Richard Grey (priest) - Memoria Technica

Memoria Technica

In 1730 appeared his 'Memoria Technica; or a new Method of Artificial Memory.' Grey's system consisted in changing the last syllable of names into letters which represented figures according to an arbitrary table, and in stringing together the new formations in lines with a hexameter beat. It uses therefore uses strings of letters to remember numbers. Example: az = 10, tel = 325, teib = 381. The 'Memoria Technica' was applied to the dates and figures of chronology, geography, measures of weight and length, astronomy, and so on, and though uncouth and complicated met with great favour. The book went through several editions in the author's lifetime, and continued to be reprinted with modifications till 1861. On Grey's system were founded Solomon Lowe's 'Mnemonics,' and several aids to memory connected with other names.

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