The times., 1901-06-02


Asfonished Every Witness to Their
Wonderful PrOwess in Immediate
Answers TO Intricate Questions
doubtless many people in this city are
familiar with the figure Of an old man
who is always seen in public in company
with n number Of small and highly-bred
dogs. This man was once the famous
..lfchtning calculator of the Treasury
DsDarfment. He once ranked, 1t is said,
among the best mathematicians IN the
country. The United States has produced
some phenomenal mathematicians, men
with an Unborn aptitude for the manage
ment of figures
Among these was Zerah Colburn, ma
tive of Vermont, who excited much inter-
est a considerable number of years ago.
When six years old he suddenly showed
extraordinary powers Of mental calcula-
tion.
BY processes which seemed to be almost
unconscious 10 himself, and were wholly
so to others. he answered arithmetical
questions of considerable difficulty. When
eight years old he was taken to England,
and in London astonished many learned
auditors and spectators by giving correct
solutions to such problems as the follow
the square root of 106 .929; give the cube
root of 25S, 1886 125; how many seconds are
there in IS years? etc. The answers were
always given In a very few minutes
sometimes in a few seconds. He was ig-
norant of the ordinary rules Of arithmetic.
and did not know how or why particular
modes of process came into his mind. On
one occasion a certain British nobleman
asked him to multiply p, 134 by 5iS; some
thing in the boys manner induced the
ouestioner to ask him how he did it,
from which it appeared that the boy ar
rived at the result by multiplying 65,2O2
by Isl. an equivalent process, but why he
made the change in the factors neither
he nor any one else could tell. Zerah Col
burn was unlike other boys also in this.
that he had more than the usual number
of fingers and toes.
An Englishman, by the name of George
Parker Bidder, when six years old, used
to amuse himself by counting up to 100,
then TO LOCO then TO 100000; by degrees
he accustomed himself to contemplate the
relation of high numbers, and used to
build UP peas, marbles, and shot into
squares. cubes, and other regular figures.
He invented processes OF his own, dis
tinct from those given in books on arith-
metic and could solve all the usual ques-
ton mentally more rapidly than other
boys with the aid of pen and paper
When, in after years, he became eminent
as a civil engineer, he was wont to en-
barrass and battle the parliamentary
counsel on contested railway bills by con-
futing their statements Of figures almost
before the words We're out of their
mouths. He has given to the world an
iufr,
count of this singular arithmetical fac
ulty. wherein he shows that memory has
less to do with IT than is generally SUP
posed; the processes. it would appear, are
actually worked out seriatim, but with
rapidity almost inconceivable.
On the Sd of July, 1899. some of the
eminent members of the Academy of
Sciences at Paris. including NM Arago,
Lacroix, Libel, and sturm, met TO examine
a remarkable boy, whose powers Of men
tai calculation were deemea quite inexpli-
cable. The boy named Eito Mangianiele,
a Slciian, was the son of q shepherd, and
was about eleven years old. The exam
fners asked him several questions which
they knew, under ordinary circumstances,
to be tedious of solution-such as the cube
root of 8, 7e6, ,416, and the tenth root of
2s9 g75. .2s9; the first of these he answered
in half a minute. the second in three min
utes. One Of the questions was Of the fol-
lowing complicated character. What
number has the following proportions,
that If its cube is added to five times it's
square, and then forty-two times the
number, and the number z be subtracted
from the result, the remainder is equal TO
0, or zero?" NJ Arago repeated this ques-
ton a second time, but while he was fin
ishing the last word, the boy replied;
THE number is So
Such cases greatly puzzle ordinary
mathematicians. Buxton, as well as Col
burn, and Bidder, was eminent In the
same marvellous power. Jedediah Bux-
ton. although his grandfather was
clergyman and his father a schoolmas-
ter, was so neglected in his education
that he was unable TO write; his mental
faculties were slow, with the one fx-
ception Of his wonderful facility in men
tai arithmetic After hearing sermon,
he remembered and cared for nothing
it except the number OF words
which he had counted during their de-
livery. II a period of time, or the size