What sum multiplied by itself will produce 998,001? In less than four seconds, 999.

How many hours in 38 years, 2 months, and 7 days? onds; 334,488.

In six sec

When at London "at a meeting of his friends which was held for the purpose of concerting the best method of promoting the interest of the child by an education suited to his turn of mind, he undertook and succeeded in raising the number 8 to the sixteenth power, and gave the answer correctly in the last result, viz. 281,474,976,710,656. He was then tried as to other numbers, consisting of one figure, all of which he raised 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 too rapid. With respect to numbers consisting of two figures, he would raise some of them to the sixth, seventh and eighth power, but not always with equal facility; for the larger the products became, the more difficult he found it to proceed. He was asked the square root of 106,929, and before the number could be written down he immediately answered 327. He was then requested to name the cube root of 268,336,125, and with equal facility and promptness he replied 645.

Various other questions of a similar nature respecting the roots and powers of very high numbers, were proposed by several of the gentlemen present, to all of which satisfactory answers were given. One of the party requested him to name the factors which produced the number 247,483, which he did by mentioning 941 and 263, which indeed are the only two factors that will produce it. Another of them proposed 171,395, and he named the following factors as the only ones, viz: 5×34279, 7×24485, 59 × 2905, 83 × 2065, 35 x 4897, 295 × 581, 413×415. 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 36,083 is a prime number." [Extract from a Prospectus printed in London, 1813.]

On

"It had been asserted and maintained by the French mathematicians that 4294967297 (=232+1) was a prime number; but the celebrated Euler detected the error by discovering that it was equal to 641 × 6,700,417. The same number was proposed to this child, who found out the factors by the mere operation of his mind." Ibid. another occasion, he was requested to give the square of 999,999; he said he could not do this, but he accomplished it by multiplying 37037 by itself, and that product twice by 27. Ans. 999,998,000,001. He then said he could multiply that by 49 which he did: Ans. 48,999,902,000,049. He again undertook to multiply this number by 49: Ans. 2,400,995,198,002,401. And lastly he multiplied this great sum by 25, giving as the final product, 60,024,879,950,060,025. Various efforts were made by the friends of the boy to elicit a disclosure of the methods by which he performed his calculations, but for nearly three years he was unable to satisfy their inquiries. There was, through practice, an increase in his power of computation; when first beginning, he went no farther in multiplying than three places of figures;

it afterwards became a common thing with him to multiply four pla ces by four; in some instances five figures by five have been given."

The question will naturally arise, by what means, or process was this faculty of computation acquired? In the absence of any satisfactory explanation by others it will be proper to let the subject of this notice give his own testimony on this subject. The following are his words, extracted from different parts of his memoirs. [It will be observed he speaks of himself in the second person.]

"The inquiry has often been made whether the gift were natural or supernatural; his answer is that it was partly both; understanding by this, not the putting forth of Divine energy in the entirely new creation of a faculty hitherto unknown to the mind, but the uncommon extension of a faculty already given, and common to all; extension in a manner beyond the operations of nature, as we see her exhibited, and therefore supernatural; but natural, in as much as every one is to a certain extent, able to compute by mental process alone."

"That such calculations should be made by the power of mind aione, even in a person of mature age, and who had disciplined himself by opportunity and study, would be surprising, because far exceeding the common attainments of mankind; that they should be made by a child six years old, unable to read, and ignorant of the name or properties of one figure traced on paper, without any previous effort to train him to such a task, will not diminish the surprise. The remembrance that this faculty was bestowed and exercised under such circumstances, while it necessarily prompts the possessor to speak of it as wonderful indeed, at the same time precludes all room for boasting, if he were thus disposed; for it ever has been, and still is, as much a matter of astonishment to him as it can be to any other one; God was its author, its object and aim perhaps are still unknown."

"In relation to the faculty of computation which he possessed, he would observe that in every particular, from its first development to the present day, it has been to him a matter of astonishment. He has felt and still feels, that it was undoubtedly a gift from his Maker, and consequently designed to be productive of some valuable ends. What the specific object was is unknown."

"This may be a suitable place for introducing a few remarks concerning the mind of Zerah in regard to other things than mental calculation. As might be expected from the nature of his early gift, he ever had a taste for figures. To answer questions by the mere opeation of mind, though perfectly easy, was not any thing in which he ever took satisfaction; for, unless when questioned, his attention was not engrossed by it at all. The study of Arithmetic was not particularly easy to him, but it afforded a very pleasing employment, and even now, were he in a situation to feel justified in such a course,

he should be gratified to spend his time in pursuits of this nature. The faculty which he possessed, as it increased and strengthened by practice, so by giving up exhibition, began speedily to depreciate. This was not as some have supposed, on account of being engaged in study; it is more probable to him that the study of any branch that included the use and practice of figures would have served to keep up the facility and readiness of mind. The study of Algebra, while he attended to it, was very pleasant, but when just entering upon the more abstruse rules of the first part, he was taken away from his books and carried to France."

Remarkable case of Miss Rachel Baker, the Sleeping Preacher.-Perhaps the most remarkable case on record of " Devotional Somnium," so called, is that of Miss Rachel Baker, of the State of New York. A full history of her case may be found in "The Transactions of the Physico Medical Society of New York, vol. 1, p. 395."

