THE LATEST ARITHMETICAL PRODIGY. 61 



age of six years lie was taken with a passion for figures, and 

 began to combine numbers in his head while at watch over his 

 flock. He did not try to give his calculations a material form by 

 counting 011 his fingers, or with stones, but the whole operation 

 was mental. He conceived numbers by the names which his 

 elder brother had recited to him. Neither he nor his brother 

 could read then. He learned by ear the numbers to hundreds, 

 and exercised himself in calculating with what he knew. When 

 he had done his best with these numbers he asked to be taught 

 those above a hundred so that he might extend the sphere of his 

 operations. He has no recollection of his brother teaching him 

 the multiplication table. At seven years of age he was capable of 

 performing in his head multiplications of five figures. In a little 

 while he started with his brother to wander through Provence, 

 the brother playing the organ and Jacques exhibiting a marmo- 

 set and holding out his hand. To increase his receipts he proposed 

 to the people he met to perform mental calculations for them ; at 

 the markets he assisted the peasants in making up their accounts, 

 and performed difficult arithmetical operations in the cafes. A 

 manager engaged him to give representations in the cities. He 

 came to Paris for the first time in 1880, and was presented to the 

 Anthropological Society by Broca, who wrote a brief note on the 

 case. 



Since 1880, M. Inaudi has made great progress. First, he 

 learned to read and write, and then the sphere of his operations 

 widened. His education, which was slow, is still rudimentary on 

 many points ; but he has a receptive intelligence and an inquiring 

 spirit, is pleasant and modest, converses agreeably, with good sense, 

 and sometimes with irony ; and is ready at cards and billiards. 

 It would be wrong to regard him as a simple calculating machine. 



The operations he performs are additions, subtractions, multi- 

 plications, divisions, and extractions of roots. He also resolves 

 by arithmetic problems corresponding with equations of the first 

 degree. These are to him exercises of mental calculation, by 

 which we mean a calculation made in the head, without the em- 

 ployment of figures or writing, or any material means to assist 

 the memory. His general process is as follows : first, when the 

 problem is stated to him aloud, he listens attentively and repeats 

 the data, articulating them clearly, to fix them well in his 

 mind ; if he does not comprehend the problem, he has it repeated. 

 It may be communicated to him by writing, but he prefers to 

 receive it by hearing ; and if we insist upon his reading it, he 

 pronounces it in a low tone. When he has fully grasped the 

 question, he says, " I begin/' and proceeds to whisper very fast, 

 in an indistinct murmur, in which we can catch from time to 

 time a few names of numbers. At such times nothing can 



