The size of the
computations seems to offer no bar to their rapid solution, and
answers in which long lines of figures are reeled off come with
perfect ease. In watching the effort put forth in reaching an
answer, there would seem to be some process going on in the mind,
and an incoherent mumbling is often indulged in, but it is highly
probable that Fields does not himself know how he derives his
answers. Certain it is that he is unable to explain the process,
nor has any one ever been able to draw from him anything
concerning it. Almost the only thing he knows about the power is
that he possesses it, and, while he is not altogether averse to
receiving money for his work, he has steadily refused to allow
himself to be exhibited." In reviewing the peculiar endowment of
Fields, the Chicago Record says:--
"How this feat is performed is as much a mystery as the process
by which he solves a problem in arithmetic. He answers no
questions. Rapid mathematicians, men of study, who by intense
application and short methods have become expert, have sought to
probe these two mysteries, but without results. Indeed, the man's
intelligence is of so low an order as to prevent him from aiding
those who seek to know.
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