The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-29
CURIOUS AUTOMATON.
Duck That Could Hardly BE Dis
tinguished From the Real Live
Article,
From Lectures pour Tous.

From Lectures pour Tous.
OF all the inventors of mechanical Curl
! osities, Jacques Vaucanson was certainly
the king. In the ingenuity of his mind
he equafed if he did not surpass, the most
skillful of men.
In the first book of the Odes of Horace
We read that Arekytas manufactured a
wooden pigeon, which, actuated by me-
chanical movement, few from place 90
| place. This, however, was nothing as com.
pared with the automatic fly manufac-
tured by John Muller, and which flew
around. the table during a dinner, and
alighted upon the hand of its owner and
manufacturer, to the great astonishment
of his guests
Philippine Camus describes an extraordi-
nary automatic group, which was special
ly constructed for the amusement of T,ouis
XIV. 1t was a minute coach to which
were harnessed several horses, and which
rolled over the table. Upon starting. the
coachman cracked his whip. and the
horses began to prance and then becarNe
quiet and started off at a trot The coach
stopped in front of the king, and the
lackey jumped from his seat, and. OPEN
ing the door, handed out a handsomely
dressed lady, who walked toward his
majesty, sa4uted him ceremoniously pre-
scented petition to him, and then re-en-
tered the coach. The lackey closed the
door and jumped upon his box, the whip
snapped and the horses galloped off.
Naucanson did better still. His auto
matte duck was to connoisseurs. an ol,iec.
of admiration. The bird waddIed off IN
search of food, and picked up and swat
lowed the seeds that it met with. These
seeds, says an article in the "Biographnie
Universelle," passed into the stomach
through series of triturations thar "a
cilitated the introduction of them into the
intestines and caused them to accomnIisb
all the phases of digestion.
1t was impossible TO distinguish this ducl,
from living one. 1t splashed about in
the water and quacKed at pleasure.
Vaucanson's mechanical flute PLAYER also
was a marvel. II was a life-size fipnra
clothed in the fashion of the period. and
standing alongside of a broken column.
upon which ii slightly leaned 1t was cana
bic Of playing a dozen different airs with
remarkable ease. To effect this result
there was a system of weights thar act
uated a bellows placed in the interior Of
the automaton, and, through an Invisible
tube, forced air to The flute, where II acied
in the usual way upon The stopple Of the
opening. In order to obtain the modula-
tons, and consequently, a complete cir.
the fingers Of the automaton were moyea-
bic and closed the holes OF the flute her
meticaiiy when al rest. and also rose and
replaced one another through The traction
exerled by wires and cords that were tau
tened and relaxed by the play Of a toothe
cylinder
About sixty years ago a jewe.er in rou-
logne constructed a wonderful automatic
prestidigtotor This figure, correctly
dressed 10 black performed vacious slight
of-hand tricks with remarkable dexter,iy.
and, when IL was applauded. gracefully So
iuted the spectators 10 tho right and left
one OF the tricks was the following: IL
struck a table sevcra lines ard made an
egg come out 81 IT, IL then blew upon taa
latter. when out Of b. cane n blrs that
Hoped its WiugE and sang, and afiorward
entered the egg lga.n. Th.s rick finished
ne exhibition.