Cherkin on the mnemons

From: Scott Chase (hemidactylus@my-Deja.com)
Date: Tue Mar 07 2000 - 00:48:34 GMT

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Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 16:48:34 -0800
From: "Scott Chase" <hemidactylus@my-Deja.com>
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    Thanks to Aaron Lynch for poiting this article out to me:

    Cherkin A. 1966. Toward a quantitative view of the engram. PNAS (55): 88-91

    Yes many roads in memory research do lead back to Semon. Cherkin writes: "The name proposed for the unit is the "mnemon" (mneme = memory; -on = suffix denoting a fundamental particle)." In Cherkin's footnote this is referenced back to Semon's 1904 book _Die Mneme als erhaltendes Prinzip im Weschel des organischen Geschehens_.

    As for J.Z. Young Cherkin writes:

    (bq) "*Note added in proof*: After submission of this article, Dr. J. Z. Young kindly allowed me to see his Croonian lecture, *Proc. Roy. Soc. (London), Ser. B*, 163, 285 (1965), before publication. He applies "mnemon" to an anatomical unit of memory, viz., a module comprising an activated classifying neuron and its closely associated cells. This specific application of "mnemon" is compatible with the general definition proposed in this article." (eq)

    I wasn't cognizant of this fact while I was in a hurry at the photocopy machine, but no I notice now a real heart stopper. The subsequent article to this one includes someone carrying the name Lorente de No' as an author. This name rings a reverbatory circuit kinda bell. Same person?

    Scott

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