The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1910-02-18

water mark of child genius, unless
| young Sidis is to rank with them.
They were gifted not in any one sub
ject to the exclusion of others, but in
every domain of thought they chose
to enter, And their genius did not
die with maturity They went on
from good to better and made each
his indelible mark on the world his
tory
In the same class, though less ia
nous, was the late Professor of AS
tronomy at Williams College. Tru-
man Henry Stafford, who died in
1901. He had an extraordinary gift
for mental calculation, which first
showed itself at the age of three
years. At seven he was studying al
zebra and geometry. and at eight
higher mathematics and astronomy.
Wanting logarithms he found them
for himself at this age by theory of
his own.
At ten he computed almanacs and
a year after brought out an almanac
of his own. which had large sale.
and in which the calculations in re-
gard 10 the moon were made by a
new and labor-saving device. At ten
he squared in his head the neat sum
of 365, 365. 365. 365. $50. 365 in
not more than one minute. But he
was not only mathematical He was
interested in history, the natural
nd
Harvard degree at the age of eigh-
teen and specialized on astronomy,
which he taught for many years.
Carl Frederick Gauss. the famous
German mathematician. when he was
three years old. overheard his father
making a calculation in regard TO the
wages of some workmen. Young
Carl suddenly looked up and called
his fathers attention TO the fact that
he had made an error in his figures
in one place This boy entered the
gymnasium at the age of eleven and
mastered all studies with the greatest
rapidity. so that at fourteen ne was
thoroughly well informed in !itera-
ture. science and philosophy. His
mathematical faculty increased rather
than diminished withyears and much
of modern mathematical science is
due TO his labor.
George Parker Biddle. another cell
ebrated boy mathematician. was
taught. when six years old. to count
up to 100. This was all the teaching
in mathematics he ever received, but
four years later ne had evolved a sys-
tenn to take the place of logarithms.
He did not show any remarkable ap-
titude for other studies. but ranked
we'll and became an excellent engi-
neer, with his mathematical faculty
unimpaired throughout life.
Zerah Colburn the Vermont farm
er boy who startled the world a hum
dred years ago. lost his strange fac
ulty in later life. and though he had
fair education and did we'll enough
ne never distinguished himself in any
way after reaching maturity. He
made extraordinary calculations at
six. and at seven he had raised. in his
head. the number eight to the six
teenth power. For the benefit of
those who do not care to figure for
half an hour the answer to this little
sum is PSI, 414, 975. ITO. 656. He
was considered backward child be-
fore his unusual gift was discovered.
but he was not, apparently. deficient
in other ways. The trouble had been
only that he had been secretly devot-
ing himself to reasoning out mathe-
NAUTICAL problems, and had not given
thought to other matters.
II stands high among mathemati-
cal prodigies pure and simple. even
though he falls below the standard of
several others. These wonders at fig
ureS are not infrequently of the type
OF Jedediah Buxton. worthy Eng
ilshmaD born some 200 years ago
I VITA remarkabl. mathematical
sense. He devoted himself from the
age OF twelve to keeping in his head
an itemiZed account of all the free
| beer ever given him. and found this
/ edifying occupation so absorbing that
he never had mind to attend to minor
! matters Of scientific nature.
Thomas Darlington Macaulay should
perhaps have been ranked with the
/ universal geniuses, but it is true that
: mis- precocious gift was largely in the
direction of literature. He read in
/ cessantly from the age of three. At
seven he had composed a very fair
/ compendium of universal history from
the creation TO the year 1900. At
| eight he had written treatise des-
tined TO convert the natives of Mala-
bar to Christianity. As a recreation
from this weighty work he wrote in
the same year romance in the style
of Scott in three cantos entitled The
Battle of Cheviot"
A little later came a long poem on
the history of Olaf Magnus and a vast
pile of blank verse entitled "Fingal. q
Poem in Twelve Books But he dis
liked mathematics, and did not pass
his examination in that subject-thus
standing out among all child prodi.
gies. His memory was such that he
literally never could forget anything
and after twenty years could repeat
bits OF poetry read only once.
Horace Greeley would undoubtedly
have been numbered among those
prodigies if he had been born in q
different environment. Before he