ARITHMETICIANS WHO HAVE PUZZLED THE WORLD, Marvellous Mathematical Feats of Jacques Inaudi-—Zerah Colburn’sPro- digious Work with Fgures. The last century and a quarter has produced more prodigies to puzzle phy- sicians, philosophers and teachers than any other corresponding period of time in the world's history, so far as we of the present know, The recent marvelous mnemonic and mathematical feats of Mons. Jacques Inaudi, the Piedmontese peasant, who for six months past has provoked the wonder and admiration of Parisian sa vants, have recalled the wonderful per- formances of some other prodigies who have lived and died since this old world has swung into the nineteenth century. Inaudi 1s twenty-five years of He was born of poor, peasant parents, who are yet | on October 13, 1867. His | family are of the lower class, one brother | being a waiter in a cafe, another sheep for the farmers near while a third is a cobbler, The little Jacques began by his sheep when he was only six years old, and be Are age. Prior ing, tends | home, : 3 his counting oar 225 is to be multiplied by 638. He cal culates thus: Y 180,000 15,000 9,000 2.400 750 200 In fact, he makes six multiplications instead of one, He begins at the left, consequently with the greater numbers. In other cases he completely alters the problem given him, For instance, instead of multiplying by 587, he multiplies by 800, then by 18, and subtracts the second product from the first The French Academy investigation of Inaudi revealed another remarkable thing. Other prodigies in mathematics have taken as the base of their mental opera- tions the visual memory. At the moment when a problem is given them they have an interior vision of the numbers, and during their progress of solution the fig ures appear on their minds as if written on a blackboard. This method was fol lowed by Colburn and Mondeux, With Inaudi it is wholly different. He affirms that he has visual repre sentation of the figures whatever. “1 hear the figures,” he said emphat- ically, and it is my ear which retains them. Sight serves me nothing. difficulty in 253x600 800x 30 300x 8B 25x 3) 23x B no more writing than when they are repeated.” ZERAH COLBURN'S FEATS, Zerah Colburn, the natural mathematician which most the fore he had es a letter of coun had OY one hundr life. ! Strangely enough, the little shepherd lad did not begin representing computa in a material way, by ad ding on his fingers or counting by peb bles. He does not remember that he | was ever taught the multi He learned by car the nan heard of a number or Hi began | though hel om one to | Q ilphabet. jst ns the numbers fy the years of his little | by his | lication table. | es of the num bers up to one hundred, and he began to | advance with the of this knowledge to sucha remarkable degree that by the ti he 3 } ) acquisition ori ne CX Was Ss ng as instantand many as ously. the r the 1 tose mance i peasant Pa Case CAs In A and quipped and anied by young Jaques and a ed f Provence. But clan Was ountrs and with one accom] monk the vo curiosity monkey. For prodigy would stand uj of gaping rusti ten S04 Oe {fo the a submitted cafes, honest chants Frend the through of his w At was celebrated IVE 3 the a lar tO yantry Then him and for travelled ns ¢ ne to 1 Thi iast i i ‘ 18, his 3 in 1880 the anthro nd savant, i intro Anthro mderful | obtained duced | pologic talent the b al jet attracte he widest attention. But ¥ was too young te himself underst system cid not side wi rid Then © Xpiain iia hence Inaudi both read and write respect 3 his education is limited, rudimentary in fact, but, despite this, the young man is | bright, £ extent clever b can witty, is a i ard player, sad can talk agreeably on almost any subject, In this respect he is not merely a ealculat ing machine; | lof a wonderful gi does not even | fully appre . The method by which Inaudi performs | the operation alculating partiy u adds, multiplies, and roots of numbers, He he | problems which are equivalent t« first degree. And all « calcul The method employs is as follows | When a problem is given to him orally | he repeats it over to himself audibly, | then apparently having stamped it on | his brain through the medium of his ear | he declares himself in readiness and im mediately begins his solution, Nothing | can detract his attention once he begins. | He talks rapidly and in a whisper to himself as the work proceeds, snaps his | finger, opens and closes his hands, puts | one hand to his forehead, and traces | imaginary lines on the palm of his left | hand with his right index finger. But here is the remarkable feature of this man's work: He will engage in conver sation, answer questions and perform un- disturbed the most astounding feats of mental arithmetic amid all the noise and tumult of the street or on the stage of a public exhibition. Where he maintains a