8 COMPUTATION BY A CHILD. 



Remarkable seconds in the same period was 1,5 13, 728,000. Various ques- 

 powersofcom- tions Q f the j; ke kinc j were pnt tQ him . and to a ]\ f t hem he 



J-hiid. answered with nearly equal facility and promptitude ; so as to 



astonish every one present, and to excite a desire that so extra- 

 ordinary a faculty should (if possible) be rendered more exten- 

 sive and useful. 



It was the wish of the gentlemen present to obtain a know- 

 ledge of the method by which the child was enabled to answer, 

 with so much facility and correctness, the questions thus put to 

 him : but to all their inquiries upon this subject (and he wai 

 closely examined upon this point) he was unable to give 

 them any information. He positively declared (and every 

 observation that was made seemed to justify the assertion) that 

 he did not know how the answers came into his mind. In the 

 act of multiplying two numbers together, and in the raising of 

 powers, it was evident (not only from the motion of his lips, 

 but also from some singular facts which afterward occurred,)- 

 that some operation was going forward in his mind ; yet that 

 could not (from the readiness with which the answers were 

 furnished) be at all allied to the usual mode of proceeding with 

 such subjects : and moreover, he is entirely ignorant of the 

 common rules of arithmetic, and cannot perform, upon paper, 

 a simple sum in multiplication or division. But, in the extrac- 

 tion of roots and in mentioning the factors of high numbers it 

 does not appear that any operation can take place j since he will 

 give the answer immediately , or in a very few seconds, where it 

 would require, according to the ordinary method of solution, a 

 very difficult and laborous calculation : and moreover, the know- 

 edge of a prime number cannot be obtained by any known rule. 



It may naturally be expected, that these wonderful talents, 

 which are so conspicuous at this early age, will by a suitable 

 education be considerably improved and extended ; and that some 

 new light will eventually be thrown upon those subjects, for the 

 elucidation of which his mind appears to be peculiarly formed 

 by nature, since he enters into the world with all those powers 

 and faculties, which are not even attainable by the most eminent 

 at a more advanced period of life. Every mathematician must 

 be aware of the important advantages, which have sometimes 

 been derived from the most simple and trifling circumstances ; 

 the full effect of which has not always been evident at first 



sight. 



