The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Colburn, Zerah

COLBURN, Zerah, an arithmetical prodigy, born at Cabot, Vt., Sept. 1, 1804, died March 2, 1840. In his 6th year he began to give evidence of those extraordinary powers of computation which afterward excited the wonder of the learned and curious in the United States and Europe. His father decided to exhibit them in public, and accordingly left Vermont with Zerah in the winter of 1810-'11. Passing through Hanover, N. H., Dr. Wheelock, then president of Dartmouth college, offered to take upon himself the whole care and expense of his education, but his father rejected the offer. At Boston the performances of the boy excited much attention. He was visited by the professors of Harvard college, and by eminent men in all professions, and the newspapers were filled with articles concerning his wonderful powers of computation. Questions in multiplication of four and five places of figures, reduction, rule of three, practice, involution, evolution, compound fractions, and the obtaining of factors even of large numbers, were answered with accuracy and with a rapidity to which the most experienced mathematicians could not

At this time he was unable to give any account of the mental processes by which these results were reached; but a few years later he could explain them satisfactorily, and from these explanations it appeared that his processes did not differ materially from those ordinarily adopted in mental computation. Among the questions proposed to him were the following: How many days and hours in 1,811 years? His answer, given in 20 seconds, was 661,015 days, 15,864,360 hours. How many seconds in 11 years? The answer, given in four seconds, was 346,896,000. When 8 or 9 years of age, he gave answers with a delay of but a few seconds to such questions as these: What is the square of 999,999? Multiply the square twice by 49 and once by 25. (The answer requires 17 figures.) What are the factors of 4,294,967,297? (=2$32$ + 1). The French mathematicians had announced this as a prime number. Colburn immediately gave 641 &times; 6,700,417. What are the factors of 247,483? He replied, &ldquo;941 and 263, which are the only factors.&rdquo; The rapidity of his mental processes and the power of his memory must have been at this time almost inconceivable. After leaving Boston, Mr. Colburn exhibited his son for money throughout the middle and part of the southern states, and in January, 1812, sailed with him for England. After travelling over England, Scotland, and Ireland, they spent 18 months in Paris. Here young Colburn was placed in the lycée Napoléon, but was soon removed by his father, who at length, in 1816, returned to England in the deepest penury. The earl of Bristol soon became interested in the boy, and placed him in Westminster school, where he remained till 1819. In consequence of his father's refusal to comply with certain arrangements proposed by the earl, he was removed from Westminster, and Mr. Colburn now proposed to his son that he should qualify himself to become an actor. Accordingly, he studied for this profession, and was for a few months under the tuition of Charles Kemble. His first appearance, however, satisfied both his instructor and himself that he was not adapted for the stage, and accordingly he accepted a situation as assistant in a school, and soon afterward commenced a school of his own. To this he added the performing of some astronomical calculations for Dr. Thomas Young, then secretary of the board of longitude. In 1824, on the death of his father, he was enabled by the earl of Bristol and other friends to return to America. He went to Fairfield, N. Y., as assistant teacher of an academy; but not being pleased with his situation, he removed in March following to Burlington, Vt., where he taught French, pursuing his studies at the same time in the university. Toward the end of 1825 he connected himself with the Methodist church, and after nine years of service as an itinerant preacher, he settled in Norwich, Vt., in 1835, where he was soon after appointed professor of languages in

university. In 1833 he published his autobiography. From this it appears that his faculty of computation left him about the time he reached the age of manhood; and aside from his early talent for calculation, he gave no evidence of remarkable abilities.