The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-01-08 00:00:00

A MATHEMATICAL PRODIGY.

_As ma antidote to.the.prejudice existing againSt precocity of
intellect, which so. often blazes for a moment and then expires,
or sinks into obscurity, we may justly adduce .the splendid re-
-collections which attach to the names of a Crichton, a. Mimi.,
dole, a Newton,
.a Mozart,. and many another, whose premattuu
"beauty of mind" has expanded into
.the happiest maturity..•
There is every such promise as this about a Sicilian boy of Inc
present day, whose powers and brief parentage are dwelt upon
in the following extract of a letter from Rome
" The bey, Joseph Puglisi, who has just arrived here. from
Palermo, the place of his birth, is indeed blessed, as all who
have heard and observed him must admit, with,the most extra-
ordinary natural endowments. You shall judge for yourself of
their extent. He is the son of a glove-maker in Palermo.. The
:first evidence which he gave of his intellectualpowers, occurred
about eighteen mouths ago, when he had just completed his
sixth year. The occasion was this :—an agent, having..pui,
chased a quantity of gloves from several different individuals, ,
Puglisi's .father went to fetch his pen and ink with a view to
ascertain the. sum total of, _the man's purchases;_ but his urchin
of a son, who was at the time in the Slop, called after him that
he need not give himself the trouble; as the whole amount was
so many ounces and odd. Being asked who had told him so,
he replied, My own head.' On summing up the several items,
his calculation was found to be perfectly correct. From this.
moment his arithmetical powers were put to repeated tests;
and they were brought into still greater action-by increasing
the difficulty of the questions set him, which he. solved Under
the -gradual exhibition of a talent of far superior calibre. His,
father then came with him to Catanea, brought him under the
notice of the viceroy of Sicily, and afterwards set off.for Naples,
where young Puglisi produced his parent a golden harvest, .be,
sides acquiring an increase of fame to his own share. Thence
he found his way to this place, -where he has been an object of
astonishment and admiration in every circle, and has been ho-
noured with a handsome gold medal by the pope himself, • You
can conceive nothing,- so astonishing as the boy's.capacity for
all sorts of arithmetical calculations, whether they be of' the
most trivial, or the abstrusest nature. His genius consists in.
his being perfectly sensible of its pre-eminence,.wielding it with -
masteiy clearness and precision, and at times bringing it to
bear with surprising effect. Henn it is that he is enabled so
state the process through„ which he arrives at once at his solu-
tions, and, at the same time, to explain ths_diffienties.shich.
may have attended theni: All this is done without any . aid
whatever from science; for, with the exception of a knowledge
of figures, ,he can .neither read nor. rite. .li'or instance,- on his
being, asked a particular question, it was necessary to explain
I what a square root was to him, and after that he instantly gave
his answer with minute accuracy. I heard him in public yes,
terday : ten questions, of various degrees of difficulty, were set 7
him, and he solved them all without hesitation or blunder. it ,
was really a most interesting scene. The boy .sat.at first-look—
nig- about hiin-with a laugh and a smile, obviously flattered at
being the subject of attention to so numerous an auditory • but
no sooner was the first question started, than his whole auditory;
underwent a change as instantaneous as the sensitive plant,
when the slightest touch affects it. Whilst brooding over it, he
played with his hands, moved his body backwards and
.forwards„
and was constantly shifting himself about on his seat. Meru
was ,evidence irrefragable, in every-motion, of the internal
working of the mens aivina. On a sudden, he spruug-fram his
seat in a state of undescribable ecstacy, and with eves sparkling,
with-fire, and exulting at-his triumph, enounced the result in a.
strong and melodious tone of voice. I must leave you to imagine
the electric effect which all this produced upon us. And the
same scene was
,repeated at every fresh question:end- solution.. •
Two of them were stated in so confused a manner that not a
soul in the room could comprehend them. At the,second,' the
boy rose from his seat, and, much to our diversion, exclainxo,
with his broad, good-humoured Sicilian accent, " Lo saccio
ben fare' ma essi non sanno domandare,' ([ am perfectly able
to solve the thing, but they do not know how to put the ques--
tion) He was asked if a certain quantity of waterhe contained
in the Tiber, and eight men were employed to remove it, how
many days would they consume id the operation? Upon this
the lad inquired, almost before the words were out of the ques-
tioner's mouth, You haVe forgotten to state what quantiry
they bale out every day or every hour.' As soon as the hiatus,
was supplied, in less than three minutes our young arithme-
tician stood up with the result, which involved some millions of
figures. In person, he is .of the middling size for his
.age, nail
between robust.and slender of make; his complexion is salloty,
his hair light-coloured, and his eyes blue, though -withoot any
particular expression of liveliness or animation; his look, host--
ever, is soft, wary, and tranquil."—Guardian,

WATERLOO.—It was proposed in the 'Belgian chamber tl:4
the Lion of Waterloo should be taken down, because it is odi:f
ens to France and Belgium. Odious we suppose to France as
the Monument of the most complete rout and ruin that evir fell
upon an army since the days of Azincour ;
,odious to Belgium;
because the braves Beiges there, as every where else, ran
away from the defeated French. What a compliment to
England! but we deserve it when we have, as Secretary at war,
Sir John liobhouse, who prayed for the success of Napoleon;
After all it is little matter—the victory of Waterloo will live in
history, and we all know who the animal is that kicks at a dead
lion. It is only fair to say that the proposition was rejected for
the present.