conversation during the solution of a roblem the reanit is a little longer in seing reached that is all, He never makes a mistake because he proves every result in his mind before he announces it. Among the feats of mental calculation performed by Inaudi are the following: ¢ adds in a few seconds seven numbers of eight or ten figures each, He subtracts one number from another each composed of twenty-one figures in less than a min. ute, and he will find just as rapidly the uare or enbe root of numbers consisting of from eight to twelve figures, if these numbers are perfect squares or cubes; it requires a longer time for the latter . viding there is a remainder, He finds almost instantly the sixth or seventh root of large numbers. This question was asked him: “How many seconds are there in 18 years 7 months 21 days and 8 hours 1” The answer was given in just thirteen seconds, In effecting a multiplication he follows a method of his own. He decom a complex multiplication into a series of 1s RAP LS ne . whic h is anbtr sets, | only nets the further, for | in arithmetic | wations of the are mental | he usually | divides Can resolve has ever produced, was a Vermont Yan away 1804 The elder Colburn, Abia by name, was one of characters frequently met New England. He farmed a little in summer and did tin kee, who was born back in those with in remote corners of ty in winter, There markable in the family, which kering jobs of carpent was shrewd but ignorant, WHA 1" » wy 1 nger and yuchsafed for One afternoon, Zu rah WAS more toe | the the fall of | old, his working at his carpen with the who had one more £ than nature has v¢ nankind when who h, he arid HOY, one . « | Use Of} in was 7 years greatest as was playing as on the floor, repeat a tiplication tabie. 3 Are two. thirty ¢ thirty.six.” ser paused in his worl The CArs, the alpha- he fi boosn ¢ eation JELIRN RO 9 AORLION0 wt distinguish the figures the ywwered that he had it tongue s table his times ninety finally, in joke, orite topics of Abia versation to tell how he fel n the truth of his son's talent broke upon him “1 could not have been more surprised earth and way he ex he stood before pressed it, t did not take Abia ( me,” was the olburn very lon; of theorizin t there was a min by his shrewd WAY . to persuade himself tha i money 1 i made out of Zerah's or whatey it was further tests, 0 of mf WIR ny Zit, power, vO ame ff to Montpeli risinture i astounded MM otnl CLAN, Id man carried were the State [+ him wis was in here hi the assem udges, Stats and i solve mi dithie sels jit pro f his ex old, h tions jike the time in each case onds to one minute “‘How many seconds ar » there in 2 in 2.000 years{ Answer “How many = in 2,000 years Answer—1 ‘ “What is 683.0 000 0600, x IN ~o i. tr $s will a clock strike | cars!" | 13.88% O01) he product « Pr 1223 Answer--14, 851,175 “What is the square Answer--2 000.601, ‘In seven acres of corn, 17 each acre, 64 hills to cach row, each hill and 150 Kernels to how many kernels are there!” Answer 9,130, 200, These of 1,440" i rows Nears 1« cach oar, were some of the first questions t In the year of his sxhibition, when practice had improved | him, he answered questions like the fol- lowing: “How many hours are yut to him. aren there in 1811 Answer (in twenty seconda)—15,804,- 360, : “How many seconds in 11 years?” Answer (in three seconds)-—-346,800, 000. “What sum multiplied by produ ¢ DOS. 0017” Answer (in three seconds) itself will P09 the boy was a conjurer. Some that he held the power of damnation and sought his aid and advice to stolen goods, restore lost love and bring the sartod together, Others of a peculiarly nervous temperament ex. weienced a kind of fear and dread in is presence which almost amounted to terror, When asked by a learned professor ope day by what process he executed these remarkable works the boy said: “God put it into my head, but I cannot put it into yours.” After an unusually successful series of exhibitions, a number of Boston gentle. men offered to undertake the education of the boy, but the ignorance and greed of the father prevented it. He thought he saw a gold mine in the boy and so re- fused to permit him to he educated. Hearing of this in the public press the people grew less inclined to attend his exhibit ons and after a losing trip to the South the father and son started for England, ¢ was exhibited in London for three ears, where excited the liveliest ntorest Ly the almost incredible nature of his mental feats. He exhibited before crowned b phil and teach: ers. Ho gave in less than half a minute the total number of seconds which elapsed simple ones. The following figures will illustrate the process. number since the Christian ora began. He ox- tracted the square rot of numbers of six figures und the cube of numbers of nive in lesc time than the results could be written down on paper. He was ones requested to multiply 900,999 by itsc.