icular feat. It was stated that he proceeded
from left to right in his calculations, instead of from right to left
in the usual manner. In his personal appearance the only thing
indicative of his wonderful abilities was his high forehead.

An infant prodigy named Oscar Moore was exhibited to the physicians of
Chicago at the Central Music Hall in 1888, and excited considerable
comment at the time. The child was born of mulatto parents at Waco,
Texas, on August 19, 1885, and when only thirteen months old manifested
remarkable mental ability and precocity. S. V. Clevenger, a physician
of Chicago, has described the child as follows:--

"Oscar was born blind and, as frequently occurs in such cases, the
touch-sense compensatingly developed extraordinarily. It was observed
that after touching a person once or twice with his stubby baby
fingers, he could thereafter unfailingly recognize and call by name the
one whose hand he again felt. The optic sense is the only one
defective, for tests reveal that his hearing, taste, and smell are
acute, and the tactile development surpasses in refinement. But his
memory is the most remarkable peculiarity, for when his sister conned
her lessons at home, baby Oscar, less than two years old, would recite
all he heard her read. Unlike some idiot savants, in which category he
is not to be included, who repeat parrot-like what they have once
heard, baby Oscar seems to digest what he hears, and requires at least
more than one repetition of what he is trying to remember, after which
he possesses the information imparted and is able to yield it at once
when questioned. It is not necessary for him to commence at the
beginning, as the possessors of some notable memories were compelled to
do, but he skips about to any required part of his repertoire.

"He sings a number of songs and counts in different languages, but it
is not supposable that he understands every word he utters. If,
however, his understanding develops as it promises to do, he will
become a decided polyglot. He has mastered an appalling array of
statistics, such as the areas in square miles of hundreds of countries,
the population of the world's principal cities, the birthdays of all
the Presidents, the names of all the cities of the United States of
over 10,000 inhabitants, and a lot of mathematical data. He is greatly
attracted by music, and this leads to the expectation that when more
mature he may rival Blind Tom.

"In dispositi