The daily gazette., 1879-09-25
A MNEMONIC PRODIGY.

4 boy living at No. 27lo North Zen !
treet Is developing mnemopic powers |
which, II they CONTINUE to inci erse as
hey have in the last three months, will |
place him on . par with some of the |
most remarkable cases of memorizing |
power on record. His name is Henry |
Mueller. The lad Is Of German extrac-
ion, and his father has been for the last
three yeas the foreman Of one of the
'aroest -four mills in the city. Henry is
about ten years of age, a b'ue-eyed,
ligh,- -hai ed chap of dis.ipctively Skxon
race and features. His pare ITS appear
to be extremely anxious 70 avoid any
publicity in the matter as, with the de-
velopment of bis memory, the e has
been q coincident falling off in toe
brightness of his other faculties.
Some three months ago HenIy had
severe a.,ack of cata:-b, which was
complicated with other diseases, and
for Two or three days he was so i'll that
his psreDts gave up all hope of his re-
covely. Wnen he began to mend, IT
wos soon noticed that his memory had
acquired a marvellous grasp, a fact
which was first evidenced by rather
sigular c;rcr instance. M. Mueller had
been unable 70 find a receipt for a bill
which he believed he had paid, but of
which he could or'y recoliect that some
body whom he could not remember was
p.csent al the time of payment. He
said in the presence of The boy :--'sIf l
could only think of something l did
that day." naming tine dase, which was
little over six weeks before, ~ could ell
who was with me-" "a
"That was the day you went out to
Baden, papa, and when you came back
you said that NJ. Spiegel had been with
you-it was q Tuesday" The whole
circumstances came before Mr.. Muel-
ler's mind, and be saved himself good
deal of IL ouble by producing witness
70 the payment. For time Henry's
mnemOnic power seemed 10 be confined
to The naming Of the day of tie week
when The mol.h and year were given o
bi,D. He at first made a number OF
mistakes, but soon made himself so
Thoroughly master of this singular fac
ulty thai on hearing dete lie Gt once
named the day of the week, doing thts
for as many years back as the present
chronology has been IN use the old
Style he seems unable 30 mas.er, and OH
da,es ia years about and before A. d.
1850 he is always out. As an example
OF .his power ne has named correctly
eveiv 29Lh Of February since 1909.
Alter while his faculty Of remember
ing thugs seemed to develop in other di-
REGIONS. He has been reading the BIZ
BILE, a1d names, daIes, and events seem
to hang in This memory as readily as
though he were reading them off of a
printed page. He also mastered ar,th-
malical and geographical details that
make him a prodigy In these studies.
The family doctor Of the Muellers,
whose name, at his special request, is
Withheld, but who is one of she best
known Ge.man ply sician in the city,
with an especial practice in childcen's
aud nervous diseases, mentioned this
prodigy 10 POst-DipGtch repo Ter,
and, after some solicitation, consented to
allow the reporter to visit the patient.
Before getting out number Of questions
were prepared for the purpose Of testing
az thoroughly as possible The power Of
the boy.
Al he house Mrs. Mueller was fount
busted about he domestic cares, and
apparently taking the stranger to be alsc
a doctor, she made no objection to the
examination of The boy. Henry was sit
| ting at an uncovered table muncting a
piece of bead and mola9ses aud deeply
absorbed in copy of WOrces,er's die
| tiorary!
"Henry," said the reporter, 81 was
born on October 2Gth, 1S54-what day
of the week was that 2"
"Thursday," came the answer almost
as quickly as the word could be uttered.
.February 9tb, 1850"
"Tuesday."
"August 18th, 1S03."
"Tuesday again"
The scribe has not vet been able to
verify the last date, which he had sup
posed to be on Sunday, but da.es were
given, named and found to be correct.
Picking up the dictionary the doctor
asking the boy how far he had been
rea'ling.
81 gan about an hour ago at 3D."
said Henry.
"Well, tell me what you read"
The little fellow rested his head on his
hands for moment, and then began to
roll off, alphabetically, words and defini-
tions in their exact order and with their
exact meaning, until he came to "Bak-
shish," which he defined, ga substance
consisting of powdered or bruised fish,
and used in the East as condiment to
rice," really the meaning of the next
word in alphabetic rder-"Balachong."
This mistake he kept on repeating unt'l
nearly the end of the catechism, when
he struck the right meanings again,a few
really much more remarkable than II he
case, as it showed that it was altogether
by the sound, and not by the sense, that
he remembered things.
The next course of questions asked
him were geographical ones. He answer
ed correctly the capitals Of every political
division on the globe, the lengths Of all
the principal rivers, and the heights of
the mountains. He named correctly, in
alphabetic order, the 112 counties of Mis-
souri, but failed on the county seats,
which he also attempted, getting none
right but Mexico in Audraine, and giving
up the effort at Bates county.
In arithmetic he made no balk at all
performing some of the most difficult op-
erations in the reduction OF complex frac-
ton almost as soon as stated, while the
the physician and the news gatherer
took several minutes to work the same
questions upon slate. The only singu-
lar feature about his figuring is that if he
is told that his answer is wrong, he will
Immediately announce another result,
erroneous, of course, but to which he
adheres strongly.
A number Of other tests were applied,
| in all of which he made his remarkable