The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1912-07-29
aa HH Of EsTERlll
Test Of Minds Ability to Count
Without Assistance
y. a. Camp, Lona Manager q Now
YORK Clearing House, Demonstrates
The Limitations q the sssi
o. Mathematician.

Ey = J. EDWaRpa.
RUr nearly 8 quarter of a century.
o. from 1876 untl 1884. William A.
Camp vas the manager q the New
York Clearing House association He
waH little man with bright. dark
eyea, bushy eyebrows, thick hair
which in the later years Of bis life BE-
came iron-gray. and grizzly beard
hr. Camp was q conspicuous personal
~ IN the Snsncial world Of New York.
not only because he was the manager
Of the largest clearing house associa-
non of the world but also On account
Of a delightful Quaintness Of personal
~ and The whimsical and odd way hs
had Of looking at life, and especially
the life Of the clearing house.
Although this institution Ii called
The New York Clearing House asso-
citation" he zaid 10 me one day. yet
Z isi IN fact, the great clearing house
Of thA United States. I should say
hat a. least 0nehalf OF the commerce
Of the United States passes through
this institution In the form Of drafts,
checks and other negotiable instru-
nepts You would suppose, therefore.
that somewhere IN the United States
| could find a young man Who would
DO able 10 count without assistance
of pencil and paper, In excess Of 1000
But have never been able to find a
young man Of that capacity.
7 learned a year OF two after I be-
came an officer Of the Clearing House
association that ! COULD not count in
excess Of 500 Or GOO without having
pencil and paper before me And
when ] learned that fact IN reference
TO myself. It occurred to me that this
institution afforded a good opportunity
Of testing the capacity Of the human
mind to count consscutiYely. There
are, Of course. some phenomenal, al
most abnormal. intellects which are
able to count without the assistance Of
pencil and paper far up in tile thou
sands. Zenas Colburn, the mathemati-
cal prodigy, could do that, although be
never knew how be did It.
One day there came to see me a
young man from somewhere in the
west who had been recommended to
me highly because he was Of excep-
iional capacity as mathematician.
Tie asked me To test him with col.
umns Of figures. made two parallel
columns, each one containing. I should
say, Is separate sets Of figures, some
Of them In hundreds-as, for instance,
s95. Then ! put the example before
him. he looked at II a minute, and.
with sort Of whin Of his breath, set
down the correct answer, having add.
ed the figures almost In the twinkling
Of an eye.
7 tested him the same way with
complicated examples in subtraction,
multiplication and division and he
gave me the correct answers almost IN
an instant
We'll / sais to him that those we're
remarkable qualifications, but what I
was looking for was a young man who
could count without assistance ab0ve
1000.
HE seemed disposed to laugh at my
suggestion, intmating that It was easy
enough to do that.
Il told him to go ahead, sit there in
my presence. begin with one and count
up. He got along all right until be
reached 800. Then he began to stag
ger mentally. ! saw him eye a pen
ell and pad Of paper, but would not
let him have these aids. You see.
having got up to 600. he wanted to
start all over again. He broke down
completely before he reached 700, al
though I think he went farther in bic
mental count than any young man
whom / eyer tested
4 presume that young man OF
mathematical ability can train himself
to count much higher than 1000, but
my experience as manager of the
clearing house has satisfied me that
the average intelligent young man,
even though be be possessed Of fair
mathematical ability. cannot count con-
secutlvely without aid much above
600 or TOO
"0f course, from one point Of view,
this is Of no consequence in the man
agemer Of this association. But
have heard so much said about the ca
pacity Of the human mind TO grasp
figures that I have always tested that
capacity when opportunity afforded.
think have demonstrated that It is
practically impossible for the human
mind TO count oonsccudvely and with
out aid much above 1000. And have
never found anyone--bauker or en-
nloye-whose mind has been able to
grasp the magnitude Of the figures
which represent the transactions Of
this association. for they reach far up
into the trillions"
Copyright 1911. by p, J. Edwards. All
Rights Reservcd)