times 9,—which the boy at once answered correctly. This excited a little astonishment, and then other questions were put to "fickle" him, but which he answered with equal facility. The numbers multiplied were so high, that the old gentleman's nephew had to work up the sums with chalk upon a board, to see that they were right, and they were found so. The boy became talked of as a wonder, and half-pence began to flow into his pocket; so that, what with the gain and the éclat, he became still more attached to the science of arithmetic; and he got on by degrees until the multiple of figures which he could accomplish arrived at thousands, and he eventually became familiar with the multiplication table up to a million.The "Extraordinary Calculating Boy" was regarded as one of the prodigies of the day. The phrenologists had a cast taken of his "organs," and he was cited in the "Phrenological Magazine" as a remarkable proof of the correctness of their "science." Some time after this he commenced the business of life as a clerk in an assurance office, which he left to enter the service of a well-known engineer, the late Mr. H. R. Palmer. His advance was rapid, and his reputation soon became distinguished,—a result due no less to his perseverance than to his eminent engineering ability. For he brought the same habit of study and application to the business of his profession, that he had already trained in mastering the science of numbers. Speaking to his