Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-01-23

pny nave clLeu many examples OF pro-
digious memory. No doubt some of
these are exaggerations, others are
fabulous, and only a comparatively
few admit of verifcation. Recently /
have found in my reading three cases
so well authenticated that they may
be used to illustrate the wonderful
power of a well cultivated pemory in
mind of strong native endowment.
IN each instance, too. this remarkable
retentiveness seems in no way to
have retarded the fullest development
of otner mental powers.
Probably the most remarkable Of
the three was the memory of Leonard
Euler. Euler was a native of Basel,
but most of his life was spent in St.
Petersburg. He was born in 1907 and
died in 1888 He was a teacher of
great power and a most prolific
writer. More than half of the forty
six quarto volumes of mathematics
published by the st. Petersburg acad-
envy between 1927 and 1888 were from
his pen. At his death he left more
than 200 manuscript treatises.
In the later years of his life he was
totally blind. Then, and probably ear
her, too, he cari~d in his memory n
table of the first six rowers of the
series of natural numbers up to a
hundred" 1t is related that on one
occasion two of his students attempt
ad IN calcuIa4a n ooavaro;,,r- ea.;a.
AS they progressed they found dis
agreement in their results. These
differed by unit at the fiftieth fig
ure. The question was referred to
Euler, who decided 10 make the cal.
culation. He did this mentally, and
his result was found to be correct.
1t was not only in mathematics that
Euler gave proof of a prodigious mem
DRY. He was well read in general
literature and was an excellent class
ical scholar. Virgil was one of his
favorite writer's. 1t is said that be
knew this author so well that he could
repeat the "Aeneid" from beginning
to end without hesitation and indi-
cate the first and last lire of every
page of the edition which ne used
The seventeenth century furnishes
the other two instances, to which I
call especial attention. The first is
that of the Italian scholar Antonio da
Marco Magliabechi. Magliabechi was
the literary prodigy of his time. Roy
atty and other distinguished person
1enC fr1h t1tn IN /, sn a Sal
learning. His contemporaries have
said that his memory was SO prodigi-
Gus that he was able to retain YER
batim most Of the contents of his
"multitudinous books"
comparatively recent writer has
declared that Magliabechi could name
all the authors that had written upon
any subject. giving the name of the
book, the words and often a page
This is doubtless exaggeration: but,
on the other hand, it should be re-
membered that the number of books
on any subject were much fewer then
than at the present day. Besides this,
there are two stories that have
come down from Magliabechi's time
to ours that give color to its truth.
On one occasion a gentleman of Flor
ence desired to test Magliabechi's
memory and ascertain for himself
whether the wonderful stories told
were truth Or fiction. He gave him
a manuscript to read; then, some
days after its return, pretending to
have lost 1t, he asked Magliabechi to
recall 1t, which, it is said, he did with
remarkable exactness. AT another
time the grand duke of Florence
asked If he could procure a certain
book for him. Immediately came the
response: mo, sire; it is impos-
sible. There is but one in the world.
That is in the grand seignior's II
brary at Constantinople and is the
seventh book on the seventh shelf on
the right hand as you go in"
The other instance in the seven
teenth century is that of the Rev. DR..
John Wallis. 1t is not, however, as
theologian that Wallis name is en-
rolled in the temple of fame, but as a
mathematician. In mathematical his
tory he ranks as the greatest of New
toms English precursors. He was
started on his mathematical career
by reading Oughtred's "Clavic Math-
ematica," but the special bent of his
genius came from Torricellis writings
ON The Method of Indivisibles." To
this he applied the Cartesian analy-
sis and produced his great work, the
Arithmetical fnfnitorlum most
stimulating mathematical work So far
published in England" Here he
makes the successful attempt to solve
a number Of the more simple prob
lens of the calculus by the summa.
ton of series to infiuity. The work
was one of great influence. Newton
read il while an undergraduate at
the university and from it Immediate
ly derived his binomial formula. The
power of concentration and of mem
DRY were both very strong with Wallis
SO strong. it is said, that on one oc-
casion while in bed in the dark he
extracted the square root OF num-
Der of f1fty-three places to twenty.
seven terms and repeated the result
twenty days afterward.'