The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-11-02
BLIND MAN A
MATHEMATICIAN.


Came TO HIM CIamored for Mathe-
NAUTICAL Instruction.
stone blind from his birth, but not
outstanding this great handicap, a
world recognized authority on the So
called higher mathematics, Lewis B.
CARL of Brooklyn is shortly to issue in
hook form the result of twenty years
of research over the most abstruse
mathematical problems ever conceived
by the mind of man.
This book will look like so much
Greek or Sanskrit even to the man who
prides himself on his knowledge Of al
zebra and geometry. When it
"a given to the mathemati-
cal world it will be found
that for the first time, many of the
problems that have defied solution since
The days of the ancient calculator who
shouted Eureka" on a. certain mem
orable occasion have been interpreted
logically and correctly by a man whose
pupils include well-known college
mathematical professors and who has
been consulted by such eminent au-
thorities as Prof Simon Newcomb.
II. )
His first was issued in 1881, after ten
years of study and research. 1t has
66S pages and is called the Calculus
of Variations 1t is the only book of
its kind extant, and has been out of
print some years, for there are not
many fundamentally inclined persons
who care to wrestle with the varia-
tons, to say nothing of differential and
integral calculus, before which the
average mind quails. The demand for
the second book will be even smaller,
by reason of the fact that it will deal
exclusively with several isolated points
that Mr.. CARL was unable to make
clear in his first work. But now" he
said the other day, as he sat in the
library of his Brooklyn home,
NOW, after twenty years of
hard and continual work on
these most difficult of all problems, 1
have solved them at last. And just
think, please, that in return for all
these years of patient and delicate re-
search, 1 shall not receive a cent. My
first book Melted me $3.50. Two hundred
and fifty dollars for ten years labor,
not cent for twice ten years TOLL!
But the fame-ah"
Mathematics Forced ON Him.
It was his desire for a reputation,
circle, that led Mr.. CARL to take up
line of work that hundreds of eminent
mathematician from Euclid down
either seduously avoided or gave up
in despair as being unsolvable by them.
When Mr.. CARL graduated from Co.
lumbia University, in 1870, pressing
Seth Low, now Mayor of New York,
hard for first honors, he wanted to be-
come a teacher of the classics. To that
end he had worked with infinite pa
thence in an institution for tire blind
and all through his college course. He
first had to have some one read Greek
and Latin to him, then he had to trans
scripe the passage by means of the
point system of writing for the blind,
then he had to learn his lessons like
any other student.
Mr.. CarlPS lessons were read to him
by classmate, who was sent through
college by Mr.. Carlps father in order
that he might be eyes to his son. Most
of the reading was done on the train
while the two students travelled be-
tween the college and Mr. CarlPs IA
theirs farm at Whitestone, Long ISL
and, the blind Students companion be-
ing the son of neighboring farmer.
Then in the evening Mr.. CARL
would study over the lessons that
he had taken down in the point sys-
tenn of writing. On Saturdays his
companion would read to him
for six or eight hours, and in this
way Mr.. CARL managed to keep ahead
of his class and do the stipulated
amount of outside work
After he had done all this and thor
oughly equipped himself as a classical
scholar he could secure no pupils who
were looking forward to the degree of
B. A. Instead all who came to him
at his fathers home wanted instruc-
ton in mathematics
Fate Made Him n Mathematician.
Naturally" said Mr.. CARL the other
day, Il was sorely disappointed, but 1
wanted to be Independent, so 1 taught
mathematics, in which 1 had never
prided or distinguished myself. AS
time went on more pupils came to me;
l became more interested in mathe-
mates; 1 studied it's branches as ear
nestly and enthusiastica as 1 had my
Latin and Greek, which now were de-
serted Pretty soon after 1 had mas
tered difrerential and integral calculus,
l found that nobody knew very much
about calculus of variations, except
that there was such a branch. Then
l said to myself: why don't you find
out something about it, and perhaps, if
you do, you'll gain some fame So,
when I could find time between stu
dents, I struggled in the new field.
Now I am known to all mathe-
maticians by my works, but the gen.
eral public hasn't heard much about
me, and I never expected it would.
Still, L feel that I have done what 1
set out to do and I am satisfied"
How have I worked? How have I
done it?'' A smile played on the speak
er's gentle face. "Ah, it is a long story,
but If you want to know, I'll tell you.
We'll, when began to look up the
subject of calculus of variations I
found, to my amazement, that only
one book on the subject ever had been