DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70301#0130
112 kirby’s wonderful museum.
of a child, just eight years of age, who, without any previous
knowledge of the common rules of arithmetic, or even of
the use and power of the Arabic numerals, and without having
given any particular attention to the subject, possesses (as if
by intuition) the singular faculty of solving a great variety of
arithmetical questions by the mere operation of the mind, and
without the usual assistance of any visible symbol or con-
trivance.
He was born at C&but, a town lying at the head of Onion .
river, in Vermont, in the United States of America, on the
J st of September, 1304. In August, 1810, although at that
time not six years of age, he first began to show those won-
derful powers of calculation which have since so much
attracted the attention and excited the astonishment of every
person who has witnessed his extraordinary abilities. The
discovery was made by accident. His father, who had not
given him any other instruction than such as was to be ob-
tained at a small school established in that unfrequented and
remote part of the country, (and which did not include either
writing or cyphering,) was much surprised one day to hear
him repeating the products of several numbers. Struck with
amazement at the circumstance, he proposed a variety of
arithmetical questions to him, all of which the child solved
with remarkable facility and correctness.
The news of this infant prodigy soon circulated through
the neighbourhood, and many persons came from distant
parts to witness so singular a circumstance. The father,
encouraged by the unanimous opinion of all who came to
see him, was induced to undertake with this child the tour of
the United States. They were every where received with
the most flattering expressions; and in the several towns
which they visited, various plans were suggested to educate
and bring up the child free from all expence to his family.
Yielding, however, to the pressing solicitations of his friends,
and urged by the most respectable recommendations, as well
as by a view to his son’s more complete education, the father
of a child, just eight years of age, who, without any previous
knowledge of the common rules of arithmetic, or even of
the use and power of the Arabic numerals, and without having
given any particular attention to the subject, possesses (as if
by intuition) the singular faculty of solving a great variety of
arithmetical questions by the mere operation of the mind, and
without the usual assistance of any visible symbol or con-
trivance.
He was born at C&but, a town lying at the head of Onion .
river, in Vermont, in the United States of America, on the
J st of September, 1304. In August, 1810, although at that
time not six years of age, he first began to show those won-
derful powers of calculation which have since so much
attracted the attention and excited the astonishment of every
person who has witnessed his extraordinary abilities. The
discovery was made by accident. His father, who had not
given him any other instruction than such as was to be ob-
tained at a small school established in that unfrequented and
remote part of the country, (and which did not include either
writing or cyphering,) was much surprised one day to hear
him repeating the products of several numbers. Struck with
amazement at the circumstance, he proposed a variety of
arithmetical questions to him, all of which the child solved
with remarkable facility and correctness.
The news of this infant prodigy soon circulated through
the neighbourhood, and many persons came from distant
parts to witness so singular a circumstance. The father,
encouraged by the unanimous opinion of all who came to
see him, was induced to undertake with this child the tour of
the United States. They were every where received with
the most flattering expressions; and in the several towns
which they visited, various plans were suggested to educate
and bring up the child free from all expence to his family.
Yielding, however, to the pressing solicitations of his friends,
and urged by the most respectable recommendations, as well
as by a view to his son’s more complete education, the father