Automatic Action of the Cerebrum. 835 



above the point at which the Australian would be compelled to leave off. 

 The} T can multiply 8 by 9 in their head, but if they be required to multi- 

 ply 89 by 98 they cannot do it except by a process which practically 

 first ascertains the factors of those numbers, and reduces the quantities 

 to be handled within the limit of what can be done "in the head," so 

 that they multiply 89 by 98 simply by operations with 9 and 8. 



Such prodigies are constantly turning up. The papers have lately men- 

 tioned a boy of only six years, in Michigan, who multiplies in his head, 

 quantities having four figures. 



The Louisville Commercial, in Dec., 1889, gave an account of a 

 mathematical prodigy of the African race, Sam Summers by name, liv- 

 ing in Shelby County, Ky. He is a common farm hand, 34 years old, 

 cannot read or write, and does not know one figure from another. Yet 

 he gives correct answers to all questions in arithmetic that can be asked; 

 such as, multiply 597,312 by 13f ; how many bushels in 70 bags of 

 wheat, each containing 3 bushels, 3 pecks, and 3 quarts? If, after see- 

 ing a flash of lightning, you count 20 beats of the pulse before hearing 

 the thunder, how far off is the cloud, allowing the pulsations to be 70 

 per minute and the velocity of sound 1,142 feet per second? All such 

 questions as these, and many others more difficult, he answers quickly 

 and alwaj'S correctly. 



Besides the mathematical genius, there are numerous other sorts, as 

 mechanical, musical, artistical, poetical, inventive, &c. , and lastly, that 

 unclassified specimen called the Odd genius. In all of them cerebral 

 operations go on, of which they are unable to give any account. 



But while unusual actions attract more attention, they are not in fact 

 either more or less automatic than others. 



As pointed out in a former chapter those actions which are performed 

 in consciousness are no less automatic than those done unconsciously, 

 and moreover those actions of which we become conscious, result from 

 cerebral activities of which we are not antecedently conscious. But 

 furthermore it is obvious that consciousness itself is an automatic activ- 

 ity, since in any given instance it is the result of a cerebral action 

 which must of necessity have preceded it. As an example of uncon- 

 scious cerebration in a conscious state, we have the familiar case in 

 which, after tr} 7 ing in vain, by every means we can think of to remem- 

 ber some name, date, occurrence, or quotation, we give it up, when a 

 little while afterwards the idea we could not catch, suddenly darts into 

 our consciousness. A person will often say, ' ' I can't think of that 

 name now, go on with the conversation and it will come to me presently, " 

 and it generalty does. Another example of this sort of cerebral activ- 

 ity is seen in the way in which we absorb the meaning of a book we 

 read. If it be of a light and ordinary character and easily understood, 



