Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-08-07
QUEER AUT0MATONS.
EXAMPLES FROM THE DAYS OF
DEDALUS TO THE PRESENT.

Mechanical Duck-The Greatest of All
the Fraudulent AutOmatons.
There are few things more attractive
to the generality of men or more calcu-
lated to excite their wonder aud admira-
ton than dexterously and mysteriously
contriyed 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 of
the curious readily finds its way into
the pockets of men ingenious enough to
invent such marvels.
This passion for the automaton is GER
tainly no new thing. One meets it in
almost the earliest books, sometimes
yelled in myth, sometimes more direct
" stated. Vulcan, 1t will be remem-
bered, made automatic tripods for the
gods of Olympus - stools which adj
vanced of their own accord to the ban
quoting table and so retired when the
feast was over.
Aristotle tells us that the human au-
tomato which D9dalus made were so
active that it was necessary to keep
them tethered for fear they would run
away. The same philosopher describes
o wooden Venus who walked about and
gives also the secret of the phenomenon.
She was filled with QUICKSILVER some
what crude device. Albertus Magnus is
credited with having made a brazen
man who talked and st. Thomas Aqui-
mas with having pounded 1t to pieces
with a club suspecting 1t To be Il work
Of satan. Some marvellous feats OF
mechanism are credited to John Muller,
otherwise known as Regiomontanus,
who fiourished in the fifteenth century,
and in dealing with him we perhaps
touch fir1ner ground. One was an iron
fiy which flew around table, another
a wooden eagle which went out To meet
Emperor Macmillan ON his entry of
Nuremberg on June :, 1870, and re-
turned with him TO the city gates.
Whether due or not TO the stimulus
given by Louis XIV, the seventeenth
andeighteenth centuries were in France
times of great automatic activity. In
deed, the first named century marks the
beginning of the really historical era of
automata. In the eighteenth century
lived Mr.. Vaucanson, perhaps the most
wonderful of all makers of automatic
and the creator of the famous duck
which first appeared before the public
in I74l. The duck was Naucanson 5
masterpiece and completed a reputation
already made wide by his mechanical
flute player and an automatic musician
which not only blew upon the fiageOlet,
but also kept time to it ON tambourine.
The bird was of life size, and not only
was it outwardly an exact imitation to
feather of a real duck, but its internal
anatomy was absolutely true To life. So,
indeed, were its movements, for it
swan, dived, walked, quacked, ate,
drank and by an ingenious device even
seemed to digest its food.
This automaton disappeared after its
inventors death. but turned up again
in 1910 in garnet in Berlin and was
purchased by George Tiets, who took
four years to put ii in proper working
order again. At the end of this time 1t
was exhibited in a room in the Palais
Royal. Paris, where Mr.. Houdiu, the
celebrated conjuror saw 1T. and. indeed,
afterward, when something happened
to one of its wings, took charge of and
repaired it. No doubt il is still in ex
istence. OF more modern automatic this
is scarcely the place to speak, for they
are private secrets. Let us cunfne our
selves TO merely mentioning Mr.. Mas
kelyne's Psyche" and Zoo.
Like most things, automatic have not
always been what they seemed. OF
many frauds upon the wonder loving
public perhaps the completest was that
of the famous automatic chess player of
Mr.. Kempelen, which was exhibited
II q he lac
century and afterward in America. It
was the figure of a life sized Turk seat
ed behind large box, the top of which
was marked III the middle for chess.
Prior TO the automaton's meeting an
opponent the front of the box was OPEN
ed and skeptical lockers ON were shown
an arrangement of strings. pulleys and
cylinders. After this they were allowed
TO examine the interior of the figure,
which was hollow. Then Mr.. Kempe-
len wound up his Turk with key, and
it was ready to play, which it did by
moving the pieces with Its left hand
and giving three mods for check TO king
and two for check to queen. All the
noted chess players of Europe succumb
ed to the figures superior strategy. and
its skill so impressed the Empress Cath
crime III OF Russia that she Wlsned 10
buy it and was with difficulty persuad-
ed by Mr.. Kempelen to give up the idea.
1t was not for years that the secret was
discovered; but, like most secrets, it
leaked out at last. The real chess play
er was Mr.. Wronsky, Polish ex-cap-
tain, both of whose legs had been am
putated at the trunk IN consequence of
wound from cannon ball. While the
spectators were examining the box
Wronsky was in the Turks body, and
when they turned to inspect that an in
genious mechanism slid him back into
the box. To the fact that Wronsky was
a chess player of consummate skill the
wide fame of the automaton, which he
secretly controlled, is to be attributed
After this disclosure Mr.. Kempelen's
automaton naturally enough ceased TO
move mankind m wonder New York