A HUMAN PHONOGRAPH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9647, 23 January 1903, Page 3

A HUMAN PHONOGRAPH.

— . CHAT WITH M. JACQUES INAUDI. THE ITALIAN CALCULATOR. "I can't tell you how I do these things, because I don't know," said M. Jacques Inaudi, the champion mental calculator, iv the course of a chat with a Sydney Daily Telegraph representative, after he had voluntarily submitted himself to a j series of tests to the best mesins of demonstrating his remarkable gifts. i "I have been spoken of as the human I phonograph, and perhaps the term best I describes me, because my memory is solely restricted to sounds — and figures. For everything else I have a poor memory." At the early age of six, young Inaudi could play with figures as easily as a, boy plays with marbles, wrestling with and solving the most difficult problems, and yet .he lias no memory for poetry or music. He was brought up as an Italian shepherd boy, and found himself to be the miraculous mental calculator he undoubtedly is while almost devoid of ordinary education, and without even knowing the multi.plica.tiou table, or. indeed, anything about the science of figures. Strange as it may seem M. Inaudi can do a problem iv his head which he could not do an paper. It is also a peculiar fact about him that while he can. do several things at onee — talk, for instance, and calculate, or solve four arithmetical problems at once, problems, say, m addition, multiplication, division, and finding the square root, and at the same time be answering questions as to the day of tlie week on which the questioner was bom. — he cannot calculate while lie is whistling. Another peculiarity is that while he ca.n calculate m five different European languages he can only speak m out 1 . '•Select any date you like," said M. de Thorcey, "and H. liiaudi will tell you what day of the week it was." April 16, 1864, was selected. "Saturday," replied M. Inaudi, almost before the words were out of the questioner's mouth. Then a date m advance was chosen— November 18, 1904. "Friday," instantly remarked M. Inaudi. adding, "Leap year, that is more difficult." A test m multiplication was tried. "Multiply 689 by 973." At once came tlie answer— "67o*397." Next a subtraction sum m. billions was tried— "Subtract 348.523,796.245 from 475,681,973,421.' Audibly repeating the two rows of figures as they were called out to him, the answer ' came without hesitation— "127,158,177.176." This was by no means the. most astonishing evidence of M. Inaudi's powers. The interviewer had written down the figures of both sums and proved the. answer for himself, hut m a few moments they were quite forgotten by him and the paper thrust away into his pocket. It was not so with the famous calculator. Perhaps 12 or 15 minutes had elapsed, and a variety of questions had been asked rand answered. Suddenly M. Inaudi surprised the interviewer by asking if he woxild like him to repeat the figures m each of the sums. Of course, the reply was "Yes." At once M. Inaudi begun to recite the whole of the figures with the answers without hesitancy or mistake. "My gifts are based entirely on my ear for sound, and when a problem is set me I must have the figures read aloud. Otherwise I fail." After hearing them read, M. Inaudi repeats them audibly to himself. The brain does the rest. 'If you recited 400 figures and told me you would ask me to repent them m. a week, I could do so ; but unless you told me beforehand I should probably fail. All that is necessary for me to do iv such a case is to make' a stern resolution that I will retain, certain figures m my mind. When I have done that I am safe. Without thinking of the figures I can repeat them whenever I am asked." M. Inaudi's head is of a peculiar formation. There is a deep fissure running from back to front of the skull. The left side, is more pronounced than the The size of the cranium is exactly the same as it was when he was 10 years old. His hate, an account of the unique shape of the head, have to be made expressly for him. The late Dr. Charcot. the eminent French specialist, declared after examination, that Inaudi had two brains. '