The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1897-09-04
g MArHEMArIcAL coz.
Bis wonderful Feats Of Calculation or
Instinct.

Bis Wonderful Feats OF Calculation or
Instinct.
Almost every movement of a kid
proves the mountain origin. of it's race.
Its powers of climbing are extraordi-
nary and must be witnessed to be be-
iieved. I have seen them Chamber on
slippery roofs and up the almost per-
pendicular face of quarry to places
which seemed impossible to reach
without the aid of ladder, or the
clinging power of claws or fingers,
says a writer in Blackwood's Magazine.
remember once seeing a pair of kids
running races up and down the shafts
of a 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 hoofiets close enough
together to rest on penny piece.
Such fears on the part of goat are
far 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
finitely delicate power of adjusting his
weight so as to maintain his balance.
What gives such finish to the per-
Torrance 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 a 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 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 l think of it, fills me with
admiration and amazement. What
mathematician 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 sOlv-
ing with absolute accuracy at a mo-
ment's notice Supposing a goat. fol-
lowing a new path, has to take leap
so as to alight on pinnacle or mar
row crag overhanging some abyss.
First of all he must estimate the dis
lance to be traversed, and, having got
1t, whether by trigonometry or by some
capricious method of his own, he has
next to compute, to the fraction of an
ounce, how much propulsive force is
required to project his body (the eX-
act weight of which has to be taken
into accOunU precisely that distance
and not a quarter of an inch further
Moreover, he must take into calcula-
ten whether the spot he wishes to
reach is above or below his starting
point, and plainly his brain, when il
sends forth motor impulses to the nu,
merous muscles involved, must be.
fCrehand reckon and appCrtion to eacl
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 eacl
of his limbs to stop and balance his
body on his new and precariOus foot
hold. OF course, one need scarcely sa!
that the whole process goes on with
out reaching the consciousness of thu
goat, or anything that could, even b!
courtesy, be called his mind. But, new
ertheless, it is obvious that, in som,
way or other, the calculation is made
and is completed in time and will
an unerring accuracy which complete
ly puts to shame the mathematical tri
umphs of the human intellect.