Carl Otto Reventlow became notable as the developer of a mnemonic

Mnemonic

A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...

 system. The type of relationship (if any) he had with the Reventlow

Reventlow

The name Reventlow, a noble Danish surname, may refer to:* Anne Sophie Reventlow, queen consort of Denmark * Christian Detlev Reventlow Danish diplomat and military leader 1671-1738)...

 family of old Holstein

Holstein

Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....

-Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...

 nobility is not known.

Otto took up studies in philology

Philology

Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

 at the University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

 but soon focused on the art of memory enhancement. After publishing a textbook on his mnemonic system in 1843, he travelled widely in Germany to popularize it. His most notable lectures were given in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, but also in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

. A dictionary that substituted mnemonic terms for numbers and a guideline for the use of mnemotechnics in schools which listed some 3,000 mnemotechnically annotated facts from history and geography courses followed in 1844 and 1846, respectively.

The novelty of Otto's "substitution method" was disputed almost immediately, his opponents stating it to be just one more derivative of the method proposed by Aimé Paris

Aimé Paris

Aimé Paris was a French scholar. He was the developer of a method of stenography, and co-developer and propagator of what became the Galin-Paris-Chevé system of music notation.Paris studied mathematics and law, and became a lawyer...

. However, it received highly favorable reviews as well.

Otto subsequently involved himself in the revolutionary events of 1848, and came under police investigation in 1849. Apparently he was the Carl Otto-Reventlow who took over a Cincinnati radical, anti-monarchist periodical for German-speaking exiles, the Hochwächter

Hochwachter

The Hochwächter, literally "High Guard", was an American German language newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio.The paper was established by German political activists who fled the German states after the failed revolution of 1848...

, in 1857. He appears to have had some contact with Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

, who referred to him in extremely derogatory terms in at least one of his letters.