The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-01-25
Grandemange the French Prodigy.

mont boy," has attained a worldwide &c
lebrity; and we perceive that the Wes
has recently claimed youthful genlu
scarcely less remarkable. France ha
already boasted of two mathematical
prodigies, but we venture 10 affirm tha
the case of young Grandemange is with
out a parallel. Physically as we'll n
intellectually he is q wonder
This poor child is without arms O.
legs, and can be supported in an erect po
sition only by sort of box in which he il
compelled constantly to live But th
fragment Of human body, which in Spart;
would have perisbcd on the day Of it.
birth, has reccived.in compensation for al
infrmity so completes a faculty of abstrac
tion and calculation, Of which it will bt
difficult to meet with more cxtraordin
ary example. All the vital forces, de
prived of the opportunity of expansion
seem to have sought refuge in the brain
and in the midst of misfortune there ha.
resulted a most extraordinary develop
ment of mathematical powers.
He thus simply relates the earlier
events of his life, and the circumstances
which awakened and strengthened this
astonishing faculty
Il was born on the 10th Of June
1885, at Epinal, without arms or legs
as you see. At my birth | was conceal
cd, by order of the physicians, for fifteen
days from the sight Of mother, and it
was not until she had been prepared for
the misfortune which had befallcn her
in me, that l was at length placed in her
care. When she began to nurse me |
weighed less than pound and half
1t will readily be believed that my child
hood was carly surrounded with omcns
sufficiently gloomy. Born thus mutilat.
ed, what kind Of future could expect
in this world ? l belonged to family
Of laboring people, industrious and hon.
est, but poor. My father. a carpenter
by trade, had great difficulty, even with
what my mother, who was a weaver
could earn, to supply all the wants OF
four children. By means of constant
care and watchfulness, my mother sue
ceeded in bring me up to an age when |
conceived. in the constant inaction in
which l lived, some vague intuition OF
the altogether peculiar talent with which
Providence had endowed me, in return
for my priyations and deficiencies.
"M. Pelicot, surgeon of the town, and
NJ. Mako, surgeon-major ofthe regiment
of cavalry in garrison at Epinal, who
had assisted at my birth, and received
my poor body, weighing in all then a
pound and 4 half with the clothes, were
not willing to forget the way to the hum
bic roof that sheltered me. They came
from time to time to see me, and being
witnesses of the first aud sufficiently
rare inclinations that ] showed for men
tai calculations, they addressed to me
some questions very simple at first, and
those little more difficult, aud finally
vcntured upon some Of the more abstrust
questions of arithmetic In this way
and without any instruction. l became
able TO solve, almost instantly, the littl,
enigmas of calculation which they put
to me. Indeed, soon become sufficient
ly skilful to attempt likewise, with e
quail success, some little problems in the
province of geometry, of which, as tc
the practical part, my father had th,
rudimcnts sufficiently well to instruct
me.
BY the advice of the physicians, ant
of some sarans who had visited me, my
father resolved to introduce me to certain
educational establishments most esteem
cd in our country Of Vosgcs, and tn,
neiahboring depar tments The marked
success that obtained having cmboldcn
ed me, ! decided, after having lost IN,
father, to visit Paris the metropolis anC
centre of science. had the honor t,
appear there. on the 10Th of March last
before commission chosen to examin
my intellectual faculties BY the Acade
my of Sciences, and am encouraged b,
the suffrages Of the elite, which | h,v,
been so happy as to obtain,l have the hon
or to inform the public, that every day
from noon till five o'clock, at the Casin,
des Arts, Boulevard Montmartre, Civ
seances Of mental mathematics, wher
there are few problems that canno
solve almost instantly, and without tn
help of any symbol"
1t is deeply to be regretted that thi
afflicted and gifted child is compelle'
thus to use his talents as the means o
obtaining bare livelihood, giving t
his Intellectual achievements no highe
destiny than that which is assigned th
smart tricks of legerdemain, or tn
somcrsets of the mountebank. Honor
ed be tho men who have made so noble
provision for young Stafford We nr
favored with an account Of one of thes
seances by one who was present Oh tn
25th of March, 1852, The visitor says
=" The mathematician fulfilled even bs
youd general expectation the promise {
his programme. A series of problem
J the most obscure aud complex were pu
to him during three long hours, aud h
solved them all with a rapidity whic
might be called electric. He was aske
to multiply a quautity consisting Of tw
hundred figures, by one consisting Of to
or twelve. After brief pause he mad
, known the product, which was found /
, be correct, which would have require
on paper prehaps half an hour of calcul,
tion. One person, among othcrs, askc
, him to give the remainder of the divisio
, of nine, Of an immense number in sc.
: tillions ,quintillions, ,qusdrillions, trillion
!. billions, millions, &c. The whole SUI
was scarcely stated, when already ih