{. He at first said that she could not do it, but in looking at the number he perceiven that multiplying 37,087 by 87,087 and the product twice by 27, was just the same as multiplying 999,999 hy itself. How this child of 8 years discovered this remarkable fact is a mystery by which in less than a minute he gave the correct answer, $99, 008, 000, 001, Then he said that he could multi ply this sum by 49, which he did, and this product by 23, which produced the enormous result of 60,024 879,050,080, - 025. He could raise numbers of one figure to the sixteenth power in less than a minute, While in England and after the furcre over his feats had died out, the Earl of boy. He but strange as it seemed, the boy dis and geometry, The father, who had been living in poverty in Eng- from school of France, This friends had attention of war the boy brought to the Napoleon, who caused him to be entered a military Rut greedy inter was removed again to as a student at achool father and the boy England, After reduced to erty the boy became a being direst Pe Ww actor, strolling Metho srofes th where he entered the He died in that ver achieved America, dist ministry i although he ne distinction. icath occurred in t thirty-two years of age, >» rat 1836 when he { Phila A Unique Will Case, One of the famous ie which Boston has witnessed gal complications managed to quite a number For many years of the old Joy bu ding a veteran lawyer known Q late in life this old centlemen was married to one of his who not long after died When ' ’ 3 ind nnye men one the law offices in WAS Od upied Dy 18 “Jerry” Brown, clients, her wil been made shortly By it she bequeathed practicall) property to her intended husband, small bequests to her relatives and public charities, and remembering nephew, J. Q. A. Brackett executor Albert E. i was opened it was fi hefore sino her husband's named with him whom she a4 was witnessed by it-law immediatel t y break the will on the y influence The i that among on the Back of snc y } rround documents Bay } in Kansas ! nsel John D. Long and Stillm The executors retained and J. 0. Tecle, iin the pr mite CO ilen Charles Train The will was rt : | taken to the Supreme Ci : . Then wi Was TERE s apowealed to th ‘Unele Jerry” with «ati triumph. There his will, for he made ved a number of vears ¥ to relate sfaction the story of his was no such contest over he ex gover and the a Trav none, t O4ton The Wearing of Amulets, would be adoption of ff wy i vet Who wore the first amulet it le to say, but the evil iso ign, Phylacteries, the lets, were worn which allusion Greek word by is made in the Scriptures, phy lng fesifs Were a narrow stnp of which written pas fromm the Old Testament, i strip was pla «l in a small leathern box, and bound to the left elbow by a narrow strap. There was a smaller phyiactery for the { box for which was Siu Jaras i Dose wore anes His forehead, the about an inch square. he word amulet is of Arabic origin, Amulets kinds. The moonstone in the desert of Arabia was worn it around the It was a white, transparent stone, night. In India a variety of gems and stones are used as amulets, The most common is the salagrama, a stone about as large as a billiard ball, and which is perforated with black. This is supposed to be found only in Gandaki, a river in Nepaul. The person who possesses one of these stones is esteemed Mely fortunate; he preserves it ina clean cloth, from whence itis sometimes taken to be bathed and per fumed. He believes that the water in which it is washed, if drank. has the ywer to preserve from sin. Holding it in his hand, the dying Hindoo expires in weace, trusting in a stone. —| Detroit Free Pros Bh AR SNA Wonders of a Ton of Coal Besides gases, a ton of coal will yield 1,500 pounds of coke, twenty gallons of ammonia water and 140 pounds of coal tar. Destruction of the tar gives us 69.9 pounds of pitch, 17 pounds of creosote, 14 pounds of heavy oils, 9.5 pounds of naphtha, yellow, 6.3 pounds of naphtha. line, 4.75 pounds of naphthaole, 2.25 poutids of alizarin, 2.4 pounds of solvent naphtha, 1.5 pounds of phenol, 1.3 unds of aurine, 1.1 pounds of aniline .77 pounds of toludine, 0.48 pounds of antiracine and 0.0 pounds of toluene. From the last named uct saccharine is obtained which is times sweeter than sugar. Philadelphia Pross THE CERIS INDIANS. CRUEL INHABITANTS OF TIBU- RON, A MEXICAN ISLAND, A Race of Indians Totally Unlike Any Other Aborigines A Wretched Bit of Savagedom. It curious fact that Mexico pos- sesses an island in the Gulf of California only a couple of miles from the mainland | of the State of Sonora, and not over 30 miles from Hermosillo, the capital of the | State, over which the National or State | authorities exercise no authority, which | { | { is a has never been thoroughly explored, and which is inhabited by a race of