.—Concerning Memory.
The faculty of memory is the cause and storehouse of remembrance and
recollection. For memory is a fantasy that is left behind of some sensation
and thought manifesting
itself in action; or the preservation of a sensation and thought. For the soul comprehends objects of sense through the organs of sense, that is to say, it perceives, and thence arises a notion: and similarly it comprehends the objects of thought through the mind, and thence arises a thought. It is then the preservation of the types of these notions and thoughts that is spoken of as memory.
Further, it is worthy of remark that the apprehension of
matters of thought depends on learning, or natural process of thought, and not on sensation. For though objects of sense are retained in the memory by themselves, only such objects of thought are remembered as we have learned, and we have no memory of their essence.
Recollection is the name given to the recovery of
some memory lost by forgetfulness. For forgetfulness is just loss
of memory. The faculty of imagination then, having apprehended material
objects through the senses, transmits this to the faculty of thought or
reason (for they are both the same), and this after it has received and
passed judgment on it, passes it on to the faculty of memory. Now
the organ of memory is the posterior ventricle of the brain, which the
Greeks call the παρεγκεφαλίς, and the vital spirit it contains.
