The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-12-02

others 1t describes MS first exhibition at
public hall, in Antwerp, called the Bar
do. A large black aboard was on the stage.
One OF the audience, who Subscribed as a
mathematician Of considerable force, wrote
on it lines OF figures, as they were called
out by the public, extending to trillions,
that Is, millions of millions Inaudi's back
beng turned to the black board. Upon
these he performed stupendous operations
IN addition, subtraction, multiplication,
and division, before the other had time to
begin" upon them. lightning Is not
quicker" says the Precursor of Antwerp.
The exact age of some one In the audi
encc was then asked tor One person lot
course not LADY, gave his age as 80 years
months and . days. In fifteen seconds
Insudi announced correctly the number Of
seconds he had lived. Let anybody figure
that out with slate and pencil Another
person then announced his age with a
similar result
The exhibitor of maud Called his
barnum with small b, that word having
become pretty well naturalized in that
sense in the French language) then called
on the public for the figures on which he
should perform six different operations
I'LL auu q
subtraction running into trillions a not
less arduous multiplication and division,
and two root cytractiOns, the square and
cube roots, lnaudi simply heard the fig
ures announced never throughout the
whole exhibition turning his face TO the
board. He asked for SIX minutes for the
task beginning, rs usual, to repeat the fig
urcs as they had been announced. "liOw
much time have leit?" he presently said
Three minutes, was the answer. 81 have
done" he replied, and the correct results
of all the six operations ratified of from his
lips. And during the three minutes con
sumed in this inconcelvably gigantic labor
of mental arithmetic he had been convers
ing freely with the audience, and answer
ing all their questions. The Precursor
wonders that the ceilings and walls of the
Bardo were not brought down by the
storm of the applause.
Being four times recalled, at the fourth
time he offered to repeat, in their order,
all the fast array of the figures which had
now accumulated on the great black beard,
none having been effaccd. And lie did 1t
within minute, playing with the mill
ions, billions, and trillions. No wonder
that the Antwerp journal exclaims that it
was "vertiginous." 1t almost takes ones
breath away 10 think Of those six opera.
tions performed In three minutes without
sight Of the figures, and while conversing
with the public and answering all their
questions. The Precursor thus concludes
Jacques maud Is entirely selftaught,
and calculates after his own fashion. He
does not known how this science came to
him. 1t was an illumination. 1t seemed,
he told US, that a veil was torn aside in his
mind. He was then six years old"
The Precursor does not give the age of
this youth or boy, merely ceiling HIM "the
young Inaudl." But the manifestation of
the faculty seems to have begun suddenly
at the age OF } years. II Is difficult 10 &C
cept Its expression OF his mental facul.
ties" Surely 1t could not have been his
mind which worked out the six formidable
operations simultaneously in three MIN
utes, while at the same time he was con-
versing with the audience and answering
their questions. Nor could there have
been any tricks Of preparations in advance
or aid Of confederate, when the figures
were given to him on the spot and noted
down as they were called out by crowd
ed, promlscuous audience. II must have
been case of what the spiritualists call
mediumshIp, in which an outside intelli-
gence acts through the mind and organs
of the medium-analogou 10 the numer-
Gus cases they record In which totally I'M
lettered mediums have spoken or writer
in Languages both modern and ancient, in
GLIDING Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Orien-
tsl. On that theory it may well have been
the spirit of Zerah Colburn, or some of the
anterior lightning calculators, probably
themselves similarly mediumistic in their
day, though none Of them seems to have
eQualled the performance of Inaudi. Ii
TALES well with this theory tha. they all
seem to have lost the faculty as they ad-
vanced in years, whereas matured mental
powers and long practice ought, then
rather 10 have increased their ability. We
hope that young Inaudi's "barnum" will
bring him over to this side of the Atlantic
and present HIM before an audience in the
Academy Of Music.