The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1897-08-21
THE MATHEMATICAL 4 sGoAT.
His Wonderful Feats o9 Cslculation o
55 i5sB &; 2s9S Inatinot ggs

s.$ Instinct.
Almost every movement OF a kid
proves the mountain origin Of its race.
Its powers Of climbing are extraordi-
nary and must be witnessed to be be-
@lieved. have seen them Chamber on
slippery roofs and up the almost per-
pendicular face Of a quarry to places
which seemed Impossible to reach
without the aid Of a ladder, or the
clinging power of claws or fingers.
says a writer in Blackwood's Magazine.
& remember once seeing pair Of kids
running races up and down the shafts
OF disused farm-roller which were
tilted up at an angle of about As de-
grees. On the extreme ends Of the
shafts, high in the air, the little crea-
lures would stand, one on each, and
turn about, as on a pivot, with the
tips Of all four hoofets close enough
together to rest on a penny piece.
Such fears on the part of a goat are
Tar more artistic exhibitions Of skill
in climbing than anything that can be
done by cat or a monkey, for he does
everything by calculating his distance
with absolute exactitude and by an in
f1nitely delicate power of adjusting his
weight so as to maintain his balance
What gives such finish to the per-
formance is his sublime confidence in
himself and the. extraordinary precis-
ion with which every movement is ex-
ecuted. His judgment is so perfect that
he scarcely ever makes mistake.
Necessity has been his grim school
master, for It is, of course, easy to
see that when leaping from ledge to
ledge along the face of a precipice the
least error. in calculating either his
distance or the amount Of muscular
force to be exercised would instantly
prove fatal This is a branch Of the
study of natural history which has a
peculiar fascination for me, and which.
the more think of it, fills me with
admiration and amazement. What A
mathemat c an the goat would make
If he could only tell us the process
by means Of which he performs his
feats. A senior Wrangler of a Smiths
prizeman would be nowhere beside
him. Let me endeavor, briefly, to
point out the nature Of certain prob-
lens which he is in the habit Of soly-
Jig with absolute accuracy at a mo-
4naent's ll nGtice- Supp posingz goat, fol-
lowing a new path, has to take a leap
SO as to alight on a. pinnacle or mar
row crag overhanging some abyss.
First Of all he must estimate the dis
tapce to be trayeTsed, and, having got
it, whether by trigonometry or by some
oapric.ous method of his own, he has
next to compute, to the fraction of an
ounce, how much propulsiye force is
required to project his body (the ex-
&C. weight of which has to be taken d
into accounD precisely that distance,
ana lot a quarter of an inch further.
Moreover, he @nst take into ca,cula-
ten whether TEE spot be wishes te
reach is above or below his starting
point, and plainly his brain, when it
sends forth motor impulses to the nu-
merous muscles involved, must be-
fcrehand reckon and apportion to each
its share in the task. At the same
moment he must also estimate the ex-
act proportionate amount Of muscular
force which will be required in each
OF his limbs to stop and balance his
body on his new and precarious foot
hold. OF course, one need scarcely say
that the whole process goes on with
out reaching the consciousness Of the
goat, or anything that could, even by
courtesy, be called his mind. But, new
ertheless, 1t is obvious that, in some
way OF other, the calculation is made,
and is completed in a time and with
al an :.ll1 .ull1nerring accuracy which complete
i ~ puts to shame the Mathematical tri.
umphs Of the human intellect.