The Press., 1896-05-07
STRONG ON FIGURES.
WERE LIGHTNING CALCULATIONS BY A
 GIFT OF NATURE.

ed General ACCenG1On-SOme Of the D11d- cult Tests Through Which They Passed
 Successfully.
 George Parker Bidder was born in 1906 at Morton Hampstead, in Devon shire, where his father carried on a small business as stonemason. At the early age of he showed a most ex- traordinary ability for calculation, which with slight assistance from an elder brother assumed quite phenomenal pro- portions. His peculiar talents soon at- tracted general attention, and his father found it much more profitable employ ment to carry his son about the country and exhibit him as the "Calculating Phenomenon" than following his trade. In this way young Bidder visited many parts of England, astonishing the differ ant people who came to question him by the wonderful rapidity with which he was able to answer, without external aid of any descri ptiOn, the most difficult questions Of these the following are a few of the most extraordinary examples |: If a flea spring feet and inches in every hop, how many hops must it take to go around the world, the circum- ference being 25,O2O miles, and how long would it be performing the journey allowing it to take 60 hops every minute without intermission? Answer, 58, ,713,- eco hops and year, S14 days, 13 hours and 20 minutes.
 The following question was solved by him in 40 seconds: Suppose the ball at tfe top of St. Pauls cathedral to be 6 feet ill diameter, what did the gliding cost at 31ad. per square inch? Answer, e%37 los. Id.
 The following in 1 minute and 20 seconds: Suppose city to be illuminat- ed with 1899 lamps, each lamp to con- srme one pint of oil every four hours in succession, how many gallons would they consume in 40 years2 Answer, 1G0, 489, ,O5O gallons
 Another curious question was Sup pose the earth to consist of 971, ,O0O, 900 inhabitants and suppose they die in 30 years and months, how many have re- turned to dust since the time of Adam, computing it to be 5,85O years? Multi ply the answer by 99.
 During one of his exhibition tours, fortunately for the lad, his performances attracted the attention of eminent schol- aIs, who after making inquiries subse- qlently undertook his education. He was attached to the ordnance survey for short time and afterward was as sociated with Stephenson, the great en- gineer,
 Some years after, he entered parlia- n1ont and nnn1orOUG CfOrioc oro of his wonderful skill in detecting a flaw in some elaborate sets of calcula- tions, whereby he was often enabled to upset an opponents case. Or, at other times, he would establish his own case by arguments based upon mathematical data, possibly only at the moment placed before him, It is said that on one occasion an opposing counsel asked that he might not be allowed to remain in the committee room on the ground that "pature had endowed him with qualities that did not place his oppo- uents on a fair footing." 1"
 After taking leading part in many important engineering works, he died at Dartmouth, Sept. 20, 1878,
 Another of these extraordinary chil dren, between whom and Bidder honors were almost equally divided, was Zerah Colburp, born at Cabot, Vt. |, Sept. ], 1904, Signs of his wonder .ful power appeared at a very tender age. The discovery was accidentally made by his father, who was much sur- prised one day to hear him repeating the product of several numbers, al- of h0 LC hol other instruction than such as could be obtained at a small country school whose curriculum did not include writ ing or ciphering. He thereupon proposed variety of arithmetical questions to his SOD, all of which the child answered with remarkable facility and correct ness. At the age of the boy was able to solve most difficult questions by the mere operation of his mind. Many per- sons of the first eminence for their knowledge in mathematics made point of seeing and cOnversing with him, and they proposed to him great variety of questions to test his marvellous powers. Among them were the following:
 Give the square root of 999, 999. Aft or hesitating little he replied 999, ,999,- 000,OO1 and observed that he produced this result by multiplying the square of 87,O37 by the square of 27. He was then asked to multiply the answer twice by 49 and once by 25, task which he accomplished successfully, though the answer consists of IT figures.
 Name the cube root of 419, 1908, 348,- G77. To this he gave the correct answer in five seconds. How many times would a coach wheel 12 feet in circumference turn round in 256 miles, and how many minutes in AS years. To the first he re- piled in two seconds 112, $40, and to the second, before the question could be written down, 1928, 800, and added that the number of seconds in the same period was 1,513,728. What are the fac tors of 247, ,483? To this he replied 941 and 263, which are the only factors.
 In Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America, the five great continents, Shaker medicines are being used by suffering hu. manity for cur9 of sick ess an l disease.
 NeH CT was there such universal demand never such wonderful results.
 Shaker Digestive Cordial, cure for indigestion, is prepared from herbs and roots, and isa natural remedy, which cures by aiding nature and not by fighting her.
 Shaker Digestive Cordial, makes those fat, who have become thin by not digest ing their food.
 It restores the spirits and the appetite of those who are dejected and Jagged out from the wearing effects of indigestion.
 It relieves the symptoms of dyspepsia, and, after using for a, reasonable time finally cures the com Iaint.
 Sold by druggists. Trial bottle 10 cents.
 Animals and Speech.
 The theory is advanced by Bayard Taylor that animals remen Der and rec ognize the speech of their native land. Once, noticing in Barnum's s museum a hippopotamus which wore an unmistak- able look of dejection, he spoke 10 it ill English. The beast did not move. Going to another corner of the cage, he said ill Arabic:
 1z1,O1rr x1O,7 Co,1oo boro 4C ,,,o