Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-10-07
AUTOMATIC.
Nature so CunninSiy Initiated i'm Brass
Steel and Wood as 10
Deceive the Very EIect-PuzzIes Of the
PeriOd-WOnders o: Mechanism.

AutOmata were constructed very early
i'll the worlds history, says the Cincinnati
News- journal. Probably the first of
which We have record are the tripods
moving on living wheels, which Homer
describes Vulcan as having made. Plato
and Aristotle both write of statues in
vented by Dadalus, which not only
walked, but had to be tied up to prevent
them from moving. Venus, one of these
models, moved, it is said, by quicksilver
being heated and cooled on the inside.
Aulus Gellius, the Greek. speaks of a
wooden pigeon flying. Cassiodorus writes
of machines in imitation of serpents.
which swallowed. The colossal statues
of Memnon, III the plains of Thebes, the
remains of which are still to be seen, are
said to have uttered joyful sounds at the
rising of the sun, but mournful ones when
it set, and to have kept this up for hun
dreds of years, even to the fourth century
of the Christian era. Arcthytas, of Ia
rcntum, made a dove that could fly.
Regiomontarius is credited with produc-
ing an eagle, which is said to have flown
from the city, saluted the Emperor as he
approached, and returned; and a fly of
iron, which would circle the room on its
wings and return TO its masters hand.
The first automaton of great celebrity
was the d~oOr-keeper of Albertus Magnus,
in the thirteenth century, which moved
naturally, and is said to have spoken. 1t
so terrified Aquinas that he broke it to
pieces with his staff, whereat the heart
broken inventor cried, Alas you have
destroyed the work of thirty years.
Descartes made one in the form of Il fe-
| male, which he called his daughter Fran
Gina, but which was thrown overheard by
the superstitious captain of a sailing yes
sci in which Descartes had taken passage,
because his terrified Imagination argued
that a machine which moved so much
like a human being must have a
devil i'll it, and must be de-
stroyed. Na~ncanson, who lived in
Paris during the last century,
made some very wonderful automata.
One was a nageolet player, which played
a t1ageolet with its left hand and beat a
tamborine with its right, executing very
difficult pieces of music with surprising
accuracy. V~ancanson made a duck which
moved, ate, drank, and is said to have
| even digested its food like a live animal.
The figure would stretch out its neck to
take food from the hand, and hen would
swallow it with n ducks natural avidity,
| even the motion of the muscles of the
neck being closely initiated. 1t would
rise on its feet, walk, swim, dabble in the
water, quack, and wonderfully initiate all
the actions of the living duck. 1t is said
to nave been destroyed, either inadvert=
| emily or by design. by being allowed to
pick up a bit of red-hot iron, which
burned the delicate mechanism inside.
Robert Houdin, the famous French ne
cromancer, also made Il duck which was
almost, If not quite, equal to that of Van
canson. The animal walked, but de-
scribed enlareing circles, and would wag
its head, pick up seeds and swallow them.
There is a curious story connected with
this automaton. After Houdin's death
it disappeared, and no one knew what
had become of it. One NJ. Beaumont.
another French magician, bought a lot of
traps at an auction in London, among
them a curious piece of cogs, wires, etc.
Prof. Feggetter, now in this city, was a
friend of his, and-curiosity led Feggetter
to ask permission to take it home for ex-
animation, which he did, only to find,
after much investigation, that it was
Houdin's celebrated duck. Pulling it TO
pieces he found seeds inside, which, when
broken open, showed small bits of steel
inclosed. This led to further examina-
ton, which disclosed that a magnet
in the mouth had been the cause of the
feed being picked up. A tape ran over a
roller in the neck, and the tape was COW
cred with bird lime, by which the seed
was caught and carried into the stomach.
where a knife scraped off the seed. Thus
the bird of steel, and brass and cogs was
made to initiate the eating of a natural
bird. When Feggetter had put it together
oiled it up, and replaced certain missing
parts, the bird was as good as new, and
soon attracted such attention that Beau
mont wantedi it back. Feggetter wanted
s10 for his work, which Beaumont fool.
ishly refused to pay, whereupon it was
returned to him, but in the same condi-
ton which he bought it, minus its recon.
struction, and, of course, its usefulness
and Beaumont, not being able TO restore
il it, il has ever since remained a bit OF
useless curiosity and relic.
naelzel, early in the present century
made an automaton trumpeter, which
played many French and American
marches. His chess-player created /,
great sensation. IL would play chess
with the best players, travelling from cit,
to city in Europe, never refusing a chal
lenge, and being seldom or never beaten
1t would tremendously salute its ad
/. versary, and throughout the game behav,
in the most grave and dignified manner
BETTING the intellectual game it played
l When ~ chaalad on adUarsarvfs n1taan =