The Virginia Gazette Letter to Editor January 2, 1752

From the GENTLEMAN's MAGAZINE,

SIR,

NOW send you, according to your Desire, a further Account of Jedediah Buxton, (see Gaz. No. 28.) whom I found to be a very illiterate Man. I examined him with Regard to his Manner of Life, and I was told he laboured hard for his Livelihood, having a Wife and Daughter at Elmton, six Miles East of Chesterfield in Derbyshire; I perceive he has good Notion of the Square, Oblong, Triangle, and Circle. The first Question I proposed was as follows: Admit a Field was 423 Yards long and 283 wide, what was the Area? After I had read the Figures to him distinctly, he gave me the true Product, viz. 162,009 Yards, in two Minutes, for I observed by my Watch how long every Operation took him. I then asked him how many Acres the aforesaid Field measured? In two Minutes he told me 33 Acres, 1 Rood, 35 Perches, 20 Yards, and a Quarter just. I then proposed to him, how many Barley Corns would reach 8 Miles? In a Minute and Half he answered 1,520,640 Barley Corns. He is the slowest in finding the Area of a Circle, but yet he finds it very near the Truth, though he don't use the mathematical Rules. Allowing the Distance between York and London to be 204 Miles, I asked him how many Times a Coach-wheel turned round in that Distance, allowing the Wheel's Circumference to be six Yards? In 13 Minutes he answered 59,840 Times. The next Proposition was, a Tub or Bin 346 Inches long, 255 Inches wide, 94 Inches deep, how many Gallons liquid Measure and what Corn will it hold? Answer, 3,454,464 solid Inches, or, 1,768,685,568 half Quarters of solid Inches, making 12,249,872 Gallons liquid Measure, or, 12,249 Gallons, 3 Quarts, and 34¼ Inches; or it will hold 191 Quarters, 3 Bushels, 3 Quarterns, a half Quartern, and 34¼ Inches Remainder.

Again, suppose a Canal was to be dug 426 Feet long, 263 wide, and 2 Feet and a half deep, how many cubical Yards of Earth to be removed? After pausing a Quarter of an Hour he answered, 10,373 Yards 24 Feet. He will talk with you freely whilst he is doing his Questions, it being no Molestation or Hindrance to him, but enough to confound a Penman. His Memory is so great, that he can leave off and reassume the Operation again, at a Week, Month, or at several Months End; he calls his Figures all by their proper Names, and is very ready at naming them either backwards or forwards. From May 17, 10 h. A. M. 1725, He told me he was drunk (to make Use of his Expression) with reckoning by his Memory till June 16 following, and then slept soundly seven Hours, but will never attempt so much Reckoning again, for Fear of falling into the same Dilemma. I suppose what he means by his being drunk, was his being so much stupefied with Thought, as rendered him incapable of Business when it may well be said neque pes, neque mens satis suum officium facit.

But, to proceed further with this uncommon Man, I was led by Curiosity to know what Question it was that caused his Drunkenness; to which he replied, in answering the following Question. In 202,680,000,360 Miles, and each Mile reckoned to be cubical, how many Barley Corns, Vetches, Peas, Wheat, Oats, Rye, Beans, Lentils, and how many Hairs, each an Inch long, would fill that Space, reckoning 48 Hairs in Breadth to an Inch on the Flat, as he found them to be so. I shall here subjoin his Table of Measures, which he found on Experiment.

200 Barley Corns
300 Wheat Corns
512 Rye Corns
180 Oats
40 Peas are contained in one solid Inch
25 Beans
80 Vetches
100 Lentils
2304 Hairs 1 Inch long

From which he calculated the following Result: 14 Thousand, 93 Millions, 420 Thousand, 936 Quarters, 1 Bushel, 1 Peck, 1 Quartern, 3 Pints, and 5 and a Quarter solid Inches of one Sort of Grain, are contain'd in one solid Mile; or 5 Thousand, 451 Millions, 776 Thousand Yards in a cubical Mile, being 254 Millions of Millions, 358 Thousand, 61 Millions, and 56 Thousand Inches in a cubical Mile; and if every Hair be an Inch long, and 2304 Hairs a cubical Inch, then 586 Thousand, 40 Millions of Millions, 972 Thousand, 673 Millions, and 24 Thousand, will fill the Space of a cubical Mile: But if a Hair be no longer than it is broad, he then found that there would be 28 Tribes, 129 Thousand, 966 Millions of Millions, 688 Thousand, 305 Millions, and 152 Thousand Hairs, to fill the Space of a cubical Mile.

