South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1882-11-24
miraculous dealings With figu, 60

"A recent Belgian paper relates
marvels of u new lightning calcula-
tor, youth named Jacques Ina udi
Tar surprising those recorded Of Zerxl,
CoIourn ansi others. 1t describes his
iirst exhibition at u public hail, in
Antwerp, called the Bario. A large
blackboard was ON tue stage. One o,
the audience, who is described "a n
mathematician of considerable force.
wrote on II lines OF figures, as they
wcre called out by the public. extend.
ing to trillions. that Is. millions of
millions. inaudi's back .,eing turned
to the blackboard. Upon these nc
performed stupendous operations in
addition, subtraction, multiplication.
and division. before the other had
time to begin npon them. Light.
Mug is not quicker says the Precur.
cor of Antwerp.
The exact age OF some one in the
audience WAS then asked for. One
person Tot course not LADY, gave
his age as 81 Years 3 months aud 9
days. In fifteen seconds maud an.
nounced correctly the number Of se
combs he had lived. Let ANYBODY
figure that ont with slate and pencil
Another person then announced tis
age with similar result.
The exhibitor OF lnaudi (called his
barnunI with small b. that W ,rd hav-
ing become pretty well naturalized in
hat sense in the French Ianeuage)
theh called on the public for the 10.
nrcs on which Inc should perform six
different operations simultaneously.
namely. M addition and q subtract.
ION running into trillions, n rot less
arduous multiplication and division.
and two root eXtractions. the snnnre
and cube roots. lnaudi simply heard
the figures announced, never through.
out the whole exhibition turning his
face 20 the board. He askcd for six
minutes for the task, beginning, as
usual, to repeat the figures as they
had been announced. .lIow much
time have lci't.' he presently said.
Three minutes, was the answer. Il
have dune,' he replied. and the cor.
rect results of all the SIX opera.
tons rat led off from his lips. And
during tie three minutes consumed
in this inconceivably gigantic labor
OF mental arithmetic Inc hal been
conve rsing freely with the audience
aud answering all their questions
The Precursor wonders that the eel
in2s and walls oi the DarIo were not
brought down by :hc storu, ot the I'M
plausc.
Being four lines recalled, at tho
fourth time lie offered To rei eat. i.
their order, all tl,e vast array O. the
figures which had DOW accumulated
on tie great blackboard, none having
been etfaced. And be did it within
Il minute, playing with tue u,iIlions.
billions, and trilIions, No wonder
That the Antwerp journal excI.,ins
that 1t WAS 'vcrtiginous. 1t almost
takes ones breath away to think Of
those six operations performed in three
minutes without sight OF the figures
and Willie comvcrsins with the public
ard answering all their questlons.-
The Precursor thus concludes:
Jacques Gnauti is entirely .elrtaurb,
aud calculates af'er his own fashion.
lie does not lnow how this science
came I" hun. 1t was M .llumins ION.
1T seemed, lie It'd ne, shat ~ vel was
'crD aside in his mind lie vas then
six wears old.
The Precursor does not Give tho
age OF this youth or boy, merely cali
ing him the yonDg Inan,li.' But the
of the f,culty seems 10
have begun suddenly at lie age of 8
years. 1t is difficult to accept it's ca
preston OF his mental faculties -
surely ii oould not have been his
mind which worked ont tho six for
operations simultaneously i'm
three minutes, while Mt The same time
he was conversing with the audience &
their questions. Nor could
there have been any tricks OF prepare.
ton III advance. or aid of "a COZ. ieder.
ate, when the figures wore given to
him on the spot AM noted down as
they were called out by u crowded.
promiscuous audience. 1t must have
been a case Of what toe Spiritualists
call n.ediumship, i'll which an outside
intelligence acts through tie mr.d
and organs OF the mediuun-anaIogou
to the numerous cases they record i'm
which totally unlcttercd mediums have
SPOKEN or wri 4 in languages un-
known to them, languages both mo,
dern aud 0ncient, including Latin.
Greek, Hebrew, aud Oriental. On
that theory il may well have been
the spirit of Zerah Colburn, or some
OF the anterior lightning calcnlators,
probably themselves similarly medi.
umistic in their day, though none of
them seems TO have eqnalIed tie per.
Torrance of Inaudi. 1t taIIies we'll
with this theory that they all seem to
have lost the faculty IA they advaucoI