ZERAH COLBURN.

IN 1812, the attention of the philosophical world was attracted by the most singular phenomenon in the history of the human mind, that perhaps ever existed. It was the case of a child under eight years of age, who, without previous knowledge of the common rules of arithmetic, or even of the use and power of the Arabic numerals, and without giving any particular attention to the subject, possessed, as if by intuition, the singular faculty of solving a great variety of arithmetical questions, by the mere operations of the mind, and without the usual assistance of any visible symbol or contrivance.

The name of the child was Zerah Colburn, who was born at Cabut, Vermont, in the United States, on the 1st of September, 1804. In August, 1810, although at that time not six years of age, he first began to show those wonderful powers of calculation, which have since so much astonished every person who witnessed them. The discovery was made by accident. His father, who had not given him any other instruction than such as was to be obtained at a small school established in that unfrequented and remote part of the country, (and which did not include either writing or arithmetic,) was much surprised one day to hear him repeating the products of several numbers. Struck with amazement at this 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 throughout the neighbourhood, and 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 the tour of the United States with his child; and afterwards to bring him to England, where he exhibited his astonishing powers before thousands in the metropolis. It was correctly true as stated of him, that he would not only determine, with the greatest facility and 'dispatch, the exact number of minutes or seconds in any given period of time, but would also solve any other question of a similar kind. He would tell the exact product arising from. the multiplication of any number consisting of two, three, or four figures, by any other number consisting of an equal number of figures; or any number consisting of six or seven places of figures being proposed, he would determine with equal expedition and ease all the factors of which it is composed. This singular faculty consequently extended not only to the raising of powers, but also to the extraction of square and cube roots of the number proposed; and likewise to the means of determining whether it be a prime number (a number incapable of division by any other number,) for which case there does not exist at present any general rule amongst mathematicians.

On one occasion, this child undertook, and completely succeeded in raising the number 8 progressively up to the sixteenth power; and in naming the last result, viz. 281,474,976,710,656, he was right in every figure. He was then tried as to other numbers, consisting of one figure; all of which he raised (by actual multiplication, and not by memory) as high as the tenth power, with so much facility and dispatch, that the person appointed to take down the results was obliged to enjoin him not to be so rapid. He was asked the square root of 106,929; and before the number could be written down, he immediately answered 327. He was then required to name

the cube root of 268,336,125; and with equal facility and promptitude he replied 645. One of the party requested him to name the factors which produced the number 247,483, which he immediately did, by mentioning 941, and 236, which are the only two numbers that will produce it. Another gentleman proposed 171,393, and he almost instantly named the only factors that will produce it. He was then asked to give the factors of 36,083; but he immediately replied that it had none; which in fact was the case, as it is a prime number. One of the gentlemen asked him how many minutes there were in forty-eight years? and before the question could be written down, he answersd it correctly, and instantly added the number of seconds contained in the same period.

No information could be obtained from the child of the method by which he effected such astonishing results, although it appeared evident that he operated by certain rules known to himself.

DEAF, DUMB, AND BLIND AMERICAN GIRL.

THE following interesting account appeared in an American paper of the year 1817.

"I heard a benevolent lady mention the name of Julia Brace, a girl about eleven years old, living in the vicinity of Hartfort, who is afflicted with the triple calamity of blindness, deafness, and dumbness, having lost the senses of sight and hearing by the violence of a typhus fever, at the age of four years. On visiting her, I learned the following facts and anecdotes, which I relate for your

amusement.

"Her form and features are regular and well-propor tioned. Her temper is mild and affectionate. She is much attached to her infant sister; often passes her hand over the mouth and eyes of the child, in order to ascertain whether it is crying, and soothes its little distresses with all the assiduity and success of a talkative or musical nurse. All objects which she can readily handle she applies to her lips, and rarely fails in determining their character. If any thing is too large for examiriation in this way, she makes her fingers the interpreters of their texture and properties, and is seldom mistaken. She will beat apples or other fruit from the tree, and select the best with as much judgment as if she possessed the faculty of sight. She often wanders in the field and gathers flowers, to which she is directed by the pleasantness of their odour. Her sense of smelling is remarkably exquisite, and appears to be an assistant guide with her fingers and lips.

She

"A gentleman one day gave her a small fan. enquired of her lips what it was; and on being informed, returned it to the gentleman's pocket. The mother observed, that Julia already possessed one fan; she probably thought that another would be superfluous. The gentleman gave the same fan to a neighbouring girl, whom Julia was in the habit of visiting. She went a few days after to visit her companion, whose toys she passed under the review of her fingers and lips, and among other things the fan, the identity of which she instantly discovered, and again restored to the pocket of the gentleman, who happened to be present.

"She feels and admires mantlepiece ornaments, and

never breaks or injures the most brittle furniture, even in a strange room.

"A gentleman once made several experiments, with a view of satisfying himself whether she really had the discernment which she was reported to possess. Among other arts for affecting his object, he pretended to carry away her infant sister. She immediately detected the cheat, by ascertaining that his umbrella remained on the table. She then went out of the door, and picked the head of a large thistle in full bloom, brought it in, smelling it as she came, and offered it to the gentleman, apparently as a nosegay. He reached out his hand; but instead of giving it, she archly pricked his hand, by way of retort for his freedom in testing her sagacity.

GEORGE BIDDER.

THE American boy Zerah Colburn, whose astonishing talents at calculation we have already noticed, appears to have been since surpassed by George Bidder, the son of a labouring peasant in Devonshire. Bidder began to ex⚫hibit his astonishing powers at an early age; and when not more than twelve, the following question was proposed to him at the Stock Exchange, which he answered in the short space of one minute.

If the pendulum of a clock vibrates the distance of nine inches and three quarters in a second of time, how many inches will it vibrate in the course of seven years, fourteen days, two hours, one minute, and fifty-six seconds, each year of three hundred and sixty-five days, fiye hours, forty-eight minutes, and fifty-five seconds?