THE HIXDU-ARABIC NUMERALS 613 



except in some countries of the far east, near where they had their 



origin. 



Such is the story of the numerals, and such is one phase of the 

 development of the mind of man. In the childhood of the race we see 

 him counting upon his lips, his fingers, or his toes. Then he assigns 

 to his ideas symbols, and finally with prodigious difficulty gives to them 

 a value of place. But when at last this has been done, and when he 

 understands what he has done, his mind can travel upon the wings of 

 light. In a twinkling he is able to make calculations which in physical 

 terms express aeons of time or stupendous distance along the pathway of 

 the infinite. And all this he can do with ten little symbols, which can 

 be written upon a shred of paper, or told off upon the fingers of his 

 hands. 



