.
It is thus call'd from Menlppus, a Cynic Philofopher, who delighted in compofing Satyncal Letters, &c. In imitation of him, Varro firft wrote Satyrs under the Title of Satyr* Menippex.
Tttttt Among