As we are come to that Notation where he introduces the Word Tribe, it will be proper to set down that prolix Number, arising from 140 Nails doubled at a Farthing a Nail, viz.

725,958,238,096,074,907,868,531,656,993,638,851,1067. 1/4. 1/4. which

he reads thus:

725 Tribes of Tribes,
958 Thousand of Millions of Millions of Tribes,
238 Millions of Millions of Tribes,
096 Thousand Millions of Tribes,
074 Millions of Tribes,

907 Thousand Tribes,
968 Tribes,
53 Thousand Millions of Millions,
656 Millions of Millions,
993 Thousand Millions,
633 Millions,
851 Thousands,
106 Pounds, 2 Shillings, and 8 Pence.

For the Truth of which I leave those Gentlemen that have Leisure and Curiosity to try it.

I shall only mention one Thing more with Regard to this Man's Memory, and it shall be in squaring the above Number. Now you see he is to multiply 39 Figures by 39 Figures, and all by the Strength of his Memory, without having Recourse to human Assistance, or Pen, Ink, and Paper. What a prodigious Task must this be to be operated by the Head only, which he certainly performed, and after two Months and a Half, he brings the following Answer, omitting the odd 2s. 8d. which he reads thus:

527 Tribes of Tribes of Cramps,
015 Thousand Millions of Millions Tribes of Cramps,
363 Millions of Millions Tribes of Cramps,
459 Thousand Millions Tribes of Cramps,
557 Millions of Tribes of Cramps,
385 Thousand Tribes of Cramps,
673 Tribes of Cramps,
733 Thousand Millions of Millions of Cramp.
542 Million of Millions of Cramps,
638 Thousand Millions of Cramps,
591 Millions of Cramps,
721 Thousand Cramps,
213 Cramps,
298 Tribes of Tribes,
966 Thousand Millions of Millions of Tribes,
079 Millions of Millions of Tribes,
307 Thousand Millions of Tribes,
524 Millions of Tribes,
904 Thousand Tribes,
381 Tribes,
389 Thousand Millions of Millions,
499 Million of Millions,
25 Thousands of Millions,
637 Millions,
423 Thousands,
236 Pounds.

I was vastly surprised at the Quickness as well as Extensiveness of this poor Man's Memory, and I do assure you, Sir, that he does all that I have above recited by the Head without Pen, Ink, or Paper; for I am now thoroughly convinced that he is no Impostor, or makes Use of any Arts or Insinuations to deceive, as I first imagined when I heard of him: Oh the Depth of human Penetration!

I don't find, in History, any Man's Memory to be compared with this Jedediah Buxton's. Seneca, indeed, gives us an Account of his own Memory, as a Miracle in those Times, which I choose to send you in his own Words: Hanc [memoriam aliquando in me floruisse, ut non tantum ad usum sufficeret, sed in miraculum usque procederet, non nego. Nam et 2000 nominum recitata, quo ordine erant dicta, reddebam: et ab his qui ad audiendum preceptorem nostrum convenerunt, singulos versus singulis datos, cum plures quam 200 efficerentur, ab ultimo incipiens usque ad primum recitabam. This is the only Instance I can find as a Competitor to this our Author. I appeal to any Person however well conversant in Figures, whether to multiply by 20 or 20 figures by the Head, or divide by the same, which is equal to him, be not an arduous Task, and whether this poor Man be not Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno.

Yours, &c.
T. HOLLIDAY.