an old calendar which hung on a wall of his father's
house, and when four years old he knew all the numbers on it, in spite
of a shortness of sight which afflicted him to the end. On Saturday
nights his father paid his workmen their wages, and once the boy, who
had been listening to his calculations, jumped up and told him that he
was wrong. Revision showed that his son was right.

At the age of seven, Gauss went to the Catherine Parish School at
Braunschweig, and remained at it for several years. The master's name
was Buttner, and from a raised seat in the middle of the room, he kept
order by means of a whip suspended at his side. A bigger boy, Bartels
by name, used to cut quill pens, and assist the smaller boys in their
lessons. He became a friend of Gauss, and would procure mathematical
books, which they read together. Bartels subsequently rose to be a
professor in the University of Dorpat, where he died. At the parish
school the boys of fourteen to fifteen years were being examined in
arithmetic one day, when Gauss stepped forward and, to the astonishment
of Buttner, requested to be examined at the same time. Buttner, thinking
to punish him for his audacity, put a 'poser' to him, and awaited the
result. Gauss solved the problem on his slate, and laid it face downward
on the table, crying 'Here it is,' according to the custom. At the end
of an hour, during which the master paced up and down with an air of
dignity, the slates were turned over, and the answer of Gauss was found
to be correct while many of the rest were erroneous. Buttner praised
him, and ordered a special book on arithmetic for him all the way from
Hamburg.

From the parish school Gauss went to the Catherine Gymnasium, although
his father doubted whether he could afford the money. Bartels had gone
there before him, and they read the higher mathematics. Gauss also
devoted much of his time to acquiring the ancient and modern languages.
From there he passed to the Carolinean College in the spring of 1792.
Shortly before this the Duke Charles William Ferdinand of Braunschweig
among others had noticed his talents, and promised to further his
career.

In 1793 he published his first papers; and in the autumn of 1795 he
entered the University of Gottingen. At this time he was hesitating
between the pursuit of philology or mathematics; but his studies became
more and more of the latter order. He discovered the division of the
circle, a problem published in h