The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-20
Some Curious Automatic.
From Lectureg Pour Tous

OF all the inventors of mechanical Gu
riosities, Jacques Naucanson was certain
ly the king. In the ingenuity of his mind
he equalled, If he did not surpass. the
most skilful of men. In the first book of
the Odes of Horace we read that Arcky-
tas manufactured a wooden pigeon, which,
actuated by al mechanical movement, few
from place to place. This, however, was
nothing as compared with the automatic
fy manufactured by John Muller and
which flew around the table during
dinner, and alighted upon the hand of
its owner and manufacturer, to the great
establishment of his guests. Philippe Ca
mus describes an extraordinary automatic
group which was specially constructed for
the amusement of Louis XIV. II was
minute coach. to which were harnessed
several horses, and which rolled over
the table. Upon starting the coaohman
cracked his whip, and the horses began
to prance and then became quiet and
started off on q trot. The coach stopped
in front of the King. and the lackey jump
ed from his seat and opening the door,
handed out handsomely dressed lady.
who walked toward His Majesty, saluted
him tremendously, presented a petition
to him, and then re-entered the coach.
The lackey closed the door and jumped
upon his box, the whip snapped and the
horses galloped off.
Vaucanson did better still His auto
matte duck was, to connoisseurs. an OBJ
ject of admiration. The bird waddled off
in search of food, and picked up and
swallowed the seeds that it met with.
These seeds says an article in the" Bio
graphic Universelle, passed into the
stomach through a series of triturations
that facilitated the introduction of them
into the intestines and caused them to ac-
complish all the phases of digestion. 1t
was impossible 10 distinguish this duck
from living one. 1t splashed about in
the water and quacked at pleasure. Vau-
canson's mechanical flute player also was
a marvel. 1t was a lfesize figure, cloth
ed in the fashion of the period, and stand
ing alongside of a broken column, upon
which it slightly leaned. II was capable
of playing a dozen different airs with
remarkable ease. To effect this result,
there was system of weights that ac-
tuated a bellows placed In the interior
of the automaton, and, through an in
visible tube, forced air to the flute, where
it acted in the usual way upon the stopple
of the opening. In order to obtain the
moduletions and, consequently, a COM
plete air, the fingers of the automaton
were movable and closed the holes of the
flute Theoretically when at rest. and also
rose and replaced one another through
the traction exerted by wires and cords
that were tauteued and relaxed by the
play of toothed cylinder.
About sixty years ago a jeweler OF
Boulogne constructed a wonderful auto
matte prestidigitateur. This figure cor
rectly dressed in black, performed vari-
Gus sleight of hand tricks with remarka-
bic dexterity. and, when it was applauded
gracefully saluted the spectators 10 the
right and left. One of Its tricks was
the following: It struck a table several
times end made an egg come out of It
1t then blew upon the latter, when out
of it came bird that tapped its wings
and sang and afterward entered the egg
again. This trick finished the exhibition.