Indians totally unlike any other t of Aborig- ines in that part of the + ld, Frank Oakley, who was for some years a resi dent of the Guaymas and other Mexican places on the Gulf, isin Los Angeles, and from him I have gleaned some facts about this little bit of savagedom, snd its more wretched inhabitants, which will | be of interest, not only in themselves, but in the light they throw on Mexico's indif- | ference to its wards, The island is ealled Tiburon, which means ‘‘the Very appre priate title when understood 38th the shark,” a its fen Its exact location 20th degree of decree of lomo : all tures are is hetweon the and latitude and 34th tude, iis said Mr extreme length being about not large.” and its greatest width be It les separated from ng like twelve miles, st of Sonora : strait oniy two Uy a Or thre Taking it as the crow flies, irty m It is inhabited 1 less is known, perhaps, the iles fron the city by a tribe of ¥ grinne of Southern are fully as low in though not as repulsive intty i r. i } i “Nort distan« oi Indians, who are eq y . i 1m inland th are d tors on I have ionally at Her- that «city is y the Cerin , wt aerance mf un wis and barren, wpe, tuna that syveam found res ratticsnakes natives of the wattle ries} and a an imp bs { their mids in how many Indians but there are not and there : as they are princi hose which ¢ sanis by the Wr a «t any Kind of ani lar whether it = NO %s rf not, e very hostile, and o land yet, no exploring any distance in se 0 the o they an i so treach. cro to the : IY And make forays on the rusales punished them ul times, and of late thes sn SOM of Fat wl we xicans h only kt ‘ 4) ned a sul MM: nve one 1 | vessel on this od . yw, the Demoerata she is called, a small rickety wooden steamer: but she 18 a wonder occapionally realize that coald be brought which they could not re When they visit Hermosillo, they always travel in squads, and sell bows and arrows and singing birds, and net, you 5H these Indians, and when she pant thes to a power which steams SOB there is to bear on them wiet steal what they « Ths ir a aborigines are the Calif Ora, nora arest neighbors Cahuillas the Cowpohs among the of lower of Lower Col 1 the Yaquis of Southern So 1 the ¥ fio resem blance. They are different in contour of th head: in size they ar smaller, and in clesnliness, industry and | intellect they are not to be compared, i and their usage fs totally different, | On the island they are most inhospitable, i and show plainly. nn an but OO these bear oo anda inte ang it When parties are | not strong enough to inspire respect they will not be permitted to land at all, and | 1 have heard of several cases in the last | ten years of their murdering shipwrecked sailors who had sought refuge on their shores, As they are extremely treacher- ous and use poisoned arrows for weap- | ons, whose slightest scratch means a horrible death, the Mexicans leave them severely alone. Private individuals have no business relations with them, and Government officials can make nothing | out of them, i “Ins former times the Ceris were in the habit of making trips as far down as the environs of Guaymas, and they would steal whatever came in their way, from a cow or a keer to a burro or a goat, a horse or a mule to a dog ora cat, and would eat their booty, They got the | reputation of being cannibals, if the oc. easton offered, and would kidoap chil. dren boldly, In this manner a number of little ones were stolen from their pa. rents during the years that before the savages were cowed, and their fate can only bo surmised.”[New York Tribune, ; i i ] i i a A Clever Tow Horse, A Washington driver says that there is an old gray hill horse there that some- times cannot get back to his accustomed place at the foot of the hill in time for the next car. “This horse has nothing to do with the blue line, and knows the difference between the blue and the brown cars, If he is on his way back to the starting point and ites a brown car this shrewd woimal will sara amount of coaxiny induce move, but after the ear reaches him he will ‘pull like a Major’ until he reaches the top. Then he returns al post, and when he again secs his car coming turns and gets into position, “A day or two ago the hill boy, in- oan 0 riding him, as was his usual custom, jumped on a car and rode down. The horse saw this and stopped half way up the hill and would not move until the boy came after him, Whenefer the boy rides on the ear the horse stops half way down the hill, but when the boy remains with him the old gray purses the even tenor of his way until he reaches the bot [Our Animal Friends, gt JI. — The Making of a Lens, refracting by Alvan Mass i The greatest te! ear Opes vot known are made Clark fine is struments that the glassmakers menced work on a 40-inch jens is ago, and only one to Mr. Clark. If there i two disks, 10 has, from be nade . four