Rachel Baker was born at Pelham, Massachusetts, May 29th, 1794. Her parents were religious persons, and early taught her the importance of religion. From childhood, she appeared to possess a contemplative disposition; "but her mind was not vigorous, nor was she much disposed to improve it by reading. At the age of nine years, she removed with her parents to the town of Marcellus, State of New York. From that time she said, she had "frequently strong convictions of the importance of eternal things, and the thoughts of God and eternity would make her tremble."-In June, 1811, while on a visit to the town of Scipio, she was deeply affected in witnessing the baptism of a young lady; and from that period she was impressed with a stronger conviction of her own sinfulness. On her return to Marcellus, she endeavored to suppress her religious anxiety, but in vain, her anguish of mind was fully depicted in her countenance.

"On the evening of the 28th of November, as she was sitting in a chair apparently asleep, she began to sigh and groan, as if in excessive pain. She had said a short time before, that she would live only a little while, and as she now repeated the expression, her parents were apprehensive that she was dying.This evening she talked incoherently; but manifested, in what she said, much religious concern. She continued almost every night talking in her sleep in this way, till the 27th Jan. 1812. On that evening soon after she had fallen asleep, she was seized with a fit of trembling. She shrieked aloud and awoke in great terror. Horror and despondency overwhelmed her with the dread of a miserable eternity, and of her speedy and inevitable doom. But these agonizing feelings soon were succeeded by a calm; her mind became tranquil, and in her nightly devotions, which were now regular and coherent, she poured forth a spirit of meekness,

gratitude and love." From this time, the whole tenor of her soul seemed to be changed; she was incapable of expressing her sentiments on Divine things clearly when awake; but her sleeping exercises were so solemn and impressive, that few, who heard them, doubted that they were the genuine fruits of penitence, piety and peace."

Dr. Mitchell, in describing Miss Baker's case, says, “to the latter of those remarkable affections of the human mind (Somnium cum religione) i. e. sleep with religion, belongs to Miss Rachel Baker, who, for several years, has been seized with Somnium of a devotional kind once a day with great regularity. These daily paroxysms recur with wonderful exactness, and, from long prevalence, have now become habitual. They invade her at early bedtime, and a fit usually lasts about three quarters of an hour. A paroxysm has been known to end in thirty-five minutes and to continue ninety-eight. . . The transition from the waking state to that of somnium is very quick; frequently in a quarter of an hour or even less. After she retires from company in the parlour, she is discovered to be occupied in praising God, with a distinct and sonorous voice. . . Her discourses are usually pronounced in a private chamber, for the purpose of delivering them with more decorum on her own part, and with greater satisfaction to her hearers. She has been advised to take the recumbent posture, her face being turned towards the heavens. She performs her nightly devotions with a consistency and fervor, wholly unexampled, for a human being in a state of somnium. Her body and limbs are motionless; they stir no more than the trunk and extremities of a statue; the only motion the spectator perceives is that of her organs of speech, and an oratorial inclınation of the head and neck, as if she was intently engaged in performing an academic or theological exercise. . . . . . According to the tenor and solemnity of the address, the attendants are affected with seriousness. She commences and ends

with an address to the throne of grace, consisting of proper topics of acknowledgment, submission and reverence; of praise and thanksgiving and of prayer for herself, her friends, the church, the nation, for enemies and the human race in general. Between these, is her sermon or exhortation. She begins without a text, and proceeds with an even course to the end; embellishing it sometimes with fine metaphors, vivid descriptions, and poetical quotations. . . . . . There is a state of the body like groaning, sobbing or moaning; and the distressful sound continues from two minutes, to a quarter of an hour. This agitation, however, does not wake her; it gradually subsides and she passes into a sound and natural sleep, which continues during the remainder of the night. In the morning she wakes as if nothing had happened;

and entirely ignorant of the scenes in which she has acted. She declares she knows nothing of the nightly exercises, except from the information of others. With the exception of the before mentioned agitation of body and exercise of mind, she enjoys perfect health."

In October 1814, Miss Baker was brought to New York by her friends in hopes that her somnial exercises, (which were considered by some of them as owing to disease) might, by the exercise of a journey and the novelty of a large city, be removed. But none of these means produced the desired effect. Her acquaintances stated that her somnial exercises took place every night regularly, except in a few instances, when interrupted by severe sickness, from the time they commenced in 1812. In September 1816, Dr. Sears, by a course of medical treatment, particularly by the use of opium, appears to have prevented the recurrence of Miss Baker's nightly exercises.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST PRINTING, &c.

[Extracted principally from Thomas' History of Printing in America.] Introduction of Printing.-The Rev. Jesse Glover, a worthy and wealthy dissenting clergyman of England, may be considered as the father of the American press. This benefactor of the infant colony of Massachusetts, was early engaged in pursuing such measures as he judged would be for its interest and prosperity. Among other things, he was desirous of establishing a press for the accommodation of the business of the church and state. To raise a sum sufficient to purchase printing materials, he contributed liberally himself, and solicited aid from others, in England and Holland. In 1638, Mr. Glover having obtained the means, procured good printing apparatus, and engaged a printer to accompany it to New England. Mr. Glover, with his family, embarked in the same vessel; he however died on the passage, and his widow and children, after their arrival, settled at Cambridge.-Stephen Daye, (the printer engaged by Mr. Glover,) by the direction of the magistrates and elders, having erected the press and prepared the other parts of the apparatus, began business in the first month of 1639. The first thing which issued from the press, was The Freeman's Oath; the second, An Almanac; and the third, The Psalms in metre.

Samuel Green, the successor of Daye in the printing business, was in Cambridge eight years before the arrival of Daye from England. Green probably obtained a knowledge of the art from Daye, as he was not known as a printer until about the year 1649. Mr. Green died at Cambridge, in 1702, aged eighty-seven years. He was esteemed for his virtues, and was the father of nineteen children. For a long period, many of his descendants of his name, have been engaged in the printing business.

Indian Bible.-The first Bible printed in America, was the Bible