The Hawaiian gazette., 1871-12-13

MACHINE THAT CAN TALK LAUGH AND SING.
"A persevering Frenchman once made machine
in the form of a duck, which could walk. clap its
wings. peck up grains of corn, aud more wonder
u STILL digest them but a machine capable of
talking was supposed to rank among the impossi-
billties of human ingenuity to construct KEN
pelen, German, made number of puppets that
uttered the words papa and "mamma," but Of
ter devotng his life to perfecting them he assert
ed that machine which could utter all the words
in use in European languages was an impossbi-
ty After his death his puppets became dumb
no one understanding the mechanism BY which
they were made to speak Kempelen's impossi-
bllity has been at last overcome. In lS4I Prof
Faber exhibited machine which could utter
great numbe. of words and sounds but it was by
no means perfect. His nephew took up the ma
chine that his uncle had failed in perfeeting and
completed it, After exhibiting it before all the
crowned heads aud scientific societies of Europe,
he brought it to the United States and recently
gave an exhibition of it. The machine, which
stands on a small table, consists of a complicated
arrangement of rubber tubes, reeds, keys pedals,
strings and wires. The lungs are represented by
small pair of bellows, the glottis by reeds and
pipes of different sizes, the lips and tongue by
= - IT, D---..i. A. Ii :.
pedal by which the bellows are worked, and on
the right hand side a series of keys, on which are
marked the letters o. q. l. +. L. r. w. F. S. B.
D. and e. With these and some supplementary
arrangements. oil sounds used in the European
languages can be euunciated There is also an
arrangement resembling the keyboard of piano
by which the machine can be made to sing. Ev-
cry portion Of it is open to view, that no decep
ton is possible, and the machine under the skill
ful hands of Madame Faber enunciated distinctly
all the letters of the English and German alpha
bets, numerous long and most difficult words,
such as ConstantinOple,' Poitzka," Missis-
sippi," Radetzky," "hurrah," and then darted
off into long sentences in English, German and
French, winding up with laugh of the most
natural kind. followed by hlsses, groans and mur-
murs. Every word proposed was pronounced at
once and without the slightest hesitation. Of
course some words were more clearly enunciated
than Others, but the majority were given far more
clearly than the majority of human beings pro-
nounce them and even the Nasal twang which
French people often adopt was closely initiated.
In Prof Fabers machine the motions of the
mouth and tongue initiate precisely those Of hu-
man beings, and the different keys or tones are
given by proper manipulation of the pedals. The
" talking machine" taken all together, is a won
dedul specimen of mans ingenuity, but whether
it can ever be anything more is doubtful. 1t can
not be applied to any practical purpose, unless
dumb or weak nerved aud feeble-voiced individu-
ais should choose to purchase them and use them
as mediums through which to address the pub
lie. The singing portion of the machine not be-
ing in order it was of course impossible to deter
mine what merit the invention possesses as a vo-
calist. Prof Faber intends to exhibit his machine
in public as soon as his arrangements are com
pleted.