years as yer, been sent the most minute speck of i disk of inches forty inches in diameter and ten thick £000 After Mr. Clark has determined what curve to the Cost give € glass, an iron casing is made of the size amd shape requires cround h purses of emery and at re 3 ith mange Wilh Next sight « erushings, med in are used its are ind an stable tool mms reme instrument that thirts HCasures one bouwsandth of an inch. The final wh sping rouse, aml I tn 3 i A «hair t part in 13 ix # Curve h bees bars must be 86 stmKking i eT hai man Terumseh’™s Tomahawk. Ze inner of West th Ch RT i Tec where th dier fron who sad wn and sevumseh, What Sestains the Moon. What falling? is it that That is Lies before t earth Suppose, ! of the ther away other that the stirsction suspended, the its wise do instance, wore moon would but would continuation was In longer follow orbit, off in a straight he direction in whicl at moment when was intercepted What Newton the circumstances of and movement, the earth of t wing the carth’s action did was to show, from moon's distance that it was attracted by with a f« same de- soription as that by which the same globe attracted the apple, the difference | Hue wee of the wing the the attracted body from the earth, In fact, the attraction of the earth on a ton of matter at the distance of the moon would be withstood by an exertion not greater than that which would suffice to sustain about three-quarters of a pound at the surface of the earth. — Good Words wenker greater distance of the Ruassian Weddings. First the bridegroom's parents satisfy and not limp. A few days before the wedding the bride is taken to bathe by her friends and companions. The soap used at the time is a present from the The bathing sponge, through which ribbons are passed, is carried on a long pole in front of the bride. The young woman sings as the procession advances, The platform of the bathing. house is sprinkled with beer. It depends upon the odor from the beer dion ® husband or not. There is a tradition that which ever one places the foot first on the cloth in house, is obliged to pull off her husband's boots in the presence of the guests as proof that he is master. A whip— there urpostly falls from the boot and the Pn and strikes the wife with it three times. After this greeting he Kisses wife for her economical properties. ——A , bec tle town of Orfah, the ancient Ur of the Chaldees, which is of great historical interest, having been the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch. There are but haw Jaws it thio Plast. The Avie poi outa stone st outside of the town, which A Yu is the identical house where old Abraham first saw the light. On sccount of this FOR THE CHILDREN, PORY AND Pm a bold fn I do not know danger, Nor worry, Hor sorrow, RIDER. Hissin Tis re nor fei, I ride on a saddle Straight up and raddle, And chase the old cows far and near. I havea 8 He's nimble and ; And sees from « of his eye. When he scares up a rabbit, I'm quite y grab it, And carn ome for a feiss New York Advertiser, BIRDS HAVE STORIES, irds picker fails no monutl with ner bestowed of Ones altention 1c I soe] did not com half a Hail 8 Ne stream, heir greater ( i ie eiuat wr oy is all explained you remember about the ice the steam. pearin it in the far r when WAS g th cio en OK AWAY 3 in looked about five thirty As we anoth T away, which was #0 like a huge snow bank the northeast corner this hollow was of a green this iceberg was « eastern distance a “cloud as it were a man's hand” As it came nearer we found it would pass closer to us than either of the othe It was so grand I wished a picture of it, and went to my satchel for the kodak When 1 got on deck there was the grandest white monument just before me I ever saw, By this time other kodaks were at work, sketch books were out, glasses wero raised and many were drinking in » sight they had never seen before. No vn description can convey an idea of its auty. Pare white, sloped as a vast tomb, perpendicular walls, toward the top wrought upon by the sun till there soemed to be castios, pillars and spires all pictured in ice. It was simply a grand work of divine art. {Farm Feild and Stockman, ——— An Electric Dalry. A gentleman of leisure in England has taken up dairy farming as a hobby, and after visiting the best dairies on the Con- tinent of Europe and securing the best advice as to machinery and utensils, has just built a dairy, the like of which has never been seen. Tho building, which is of Carrara marble, is fitted throughout with electric light, and all the motive er for separators and churns and posh elles i Ag s o | ifice was ing by the Lady te the of Was Of rom diam hore was x came f one south of us fifteen miles looked dlow in 5 glass wisi A it Through won cast. Before in the ut of sight away APPon rend rs A RN HR.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers