The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-02-16

EXHIBITION OF THE SPEAKING FIGURE

EXHIBITION OF THE SPEAKING FIGURE
This asteaishing piece Of mechanism was exhibi.
ted 10 the public tbf The hrst tiae, lest night at the
Stuyyessnt lnslute, And from its novelty attracted
numerous audiences. This u sasdto be, aud probab',
IS the first successful attempt OF the Kind On record
Others have been invented 10 initiate the voice, as
was the case with Baezell's which could utter the
word check, or rather imitation Vi II, 'here was
not the articulation however, which th's Que gives
There 10 obscure account We believe oi an M
strument having similar powers 10 tbs having DECD
invented in the l4th 18th century, but which was
DESTROYED either from supe rston religious feel-
ings-ndeed, lius If il its known that no copJee-
turc be formed of its capabilities Of powers
The present one is certainly wonderful invention,
and the accuracy with which IL speaks the words Is
peri, cuy startling. IL mlsioruDeto The in'en-
Tor, however, Mir Faber that hc does not speak The
English language, since comparatively lew OF gene
raj audience are acquainted with hs native Tongue
the German Ii is not a little strange, too, that the
Inquire should speak that language with comparative
iuency, while lie pronunciation oil The Eng'eh tne
exact counte rpar echo OF MIR Fabers, except az
regards the tone which is similar TO that OF young
child aud il therefore struck US that cbilds face
would have been suited 10 the Inquire than mat
| OF bearded Turk
Mr. Faber was attended, lasi night, by Drs. Mott,
PattisoD, Detmore, and others, and previous TO the
performance, DIR. Mott informed the audience Of The
difficulty under which Mr. Fsbcr labored In being I'M
able to speak language he also spoke OF the ma
CHING IN INCEST Terms, sldtcu tdt u'Sh-
tor had been IL years engaged in it, and that no, was
seven years in forming the pronunciation OF the let
| ter f. The Faculty Of the College, he said, had
been pleased with it, that they offered him the use
| of the lecture for the exhibition, and they
hoped that he would receive the patronage he de-
| served.
| MIR. Dctmorc also made some remarks, and among
the that the inventor had here initiated, close
ly possible the human organizaton--he had form
ed the windppe, the pallet, the tongue and the gums,
! and by playing on the keys, the fgurc would pro
| nouDce IN any language.
| MIR. Fabcr then commenced with the alphabet,
which was uttered with great disnctness, partcu-
larry some Of the letters The pronunciation OF w.
elected great deal Of merriment II then repeated
from | to 40, and spoke the following sentences,
which, though in broken English, were distinctly uo-
derstood by the audience. professor Mott" (Which
| it pronounced Mote,) show do you do'' "Pretty
| we'll | thank YOU" please excuse my slow enun-
citation, but will remain with you and improve" il
then mentioned the days of the week, and the die.
rent months Of the year. Also, some German and
Latin sentences. Z" Merit win always meet with its
due reward" 'Nr Speaker, call the gentleman to
order" This was unanimously allowed TO be wor-
thy Of Congressman.
A German verse then handed up and spoken
with great accuracy 80 the German said. DIR. Det-
more declined translating it, it something
against the Pope, he said The figure then pronounc-
ed "New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Mississippi,
&c and concluded that part Of its performance, by
singing /" Hail Columbia" which irresistibly
droll, though to tell the truth have heard much
worse singing by automatons having far more prelen-
sions.
Dr. Patison then made few remarks. He said
it was impossible for those whose attention had not
been turned to articulation, to comprehend the di-
cultes the inventor had overcome Here was pair
OF bellows performing the function that the lungs
perform TO man, by forcing with il current Of air
which was carried through the wind pipe but unless
the vocal chords were placed in certain position no