The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-03-17
A COnsciOus Automaton,

/
doubtedly the peculiar home of bold
ness, not to say rashness, in thought and
Invention. NJ. CazeauX, a man singu-
larly well versed in physics and very
skillful mechanic, especially in the finer
and more delicate sorts of work, not
long age invited Duroe Lallemand, the
mathematician, and myself, to his house,
assuring us that he would there show
us something of great Interest," Curl
GUS piece OF mechanism which he had
recently constructed, and which was
really a marvel. The appointed even
ing found us in M. CazeauX's study.
After conversing a while on general
| topics and examining some curious me-
| chanical and electrical appliances Of one
sort and another, our host left us for a
short time, and then re.entered the
room, leading by the hand what ap-
peared to be man in the prime OF life
and in good health, but which, as
you will see further on, was an autOma-
ton. In view of Professor Huxiey's re-
ldctance to carry his theory, that "ani-
mails are conscious aut0mata," 30 far as
make it cover the case of human beings,
| l hesitate TO speak of this contrivance as
a "conscious automaton," and yet that
| it seemed to be SO is beyond question.
1t did not, indeed, walk readily or
gracefully; but IL must. be remembered
| that in man one Of the most wonderful
of nervous actions is what is known as
| co-cordInation, upon which the action of
| two-fOld members, such as the legs, de-
pends. l shall relate its working best
| by explaining the cause OF it. 1t is COM
posed of wires Of various metals of diff
Ierent powers OF conducting electricity,
each being insulated from the rest, some
| by means OF delicate silks, and others
by uSe of various VarniSheS.
| The whole is SO timely and intricately
woven that the surface, when closely ex-
amined, looks almost like human Gu
| ticle. Examine the ball of your thumb
and you will perceive the cOiling and in
terlacing thus lmltated.) In the head
and spinal column are electric batteries,
with gangliOnic multipllers placed as
are the ganglia in the human system,
and all the wires center in these, being
twisted in and upon each other in close
imitation of the nerves, the. larger ones
| consist ling Of many small ones, as in the
human body. The organs which are
necessary to the production of such
movementS as are commonly observed
| in man--indeed, the whole sympathetic
system is omitted-it being M. Cazeaux's
object merely TO construct an autOmatOn
which should seem to be man.
| The action OF this autOmat0n is ex-
cited in a perfectly understandable
way. 1t is known how the most delicate
evolution of heat affects thermomulti-
pller; an instrument of this sort Is at
The ori1ce OF the mouth, in the lips, teeth
part OF the mouth. A certain degree OF
heat-the lowest is 160 Fahrenheit-af-
| iects this thermomultlpller, by which it
| is transmitted to the brain and spinal
| column, producing regular series of
results. 10 make the experiment more
striking, piece Of hot albumen the
white OF an egg-was laid ut a stated
distance from Inc lips Oh q plate. The
heat thus produced was transmitted
along the wires to the concealed batter
les, and delicately displaced a small ar
mature, thus setting the batteries at
work.
The eyes slowly opened, and the ex-
tremities of the wires forming the eye
balls were affected by the light, and
communicated the molecular motion
thus set up to the conductors behind
them, whence 1t was transmitted to the
proper nervous centers. The batteries
thus set in action worked the wires or
nerves OF the arm in such way that un-
der the given circumstances, they We're
forced to bring the hand to the albumen,
which was thus placed within the mouth,
for all the wOrlu as man would do it..
The irration thus set up-( and when we
know that one four hundred billlont til Of
u grain Of acOnite viii occasion such
chemical action that Its presence may
be detected, we need not wonder at TINS
produced by its direct action ON the
minute eXtreMitieS OF the wires mole
cular change, which was conveyed to
the batteries or ganglla, ana back again
by what seemed reflex action, but was,
OF course, such only in u physiological,
Il
deglutitlon followed, with d smacking OF
The lips, and what really looked like an
expression of satisfaction on the counte-
nance, ana especially in the eyes. Nj.
CaZeauX AYERS that, with an automatOn
properly constructed, and merely by the
presence OF the food i'll the stomach, he
could initiate the entire process of diges-
lion, and even make the automatOn ap-
pear to be III pain from all overload ed
stomach, or seem to dream reStleSSly by
the same means.
10 set the automaton in motion by its
mechanical sense OF hearing is not more
ditticult. Tue beating of tne waves of
air upon the tympanum in q certain
measured way Will cause it to give forth
various SOUNDS from its mouth. A GER
tain number of vibrations in a second
will put d panied look upon the face, and
bring from the lips certain words Which
will change to Others when the rapidity
OF vibl aLlon is increased or diminished,
as it always is when we speak to other
persons and get various responses.
Under certain conditions mere irrita-
tion Of what may be called the ''cuticle"
will result in apparently voluntary mo-
tions. Babbage's calculating machine
is at bottom no less wonderful than
this, which is a mere physiological ex-
tension of the machine. How much
further it is possible 10 extend it can
not tell, but it seems likely enough that
| if Prof. Huxley's views of animals as
sconscious automatic" be correct we
may yet produce piece Of mechanism
which Will seem to reason Tor better
cause than did Alaelzei's celebrated
''chess-player."
The London News of recent date
contained a lengthy description of the
private madhOuSeS of France. particu-