120 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP.
persons, plants, places, &c. ; good for subjects connected with others ; not bad for numbers.
"Father - A most marvellously retentive memory ; he could relate minute details of historical occurrences, names of actors in politics, almost all he had ever read (he was a great reader), and was in consequence a most lively companion. Mother-Not very good."
Bad memory.
l. [A physicist informs me that his memory is unable to retain even the commonest constants in habitual use, and that the selection of his special line of investigation was governed by his sense of this disability.]
2. " Bad memory ; from boyhood incapable of learning school tasks by heart, though retaining a knowledge of principles and methods."
3. " I have a very poor memory ; I was once a whole fortnight in recovering the name of but I got it at last. I consider that all attempts at making me learn poetry, and in
