A case cited by Dr. Abercrombie confirms the suggestive theory that the stimulus which fever gives to the circulation (sign of the disease tho it is) may bring dormant mental impression into temporary activity. A boy at the age of four had undergone the operation of trepanning being at the time in a state of stupor from a severe fracture of the skull. After his recovery he retained no recollection either of the accident or of the operation. But at the age of fifteen, during an attack of fever, he gave his mother an account of the operation, describing the persons who were present, and even remembering details of their dress and other minute particulars.—Richard A. Proctor, New York Mail and Express.
(2011)
MEMORY, UNUSUAL
Pepys tells us of an Indian who could repeat
a long passage in Greek or Hebrew after
it had been recited to him only once, tho
he was ignorant of either language. This
man would doubtless have been able to repeat,
so far as his vocal organs would permit
him to imitate the sounds, the song of
a nightingale or a lark, through all its ever-varying
passages, during ten or twenty minutes,
and with as much understanding of its
significance as of the meaning of the Greek
and Latin words he recited so glibly. We
certainly need not envy that particular "poor
Indian" his "untutored mind," tho as certainly
the power he possest would be of immense
value to a philosopher.—Richard A.
Proctor, New York Mail and Express.
(2012)
Memory, Verbal—See Rote versus Reason.
MEN
It would be difficult to think of a time when the sentiment exprest in this poem by J. G. Holland would not be appropriate. The important thing, however, is that it applies to our time.
God, give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will,
Men who have honor, men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagog,
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps!
(2013)
Men are Gods—See Children's Religious Ideas.
MENACES TO CIVILIZATION
In ancient Athens the Cave of the Furies
was underneath the rock on whose top sat
the court of the Areopagus.
May not modern civilization have an
underside that harbors many kinds of
moral furies?
(2014)
Menagerie, A Moral—See Self-conflict.
Mental Device—See Patience.
Mental Quickness—See Presence of
Mind.
Mental States and Dress—See Dress Affecting
Moods.
MENTALITY, DEVELOPMENT OF
C. C. Abbot writes in the New York Sun:
Beasts and birds long ago became afraid
of man, and afraid of him in a way wholly
different from their fear of other forms of
animal life. This demonstrates that they
recognize a difference, as when I can not
approach a snipe that will permit a cow almost
to tread upon it. Fear being the sum
of disastrous experiences, the birds that
soonest learned the lesson of prudence left
the most descendants. The fearless ones
paid the price of their foolhardiness and died
out. Such conditions did not call for
anatomical changes, but mental ones, and
this increased mentality that led to the preservation
of the species is so near the border
line of what Goldwin Smith calls self-improvement
that it can be looked upon only as
its forerunner, as birds and all beasts foreran
the man who was to prove their arch enemy.
(2015)
Mercenary Spirit, The—See Gold, Taint of.
