The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1898-01-29
QUEER .AUTOMATONS.
EXAMPLES From TlE DAYS Or
DIDALUS TO THE PRESENT.
a Wooden Venus That walked and q
Brazen Man That Talked-A Wondcrfu

Brazen Man That Talked-A Wonderful
Mechanical Duck-23.a Greatest ci Ah
the Fraudulent An~touaa.cns.
There are few things more attractive
to the generality of men or more calcu-
lated to excite their wonder and admIra
tionthan a dexterously and mysterlonsly
contrlyed automaton. There Is, indeed,
something almost uncanny IN the sight
of a figure made by mems hands acting
like a creature of flesh and blood, and
this uncanniness is one Of the most sub
tie of destinations. Hence the silver CT
the curious readily finds it's way Il
the pockets Of men ingenious enough to
invent such marvels.
This passion for the automaton is GER
tainly no new thing. One meets 1t in
almost this earliest books, sometimes
yelled i'll myth. sometimes more direct
y stated. Vulcan. it will be remem
hered. made automatic tripods for the
gods Of Olympus - stools which ad-
yanced Of their WI accord TO the ban
c1eting table aud 80 retired when the
Se.,st was over
Aristotle tells us that tho hCman U
tOmata which Da.dalus made were 50
active that it was necessary tt keep
them Jetherti for fear they would II
away The same philosopher describes
a wooden Venus vino walked about and
gives also the secret of the phenomenon.
Sle was filled with culcksilver-a some
- 1-.11 l@-.ao l.N -.a -,
credited with having made a brazen
man who talked and st. Thomas Aqui-
mas with having pounded it to pieces
with Il club, suspeeting 1t to be a work
Of satan. Some marvellous feats Of
mechanism are credited to John Muller,
otherwise known as Rogiomontanus,
who fo4rished in the fifteenth century,
and in dealing with Linl We perhaps
touch fir,ner ground. One was IN iron
fiy which few around a table, another
a wooden eagle which went out to meet
Emperor Macmillan on his entry If
Nuremberg en- June E, 1870, anu re-
turned with him to tho city gates.
Whether duo or not to tho stimulus
given by Louis XIV, tho seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries were in Franco
times of great automatic activity. II.
deed, the first named century marks the
beginning of the really historical era Of
aut0mata. II the eighteenth century
lived Mr.. V~aacaa1ol. perhaps the most
wonderful cf all makers OF automata
and the create &C The famous duck
which first appeared before tho public
E = 1rt MI. El--ir -,o, yye,,a-1E@,1-
masterpiece and completed q reputation
already made wido by his mechanical
flute player and an automatic musician
which net only blew upon the flageolct,
but also kept time to it OF a tambourinc.
The bird was Of life size, and not only
was it outWardly an exact imitation to
a feather CT a real duck, but its internal
anatomy was absolutely true to life. So,
indeed, were its movements, for it
SWAN, diyed, walked, quacked, ate,
drank and by in ingenious device even
seemed to digest its food.
:, This a1tomaton disappeared after it;
inventors death, but turned up again
i'll 1910 i'll a garnet in Berlin and was
purchased by 4 George Tiets, who tcoa
four years To pGt it in proper working
: order again. At the end of this time il
:. was exhibited in a room in the Palai:
: Royal, Paris, where Mr.. Houdin, tht
celebrated c%onjuror, saw it, and, indeed,
afterward, wien something happened
to one of its wings, took charge Of ant
, repaired 1t. No doubt it is still in ex
istence. OF mere modern automatic thii
is scarcely tho place to speak, for they
: are private secrets. Let Us confine orr
! selves to merely mentioning Mr.. Mas
kelyne's Psyche and "Zco."
Like most things, ~autoleata have no
! always been what they seemed. q
!. many frauds upon the wonder lovin,
> public perhaps the completest was tina
' Of the famous automatic chess player =
. Mr.. Kempelen, which was exhibitc.
: all over Europe at the end Of the las
:, century and afterward in America.
7 was the figure of q life sized Turk seat
ed behind a large box, the top of whicl
was marked in the middle for chess
Prior to the autonatons meeting IL
opponent the front Of the box was open
ed and skeptical lockers on were show
an arrangement of strings, pulleys am
e cylinders. After this they were above
Ia examine the interior Of the figure
which was hollow. Then Mr. Kempc
Il len wound up his Turk with a key, an
it was ready to play, which it did b
Is moving the pieces with its left han
and giving three mods for check to Kim
and two for check to queen All iii
noted chess players of Europe s~uccRtal
ed to the figures superior strategy, 40
y its skill 50 impressed the Empress CAT
crime II ~ Kpssia that she wished \
lc t.a - r~I x44.5. t4-5+E JiGI.-it- r---a