Thus, in the case of the phenomenal
Oscar it cannot be predicted that he will not develop, as he now
promises to do, equal and extraordinary powers of mind, even
though it would be rare in one of his racial descent, and in the
face of the fact that precocity gives no assurance of adult
brightness, for it can be urged that John Stuart Mill read Greek
when four years of age.
"The child is strumous, however, and may die young. His
exhibitors, who are coining him into money, should seek the best
medical care for him and avoid surcharging his memory with
rubbish. Proper cultivation of his special senses, especially the
tactile, by competent teachers, will give Oscar the best chance
of developing intellectually and acquiring an education in the
proper sense of the word."
By long custom many men of letters have developed wonderful feats
of memory; and among illiterate persons, by means of points of
association, the power of memory has been little short of
marvelous. At a large hotel in Saratoga there was at one time a
negro whose duty was to take charge of the hats and coats of the
guests as they entered the dining-room and return to each his hat
after the meal. It was said that, without checks or the
assistance of the owners, he invariably returned the right
articles to the right persons on request, and no matter how large
the crowd, his limit of memory never seemed to be reached.
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