The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-12-28
Vulcan CAM Made e TOYS fol-. the Gods ofOIyn:
pus Which Went Of Their Own WIN.
HUMAN VI INGENUITY VS. is GREAT
From tho. Days OF Dneda,us sos.tnc
Presen. Peopie Have Delighted IN
1hrse "echnnicni wonders-Ths
Mysterious chess Player ana tho
Greni Wonder Iio Excited. r. *

tive to the generality Of men, or more
calculated ito excite their wonder and
adniIral3ion, than q deSterously and
nySterlously contrived affirmation
says the London Standard. There Is,
Indeed, something almost uncanny I'm
the sight OF a figure made by mems
hands acting like creature Of, fresh
and blood, and this uncannaness Is one
or the most subtle Of destinations
Hence the silver of the curious readily
iinds Its way into the pockets OF men
INGENIOUS enough to invent such mar
Veis, and hence men Of mechanical
genius have In all ages thought 1t
worth while to put their toll Of brain
ana hand into such contrivances, per
maps to the neglect Of works far more
permanently valuable to mankind
This passion for the automaton is
certainly no new thing. One meets II
IN almost the earliest books some
times yelled In myth. sometimes more
directly stated. Vulcan. 1t will be re-
membered, made automatic tripods
Tor the gods OF Olympus-stools which
advanced OF their own accord to the
banqueting table. and 50 retired when
the feast was over. Was this all pure
imagination on the part of Homer, or
ana II shadow out some actual achieve
ment OF skilled mechanlcIans of Phoe-
n!cia? According to the author of the
IRE OF Apollonius of Tyna, similar tri-
pods were known in India. and, indeed.
the Hindoo sacred books seem to hint
AT more than enc lost OF only recently
recovered mechanical invention. Among
the Greeks later than Homer, Daedalus
is the famous maker Of scientific mar
vels-the Houdin or Maskelyne of those
dim old days
Aristotle tells US thnt the human a1,
tomata which Daedalus made were go
active that, 1t was necessary to keen
chem tethered, for fear they should
| run away The same philosopher de-
scribes n wooden Venus who walked
ABOUT and gives also the secret 1f
the phenomenon. She was filled with
qulcksilVer-a somewhat crude device
Later on-in the midle ages-the fame
Que to Ehe maker of automata was
darkly connected with the unlawful
| magic arts. BY strange irony of fate
most or the stories of magic prowess
theh current wee fathered upon the
| Roman poet Virgil. the last man. prob
ably, TO have coveted, or even wished
Tor, posthumous fame as n necroman-
Ger. Two of the legendary Virgins
H'-st FAMOUS magic automatic may be
quoted One was n brass fy he mnde
for Marcellus. the son of Augustus
! emperor. Marasllus was flying his
| nawk AT birds-3o goes the tale-when
virgil casually asked him whether he
would prefer to have bird that could
catcht oil other birds, or a fiy tbnt
would destroy all other flies. Perhaps
Marceiius was no very keen sDortsman
for he chose the fly, and It - said To
nave proved very useful, especially 10
butchers. The other was a coppc ar
cher. who perpetually pointed his magic
arrow at Mount Vesuvius to prevent
It from erupting. All is said TO have
gene wen until n misohevous boy crept
Dehind the archer and let off the ar
row After that. the eruption. These
stories II should he said, were of course
nol NHown 10 the. Latlns. They were
invented by the monks, and 81 Is me
John of Salisbury who has handed them
down to U.S.
similar achievements were attribrted
10 other less fabulous DOCTORS of strange
arts. Alberfus Magnus Is credited with
having made brazen man who talk
ed. and ST. Thomas AQuinas with hav
ing pounded It to pieces with a Climb
suspectinS 1t TO be a work of satan.
some marvellous feats of mechanism
arc credited to John Muller, otherwise
known as Regiomontanus, who flour
lshed In the fifteenth century and In
dealing with him we perhaps toucb
iirmer ground One was an iron hv
| which flew around sable; another q
wooden eagle which went out to meet
the emperor Macmillan on his entry
or Nuremberg on the 7th of June 1870
and returned with him to tho c,t,
gates. an attention no doubt apnro.
| ciated and adequately rcmunerated Inv
the monarch. Indeed. It was to tho
KING rather than to the people that
an OLD cine inventor had to look for
the rewards of his ingenuity Mechan.
| les especially exertsd themselves to
| iiease Louis XIV. One Father Tn
| chet of the Royal Academy of Sciences
made him an automatic opera with
| moving figures and scenes con,nIf.to
The figures did not Of course, sna,k
| mat Is an invention not yet parfeoted
| thouch some steps have been made to
! ward II during this century-but acted
| IN dumb Dantomimc y NJ Conus made
MIN moving coach with runnir..
! horses, and lady who descended from
the coach to present che king with
a petition. and a footman who onened
anu crossed the carriage door Cor her
| ioys or this kind. no doubt delighted
kings In those days when there wa
iip;le TO read and time must have hung
heaViiy. One connects with the auto
mata OF King Louis the better known
mechanical tiger which used 70 delight
Hana Sah:o by tearing mechanical
.hFllshman 20 pieces. with an accom-
| paniment of growls and yells.
Nhsther due or no: to the stimulus
given ny Louis XIV. the seventeenth
1mo eighteenth centuries were In France
| times f-Er"at automatic activity. In
deed the frss-named century marks the
beginning of the really historical era of
Inc au'omata. In the eighteenth cen
Jury liVed NJ. Vaucanson. perhaps the
most wonde.f full of all makers of auto
mata, and the creator OF the famous
duck. which first appeared before sho
pubic IN l7i1. This duck was Vaucan-
eon.s masterpiece, and completed repu