The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-01-17
A. MATHEMATICAL PRODIGY.
Tho Remarkable Talent OF q Half W'tted

Tho Remarkable Talent Of q Half WItted
Negro Countryrnan.
- Reuben Field, the mathematical pro-
dizzy of Lexington, who has attracted so
much attention, wes born at WarTens-
burg, johnson county about thirty years
ago, and possesses only slightly better.
intellectual faculties than Blind Tom:
.sRuab's" gift is made the more eprolnis'
nent by the barTsnness Of bis mind In
other features. He has no intelligence
aside from his remarkable manipulation
of,Hguree.s Give Reuben. Field q problem.
np matter whether It bo:ins decimal COM.
pound sorsyulgar fractionsssit makes no
difference whether It lis better suitedste
the rulea;of short than long VISION; Il
simmateTial 81 whether there: are ten fig
ures or TOO IN It; whether mnlhpll pllcanon'
or substraction; and he will, without the
aid Of paper or pencil, give you the
answer before the echoes Of your voice
In propounding the question have fully
died away. He cannot read; he cannot
write. He does not know one figure
from another, and yet mentally, by the
gift which he possesses. h0 can solve any
problem submitted to him. As "Bhnd
Toms" talent Of repeating piecesof music
played in his presence for the first time BY
many. Of the most brilliant performers In
the country has been tested, and always
with the result OF making more wonder
full his great gift, SO have learned msth-
ematicians tried to trap Field, but with
out success. To give him q problem
which one himsaK could not @solye
would not determine whether he was
right or wrong, and lest errors might be
made the most difficult .sexamples In
the higher arithmetics, as well as others,
originating with. their questioner and
simple enough except tor their long
array Of figures, havo been hurled at
him, and quick as flash would como
his answer, always correct. :,
Give him the diameter OF tho wheel OF
locomotive, and the distance between
any two point 1t makes no difference
how greatt..--the time spent In nItraversing
this distance, and You have hardly
ceased speaking before he giyes you the
number OF revolutions the wheel makes
In covering the distance. Give him the
distance and the time and he will tell
you the diameter Of the wheel. Tell him
the dimensions Of brick. and say to him
o wall Is so many feet long, 80 many
high and so many thick, and he promptly
tells you how many bricks are in the
wall Not In reasonable length OF
time, as though; calculating 1t, but In.
stantly, and while skilled accountants
who have witnessed his feats have fques-
toned the correctness OF his answers,
they have found they were In error and
! Reub wes right Whenever they did go.
Tell him to multiply 9.898. TAG, ,829, 1853 hy
Is, add 80, ,573 and divide by go, and 10
less time than the reader can calculate 1t
Reub will have tho answer ready. These
figures are onl y used as all Illustration,
but they are simplioity In Its purest
form compared to solne submitted to
him. He has gray eyes, and, when not
engaged in exhibiting bis strange gift,
they arc entirely free Of expression, as
though they were OF dead glass; but have
him In the excitement Of figures and o
strange glitter-something little short OF
an expression OF madness-ights them
up. The strangest of this haf witted
fellows accompl plishments Is that, awak-;
ened at any hour, be viii tell you the
time to second he does not make o
business Of exhibiting bis power, and It
Is not always that those Who are most
kind to him, and whom be knows best,
can persuade him to "show off. He
says his power came from God, and, i
he accepted offers which had been made
to him to travel with showmen, or to
take employment In large business
houses, God would take bis gift away
Lexington (Mo.) Cor. Globe:Democrat.