The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-19
BOY PRODIGY
 AT HARVARD
Youngest Undergraduate Under Fathers
 Scientific Forcing Process Almost From Birth.
COULD READ AT 2 YEARS

Boston, Mass, Oct, 19.-Some details of the achievements of William James Sidis, the 11-year-old prodigy who has just entered Harvard with the highest honors are published here, and go to show that the youth who is gravely declared, to be the most learned under graduate that has ever entered the Cambridge institution. is a wonder fully successful result of a scientific forcing experiment, and as such fur nishes one of the most interesting mental phenomena in history. His precocity is the fruit of a parental theory of mind growth put into prac- tfce from the very beginning of his life ~
 Young sidis is. the son of Dr. Boris Sidis, Boston psychologist, who years before the boys birth had de- veloped very adv anced ideas on the subject of child training. On the basis that as soon as a child begins to grow it's brain begins to grow also, sensitive to training as age increases. pr. Sidis had planned and developed an elaborate system of training. This system he applied to his son.
 Tho child's training was begun with a set of alphabetical blocks when he was a little over a year old. When his young son, sitting on the nursery floor, said ''ba ba,'' pr. Sidis took two of these blocks. denoting A and re- spectively, held them before his eyes. and showed him first the "B'' block and then the "A" block
 Later Dr. Sidfs reversed this order and showed him the other sound that was represented by these two letters. In a little while, on being shown, first, the "A'' block and then the ''C'' block, yet 2 years old, he learned to talk, read and spell all at once
 Before he was 21A years old preco- cious William James would sit on the floor in the midst of his blocks and spell out various words This was next taught to count. Then, because he wanted the child to know some thing about the idea of time, Dr. Sidis gave him some calendars, explaining to him the meaning of them. For weeks he played with these.
 One day he startled his parents by announcing that he was able to tell on what day of the week any given date would fall. It was first thought that in his play with the calendars he had memorized some of the dates. Upon investigation, however, it was found that he had worked out all by himself a method of counting enabling him mentally to calculate any date de- manded of him.
 When William James, tor ''Jimmy') Was S1I years OlQ ne COulQ use d. type writer, and at he was an expert ope- rator. He was also much interested in fairy stories, learned them by heart, and was soon studying elocution and learning how to recite them to the best advantage.
 By the time he was years old he was not only able to read, write, and speak English and to use typewriter, but he was an expert accountant, had begun to study French and Latin, and had written a text book on anatomy and another on English grammar-pre- sumably for his own use.
 Entering a grammar school when 6 years old, he moved up several grades in six months. and entered Brookline High School at years. In six weeks there he had completed the mathemat- ical course and begun writing a book on astronomy. Then he plunged into the study of German, French, Latin, and Russian.
 On leaving school he began the study of mathematics in real earnest. In- tegral and infinitesimaI calculus be- came his hobbies, and in addition he invented a system of logarithms based on the number 12 instead of 10. This was inspected by several well known mathematicians, and pronounced per- feet in every detail
 Much has already been made of the story of the three years spent in en- deavoring to secure admission to liar yard, Sidis' age being an obstacle which the university authorities could not see their way clear to override till this year.