(_Translated from the last number of the Revue Encyclopedique. By a
Correspondent_.)
(_For the Mirror_.)
A boy, seven years of age, whose name is Vincent Zuccaro, has excited
the public attention at Palermo for some time past. This child, born of
poor and uneducated parents, possesses an extraordinary talent for
calculation; his mind seizes, as it were, by instinct, all the varied
combinations of numbers, which he unravels with equal facility. The
various reports which had been spread throughout the city, respecting
his talents, appeared so incredible, that a public meeting of literary
men was expressly convened, for the purpose of examining his
pretensions. The meeting was held on the 30th of January last, at the
Academy _Del Buon Gusto_, and consisted of upwards of four hundred
persons, among whom were observed some of the most distinguished
literati and influential persons of the city. Two Professors of
Mathematics were stationed near the child, to prevent collusion or
fraud, and to take minutes of the questions proposed, with the answers
returned. A great number of questions were proposed, which Vincent
Zuccaro answered with a facility that excited general admiration. We
shall only extract two of the most simple, as some of the questions
would be hardly intelligible to general readers:
Question 1.--A ship set sail at noon from Naples to Palermo (the
distance between the two cities being 180 miles), and sailed at the rate
of ten miles an hour; another ship set off at the same time, to sail
from Palermo to Naples, at the rate of seven miles per hour: at what
time did the ships meet each other, and what was the distance sailed by
each? Vincent Zuccaro immediately replied--The first ship sailed 105
15/17 miles; the second, 74 2/17 miles. It was then observed to him,
that he had only answered part of the question, and that the hour of
meeting had been omitted. He then said this would be 10 10-17 hours
after the time of the departure. The child had perceived that this part
of the answer was implicitly contained in the former; which he also
imagined the examiners perceived as well as himself, and therefore he
omitted it.
Question 2.--In three successive attacks upon a town, a quarter of the
assailants perished in the first attack, a fifth in the second, and a
sixth in the last, when their number was reduced to 138 men. Required
the original number? Answer, 360.
Q.--How did you find that number?
A.--If the number had been 60, there would eventually have remained 23;
now 23 being the sixth of 138, the assailants were 6 times 60 or 360 at
first.
Q.--Why did you suppose the number 60, rather than 50 or 70?
A.--Because neither 50 nor 70 are divisible by 4 or 6.
From these questions and replies, it will be readily understood that the
child does not employ the ordinary artifices of mathematicians. Marquess
Scriso, who was the first person to discover this singular talent, is
about, with several other persons of distinction in the city, to solicit
the aid of Government in the education of the child, every one being
fully aware of the impropriety of subjecting him to the ordinary mode of
education.
* * * * *
"OUT OF SEASON," OR THE BEAU'S LAMENT.
(_For the Mirror._)
"There is no labour so great as idleness."
Heigho! what a blank is our being! ahi!
For there's nobody left in the town,
That's nobody fit to associate with _me;_
Dinner's up, but my spirits are down,
I can't eat or drink (how should I?) for sorrow,
And the lack of some usual treat,
And I surely should hang me, or marry tomorrow,
Were there not a few _bawls_ in the street.
Hang! marry! said I, why I'm now _drown'd_ in tears,
Who am wont in _sham pain_ to lose real;
And could pull my own house down, about my own ears
For lack of amusements ideal;
But plays, concerts, shopping, Di'ramas so bright,
That enlarge the pent mind at a view,
Are fled with my friends; I'm the wretchedest _wight_
That from devil _ennui_, e'er look'd _blue!_
O horrible! horrible _world!_ there's not e'en
An old maid in't, to ask me to tea;
Not fit, or in country or town, to _be_ seen,
They have hurried off, blindly _to see!_
Parks, houses, clubs, shops, churches, squares, _deserts_ seem;
Quite flat, Magazines and Newspapers;
Ah, what shall I do? make a trial of _steam,_
In order to banish the _vapours?_
Shall I swallow my dinner? I can't--shall I sleep?
Then I don't get away from _myself!_
Shall I think what a beau I have _once_ been, and weep
Like a belle, that is laid on the shelf?
Shall I write? shall I read? ah, yes, that will do,
But an old book is terrible stuff:
Boy, get the new novel, stop, _reading's_ so new,
That a _book_ will be _novel_ enough!