The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1910-02-10
BOY FIGURES
ON DIMENSIONS
calculations by .Ten-Ycar-Oid Hox
Seem Almost Uncanny.

The fourth dimension may bo ,utt.
az mythical as Santa Claus. There arr
some skeptics even among the higher
mathematicians who look upor IL an
something akin to the philosophers
stone. The fashion among learned
men once was to hunt for the formula
that would transmute base metals into
gold and silver.
Whatever the real value OF the
search Tor the fourth dimension. there
is something more than an alchernint
OF mathematics in James SidIs. who
bowed by the weight OF his ten long
years, stood before an audience of
Harvard professors and Familiarity dis
cussed Observation-Disclosures II
SOUNDS superciliously like perpetual
motion.
Young Mr.. Sidis is not a candIdate
Tor the football team. and he probably
Is too light for a place as coxwain
or the crew. A ten-year-oId boy could
not be intrusted with the Important
work OF steering shell In an inter-
cohegiate race. Even If he were
strong enough to keep the helm steady.
ms Judgment might be at fault.
But this little man can hold the At
tenion OF grave and reverend profess
sors while in his childish, piping voice
ne explains new and sartling theories
about space that old Euclid never sua-
pected of existing.
william James Sidis entered Iar-
ward last September. He was far and
away the youngest student ever mat
REGULATED at the ancient university. He
mas already passed through the high
est course in mathematics IN the Har-
>"iu curriculum The gray-haIred
teachers listen 10 his lectures and fol-
a
IN boyish handwriting, with which he
Illustrates theories that are neither
boyish nor faltering
II really seems a little uncanny. ana
It's place might well be in the Dsvcbo-
logical clinic. 1t belongs there even
more than that OF the backward child.
for backward children are common
enough. 1t isn't often that the psv-
coloSist has chance to anaiyze the
forwards
youthful prodigies are always inter
esuhg STUDIES. 1t is a curious fact
mat rev. except those whose precocity
mas oeeh exhibited in music. have full
hIied the promise of their childhood.
Mozart was n skillfuI pianist AT three
years and wrote operas at 6. Other
noted musicians have shown similar
early genius.
IL was said OF Horace Greeley that
ne could spell every word in the Eng
nsh language at 3, but there is some
doubt that he ever spelled hecatonico-
cehedrigons Even in his old age he
probably would have disguised his,
faulty photography under is-illegible
handwriting and put the burden OF
proof upon the typesetter
MOST or us would rather have orr
IO-year-old boys practicing vulgar
fractions and inshoots than explaining
the fourth dimension to Harvard nro1
lessons. But the fact that the boy at
III has so completely mastered the
known field of abstract mathematics
mat he is seeking to discover the nm
known is significant of the possibilities
of the human mind.
william James Sidis is a Dhenorne-
non' and his marvellous development
IL altogether one-sided. But II his
NINA can make such excursions at 10.
the tlme VIII come when the field will
be familiar to the average mind NJ
mature years. because the developmeDt
IN all directions win have been eoualIv-
great
AFTER thousands OF years the human
intellect is still at the threshold. The.
"4lhain James Sidises are flashes which
penetrate the future. Let us hope that
mat particular William James viii
grow up to be something more useful
man n lightning calculator in n dime
huseum.-Philadelph North Ameri-
IAN.