The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-23

mot only in acres rods, and perches,
but oven In square inches Probably,
his greatest feat was the determine
ton OF the number of cubical eighths
Of an inch in a triangular body whose
three sides were respectively 23.14S.-
7S9 yards. h.642.732 yards n 54.S65
yards. This complicated question was
put to him suddenly while he was
walking in the field with fellow-labor-
crs. After five hours he gave the ex-
act result.
The seventeenth century furnishes
two instances to which l desire to call
special attention. The first Is that Of
Magliabecchi librarian of Cosmo Ill,
grand duke Of Florence. Magliabcc-
chi was the literary prodigy of his
time. Royalty and other distinguish
ed personagcs paid tribute to his Won
derful learning. His contemporaries
have said that his memory was so
%prodigious that he was able to retain
"hultitudinous books" A comparative
~ recent writer. too, has declared that
he could name all the authors that
had written upon any subject. giving
the name Of the book. the words. and
often the page. This Ia doubtless ex-
aggeration. But. on the other hand,
II should be remembered hat the
~ VI WINS VII III SUuJVCl WAS
much fewer than now. Besides this.
there are two series that have come
down to us from Magliabecchi's time
that give color to its truth.
I'm II occasion a gentleman from
Florence desired to test Magliahecchi's
memory and ascertain for himself
whether the wonderful stories told
were truth or fiction. He gave him Il
manuscript to read; then. some days
| Qffar ire rat1frn nrct0tHScv - lo,.o
lost 1t. he asked M~agliabecchi to recall
IT. which it is said he did with remark
ahle eXaCtness. AT another time the
grand duke asked IL he could procure
for him a certain book. one that was
particularly scarcre. marked four
RS rarissimus." as Dominic Sampson
would have described it. Immediate
impossible. Your highness's treasury
would not buy II for you. for there is
but one in the world; that is in the
Grand Signor's library at Constantine
ople. and Is the seventh book on the
right as o go in"
Contemporary With M~agliabecchi
was Rev. DR.. John Wallis. 1t is not,
however. as a t%heologian that Wallis
is remembered. but as a mathematical
an. In mathematical history he ranks
as the greatest of Newton's precursors.
lie was started on his mathematical
career by reading Oughtred's CLAWS
Mathematical" but the special bent of
his genius am from Torricelli's writ
ings on the Method Of Invisibles." To
this he applied the "Arithmetica In
fnitorum." which has been ranked by
stimulating work so far published in
England" Here he makes the sue
cessful attempt to solve A number Of
the more simple problems Of the call
cu!us by the summation Of series to in
unity. The work had . great influ-
ence. Newton read it while an under
graduate at h university. and from
It Immediately derived his binomial
formula. The power of concentration
and memory were both very strong
with Wallis. 1t is said that he could,
in the dark. perform arithmetical op-
erattons such as multiplication, divi-
sion and extraction of roots to 40
places: He relates that in February,
1871. he proposed to himself by night
IN bed lat the request of a %foreigner)
a humber OF So places. INC found It's
square root to % terms: and that
without even writing down the num-
Der he dictated the result from mem
DRY 20 days a~fterward."
These instances of %retentive MEM
DRY give FEASIBILITY to the possible
truth OF others more frequently cited.
pfny tells us that Cyrus the Great
knew the names Of all his soldiers;
and Cicero in his D Senectute'~sa says
that Themistocles could call by name
the 10000 citizens Of Athens. From
Cicero. too. we earn something Of the
remarkable memory Of Sopocles, who
In old age. when judicial proceedings
had been instituted to determine his
mental competency. recited to the
judges h Oedipus at Colonus to prove
his mind was not failing.
1t is said that when Cyneas, an Am
bassador from Pyrrhus. arrived at
Rome. he saluted by name all the SEN
ators and persons of equestrian order.
Plato makes Hippias boast that he
could repeat 500 words after hearing
them once. but this is as nothing as
compared with the claims of Seneca.
IN his declarations in speaking OF the
former tenacity Of his memory, he
says that he was able to repeat 1000
names In the order in which they had
been given to him He relates. too.
that on one occasion in his student
days, after the different pupils Of his
p~receptor had recited 200 unconnect.
ed verses. he repeated them in a re-
verse order: that is. he began with
the last and proceeded to the first ut
tered. Equally remarkable with this
feat Of Seneca Is one related by Hor-
~tensius. who after sitting a whole day
at a sale in Rome reproduced from
memory the name Of each article sold,
Its price and the name of the purchas-
er with such accuracy as to agree in
every particular with the record kept
by a notary. But more marvellous.
If possible. than either of these is an
instance mentioned by Sir william
Hamllton IN his Lectures on Meta
physics and Logic" He there makes
the statement, and cites Nuretus 40
authority. that a young Corsican could
repeat in either direct or reverse or.
der. or begin at m point and repeat
both ways. a list Of $4,000 names.
Lord Granville could repeat the
whole OF the new testament in the
original Greek. In three months
Ihomas Cranmer memorized the en-
tire translation Of the bible. Bossuet.
famous court preacher of Louis
OF the bible. but all OF Homer. Virgil
and Horace. Racine knew all the
tragedies Of Euripides. 1t is related
that both Horace vernet and Gustave
Dore ould paint a portrait from
memory. Their is also a story that is
probably more than tradition that
WolfganG Mozart set down the whole
OF the .Sistine Miserere" from mem
Dry. and that, too. from hearing II but
twice.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Pas.
cal. Ben Jonson. Leibniz, Scalieer.
Nicbuhr and Macaulay all were men
of mervclous memoirs. Almost from
childhood Mirandola was noted for his
extraordinary memory. He studied
canon law at Bologna. and then went
to Fcrrara. where he mastered theol-
ogy and the different system of pht-
losophy and became proficient in la.
/ nm (vraak HntNrru- 1hA> -- -