Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-07-30
TINE MATHEMATICAL GOAT.
Hss Wonderful Feats of Calculation or
Inetin0t.

Hss Wonderful Feats of Calculation or
Instinot.
Almost every movement OF kid
proves the mountain origin of its race.
It's powers of climbing are extraordi-
nary and must be Witnessed 20 be be-
lieved. | have seen them Chamber on
slippery roofs and up the almost per-
pendicnlar face of 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 pivot, with the
tips of all four hooflets 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 a cat or 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 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 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
il he could only tell us the process
by means of which he performs his
feats. A senior wrangler of a Smiths
prZeman 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 mo-
ment's notice. Supposing 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
it. whether by trigonometry or by some
capriclous 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 tthe ex-
act weight of which has to be taken
into accounD precisely that distance,
and not a quarter Of an inch further.
Moreover, he must take into calcula-
t'cn whether the spot he wishes to
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-
forehand reckon and spportion 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. or 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, it is obvious that, in some
way or other, the calculation is made,
and is completed in time and with
an unerring accuracy which complete
ly puts to shame the mathematical tri-
umphs of the human intellect.