Mnemonic - Articles
Columbian Centinial of Boston
| Vol. XIV | December 29, 1790 | No. 31 |
From Scripture
Died Negro Tom, the famous African Calculator, aged 80 years.
He was the property of Mrs. Elizabeth Cox of Alexandria.
Tom was a very black man. He was brought to this country at the age of 14,
and was sold as a slave.... This man was a prodigy. Though he could never
read or write, he had perfectly acquired the art of enumeration....
He could multiply seven into itself, that product by seven, and the
products, so produced, by seven, for seven times. He could give the
number of months, days, weeks, hours, minutes, and seconds in any
period of time that any person chose to mention, allowing in his
calculation for all leap years that happened in the time; he would
give the number of poles, yards, feet, inches, and barley-corns in
any distance, say the diameter of the earth's orbit; and in every
calculation he would produce the true answer in less time than
ninety-nine men out of a hundred would produce with their pens.
And, what was, perhaps, more extraordinary, though interrupted
in the progress of his calculation and engaged in discourse
upon any other subject, his operations were not thereby in the least deranged.
So as to make it necessary for him to begin again, but he would go on from where
he had left off, and could give any or all of the stages through which the
calculation had passed.
He took great notice of the lines of land which he had seen surveyed.
He drew just conclusions from facts; surprisingly so, for his
opportunities. Had his [Thomas Fuller] opportunity been equal
to those of thousands of his fellow-men ... even a NEWTON himself,
need have ashamed to acknowledge him a Brother in Science.
Another variant
DIED. -- Negro Tom, the famous African Calculator, aged 80 years.
He was the property of Mrs. Elizabeth Cox, of Alexandria.
Tom was a very black man. He was brought to this country at the age of
fourteen, and was sold as a slave with many of his unfortunate countrymen.
This man was a prodigy; though he could neither read nor write, he had
perfectly acquired the use of enumeration. He could give the number of
months, days, weeks, hours, minutes and seconds for any period of time
that a person chose to mention, allowing in his calculations for all
the leap years that happened in the time. He would give the number of
poles, yards, feet, inches and barleycorns in a given distance - say
the diameter of the earth's orbit - and in every calculation he would
produce the true answer in less time than ninety-nine out of a hundred
men would take with their pens. And what was, perhaps, more extraordinary,
though interrupted in the progress of his calculations and engaged in
discourse upon any other subject, his operations were
not thereby in the least deranged. He would go on where he left off,
and could give any and all of the stages through which his calculations
had passed. Thus died Negro Tom, this untaught arithmetician, this
untutored scholar. Had his opportunities of improvement been equal
to those of a thousand of his fellow men, neither the Royal Society
of London, the Academy of Sciences at Paris, nor even a Newton himself
need have been ashamed to acknowledge him a brother in science.