A MADRAS MARVEL.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1916, Page 9

A MADRAS MARVEL.

AX KXTUAOHDIXAnv ClI'T. By tlu> (loath of Arumugan. an illiterate Tamil voutli, the world lias lost a mathematical marvel whose equal is not likely to be seen for a lon<» time to come. Born of coolie parents, lie received no education worth mentioning, yet lie liad the extraordinary gift of being aide to answer, within a few seconds, practically any straightforward mathematical problorn set inm. Tie could multiply a long string of figure* by a number running into thousands, and reel off the correct result in as many seconds as it would take to write down the figures given liim. He would tackle unerringly the most complicated problems of exchange from pounds, shillings and pence into rupees at a rate of exchange such as Is 3d 23-32 in less than half-a-dozen seconds- he would give the answer. From the rapidity with which he -produced his results there cotild lie no question of his arriving thereat by any recognised mathematical method: lie simply seemed to get there by a process of his own. His parents received many oilers to educate Arumugam, who had no knowledge whatever of the English language, but they preferred to utilise his wonderful powers for picking up a living for themselves by touring Southern Indian villages and giving e x'hibitions. There was, indeed, some talk at one time of his being sent to Cambridge, but this came to nothing. In any lie would probably have proved a dismal failure there, for apart from his faeultv of seeing through mathematical '-bric-k walls" in lightning time, (lis capacity was apparently of the feeblest, and'any attempt to instil methodical training would possibly have detracted from his peculiar powers. This extraordinary gift is said to have come to him suddenly iu a vision whilst worshipping in a temple when a small boy, but be that as it may, his death, which occurred very suddenly indeed. at nineteen years of age, removes a human mystery of a most unusual type.