730 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



"I was born at Onorato, in Piedmont, on October 13, 18G7. 



"I began life as a shepherd boy, and when about six years old I went with 

 my father into France. There I made a little living by wandering about from 

 cafe to cafe dressed in my Savoyard's costume, and exhibiting some white mice 

 which I had taught to perform some tricks. 



'' My brother taught me the names of the figures and their values, but the 

 symbols which represent them were quite unknown to me. Indeed, it is only 

 within the last five or six years that I have become at all familiar with them. 



"As a matter of fact, the sight of figures embarrasses me even yet. It is 

 through the sound, through the name of a figure, that my mind recognizes its 

 value. If I see the sign which stands for it, I have to translate it, as it were, 

 into a name familiar to my ear. Indeed, my eyes play no part at all in my pro- 

 cess of calculation. ' Nine ' conveys a distinct impression ; the figure 9 has to be 

 translated into ' nine ' before I can do anything with it. 



" The instant the names of the figures strike my ears the process of cal- 

 culation begins. As one thing after another is disposed of, I place it on one side 

 ready for reference in getting at the final result not by mental vision, but 

 by mental audition. I never, in thinking about numbers, see the figures; I 

 hear them. 



" My processes of calculation I had to invent. You see, I never learned arith- 

 metic. When I had been taaglit the names of the figures by my brother my 

 education came to an end. Instinctively I began to perform certain simple calcu- 

 lations. And, like all uneducated persons, I always calculate from left to right, 

 instead of from right to left, beginning with the highest value instead of with the 

 unit." 



He himself, although perfectly conscious of the process through which his 

 faculties work out the desired result, can not explain how he can arrive at that 

 result so quickly. "It is there," he said, touching his head, "but the answer 

 comes mechanically, without effort, without research, mechanically even." 



"After a difficult calculation, do you experience any fatigue, M. Inaudi? " he 

 was asked. 



"Not the least in the world. I am quite unconscious of anything that is 

 going on. Even the methods by wiiich I arrive at the required result are so 

 mechanically employed that it is simply like reading a newspaper." This indif- 

 ference is proved by the fact that no interruption deranges M. Inaudi. He 

 will listen and join in the conversation while continuing his unraveling of the 

 problem. As an example of the rapidity of his power of calculation, it may 

 be mentioned that it took him but twenty-three seconds to reckon the square 

 of 5,892. 



" Wlien I take a pencil I work much slower than you would, and am not at 

 all reliable. When I make a calculation mentally, the least error seems to strike 

 my organ of hearing. I feel, if I can so express myself, the inaccuracy. When, 

 on the other hand, I work with pen and paper, I might make several errors and 

 should not discover them until I made the proof mentally." 



This was naturally to be expected from one who frankly avowed that until a 

 few years ago he was perfectly illiterate. 



" I have no memory, however, for other things except figures," said M. 

 Inaudi. " Nothing else seems to make any impression upon me. If I read any- 

 thing, I forget it almost immediately. If anything is told to me, the result is 

 the same. Few things interest me save numbers. In fact, I have no aptitude 

 for anything else." 



