The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-19
CHILDREN PRODUCES.
THEY NEVER AMOUNT TO ANY
THING IN LATER LIFE. "a.

of the Infant Prodigy HeineLtn.
From the Baltimore American.
Morltz Frankl mathematical prodigy
and "show child" of Vienna. recently at
tempted suicide by leaping from a bridge
into the Danube. Why? 1t is hardly nee
essary to ask. His phenomenal powers
were faiang him. As a show he had lost
his value; ne didn't know what 10 do with
himself or how 20 live. So, he decided
that it wasn't worth while trying to live.
Doubtless, too, he was morbid in tenn
permanent You can't be a prodigy, in
fant or other without being more or less
abnormal You must pay the price, and
the price is much too high-a bad bargain.
1t is a fine thing TO be a little above
average in some way; but not too much.
Somebody has said that to be one foot
above or below the average stature of man
means lifelong misery; for TO be mon
ster, whether dwarf or giant. is a wretch
ed fate. II is quite as bad to be abnormal
in mind; as even genius can testify. If
you are just an average, wholesome, hap
by human being, you may well thank
heaven. 1t is not such as you who leap
from Danube bridges, seeking oblivion.
But even among abnormal creatures the
lot of the infant prodigy is peculiarly
hard. Quick TO ripen, quick to rot-that
seems to be the law of nature. Especial
ly if one has been a SHOW child" accus-
toned 20 the wonder and applause of
crowds the change, which must come,
from the dollhouse atmosphere of the thea
ter 10 the cold, dry air of everyday life
is a cruel ordeal.
What becomes of them? We rarely hear
of them after the nine-day craze is over.
Genius, indeed, is often notably precocious;
but the true infant prodigy rarely redeems
his promise Many die even without the
aid of the Vienna boys water cure.
! Others after a brief meteor flight, col
lapse and sink into obscurity-a dismal
sequel. The story of these gifted untor-
! tunates Is In many cases extremely inter-
esting.
Mathematical PrOdigies.
Since Frank passed as a mathematical
prodigy, it is most natural to begin with
performers of that class. Here the typl-
cal wonder worker is Zerah Colburn says
a writer in the Washington Star The men,
tai arithmetic of this otherwise common
! place youngster makes US gasp with as
constituent, but his feasts are wei at
| tested.
He began his display at the age of six.
! Born in Vermont hamlet not quite hun
antecedents to lead one to expect mathe-
| NAUTICAL miracles: yet they came and grew
! and amazed the neighborhood. Have you
| heard about that littlo Zerah Colburn?
| was on everybody's lips.
The elder Colburn was ready reckon
err too, as it would seem; but after quite
| another fashion. AT the first hint of posi-
| BILE dollars he took the road, making his
son an tinerant show, himself the show
man. Thus they Travelled all over New
| England.
| The father seemingly, was a Yankee of
| the wooden-nutmeg type; but there was no
| humbug about the boy. He was repeatedly
| examined in the most thorough manner by
college professors and other experts The
| genuineness of his gift is beyond question.
! AT Boston, perched amid circle of an
| credulous investigators, the little fellow
was tried with all sorts of unexpected
! questions.
How many days and hours in 1871
years?''
They held their breath for the answer
| literally, for it came in twenty seconds.
six hundred and sixty-one thousand
and fifteen days. 1864 $50 hours"
Take your pencil and put down on paper
| the figures that must have raced through
! the childs brain in that twenty seconds.
See how long it takes you.
| How many seconds in eleven .years?"
But that was an easy one. The answer
| came in four seconds-346, 1896 600.
Like IA Trick Animal.
The president of Dartmouth College
| thereupon offered TO educate the lad at his
own expense. For several years little Ze-
rah was paraded about the United States
and exhibited like a trick animal Then
| he was taken TO Europe.
The child was now years old, and his
! faculty had reached its highest point In
| Paris he made a sensation The savants
there tossed him such bagatelles as this:
What is the square of 999 999? Multiply
this square by 40 twice and by % once"
As the answer only runs into quadriI-
| lions seventeen figures, a few seconds
time was quite enough for Zerah. He
solved the problem in scarcely more than
! the time needed 90 grasp the full import
of the words.
How did he do 1t? The thing savors of
magic. YET in after years Colburn de-
clared that his processes were much the
same as those of ordinary mortals. Doubt
less he had lin an extraordinary degree
that same picturing power which enabled
| Morphy and other chess players to play
| blindfolded a dozen games al a time. lust
/ as they saw each board and all its shift
Ing pieces in imagination, so baby Zerah
saw his swiftly evolving figures in a sort
of microscopic vision, as plainly as If he
| mad written them with chalk.
Made No Mistakes.
But this will not explain all His French
inquisitors once asked him for the factors
| of 1924 1857, 297. He named them almost in
| stantly-6,700,4 All multiplied by GIL This.
though absolutely correct, was news 10
| questioners, who supposed that they had
/ given him a prime number; it was so set
| down in their tables. He made no mis-
| takes. When numbers really prime were
offered he detected the fact just as
| promptly.
How could he see these things? 1t is a
faculty hard TO understand. 1t seems ike
| divinatiDn. Perhaps however, il had some
thing in common with the power some per-
sons possess of determining large num-
| bers at a glance, without regard to group-
ing and without counting. Anyone can do
! this up to three or four; many up TO seven
Arrest