Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1907-11-16
AsToNlsHEp THE KING.
Marvellous Feats Of Mental calcNls-
tors Recalled.

Not very long ago King Edward
summoned to his presence the most
s s4lsuea u modern mental cal
cuiators. who astonished his majesty
by the marseiously quick fashion ia
ehich from > scanty supply OF facts
he calculated the number of minutes
Which he had lived through since he
VAS born, the amount OF money be
iad in his pocket. and SO forth.
Zach OF these calculators Is without
doubt genius of his kind who APP
pears only once in a generation, Or
not so often as that.
One of the most remarkable of them
all was Jedediah Buxton. who -four
ished in the eighteenth century, and
with whom reckoning was positively
disease, for he could not go to
church without calculating exactly
how many words were uttered by
each performer. He would stride over
a iield two or three times In different
directions, and then reckon mentally
how many square inches OF land there
were in it,
With the object of testing him.
some skeptics asked him how many
elspical eighths OF an inch there are
III a quadrangular mass measuring
2s,il5,7s9 yards long. s.642,732 yards
wide, and 5a,s65 yards thick, and af-
ter very brief mental calculation he
gave an accurate answer. AT last no
made himself, as he said. drunk with
reckoning imposing upon himsclf
the task Of discovering how many
grains of eight different kinds of corn
and pulse there were in 10000. 900 900
cubic miles, and how many hairs one
inch long, For the solution of this
problem he first OF all actually count
ed how many grains of each kind
there were in an inch cube and how
many hairs of the specified inch
length, and then he made the re-
mainder Of the calculation. As usual.
mentally.
Mr.. George Parker Bidder. who
about half century ago was an emtn~
ent civil engineer. had wonderful
reputation for his system OF mental
calculation When he was a little boy
only years old he used to amuse
himself by counting up to hundred.
then TO a thousand. and next. to =
million, and by this means he uncon-
sclously trained himself TO contem-
plate the relations OF high numbers
Then he would build up marbles.
shot and peas into pyramids and be
able to tell exactly, without count
Ing. how many went to the construc
ton OF each
When he went to school he did all
his mathematical sums mentally.
without any slate reckoning, In one
tenth the time that the other boys oc-
cupied; and then, when at last he
went out into the professional world
and became famous as an engineer.
II was his business sometimes to APP
pear before parliamentary committees
that were sitting on contested rail-
way bills, and on such occasions he
would prove by mental calculation
that the figures OF counsel were
wrong within few seconds OF their
utterance.
In nearly every case these figure
wizards have shown their remarkable
talents as little children. and without
any special advantages in the way Of
parentage or training usually the re-
verse. Thus. In 1888. little Sicilian
named vito Mangiamele. II years Of
are son of shepherd. astonished the
members OF the Academy OK Sciences
at Paris, before whom he appeared.
by the wonderful speed and accuracy
OF his mental reckonings. In half .
minute he calculated for them the
cube root OF 1896. 416. and in three
minutes he extracted the tenth root Of
2s2.475,249
Then he was asked this question:
What number has the following pro-
portions, that III its cube is added 10 five
times its square, and then AZ times
de number and the number Az 10
sub;racted from the result, the re-
mainder is equal to or zero?" The
Vt'Stlou NdS ltpSdbtd W uiii a stlciiu
line SO that hc might property IA
dersIand it. but while his interrogator
was repeating the last word the boy
replied. THE number is 5.
Nearly 100 years ago also a young
american boy named Zero Coburn
created sensation in London. lie
vas only years old at the time and
did not know single one OF the or
binary rules OF simple arithemetic.
Yet In a few seconds he answered cor
rectly such questions as these: what
is the square root OF 106.929? What IL
Tive cube root OF 26s .35s.l25? How
rauy seconds are there In AS years?
When Is raised to the sixteenth pow
er what IL the result?" He always
gave the correct answers. but he could
never explain how he came by them.
One time the Duks OF Gloucester ex-
.mined him and asked him TO n-iti-
ply 21.734 By SSe. and when he gave
aim the correct answer Immediately
lie duke asked how he did 1t. The