The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-27

probably did not understand Spanish. and begged his excellency to address him in French. The question was re-.
 peated in that language. and the shep- herd replied immediately. The minister was. frightened. and he. too. hurried away. In consequence of this seanee the Eeuchatel artist, fearing that he
 might be arrested by the. inquisition and burned as 2 sorcerer, begged the king .o invite the grand inqnisitor to be present. Jaquet- -Droz took the clock apart in his presence. piece by piece. Showing him all the springs and ex- plainng to him the action of the train. Probably the inquisitor understood lit tie or nothing of the matter; neverthe- less he announced the fact publicly that he discovered no magic and that the mechanism was moved entirely by nat ural means.
 Three of these automatons, whose perfection exceeded everything which had ever been known in this class of work are the young musician, the draughtsman, and the writer. A young woman, seated at the harpsichord, ex- ecuted several pieces of music with dex- terity, without any person touching the instrument The draughtsman, seated on a stool, made drawings with a pencil, sketched them correctly, and | then shading them. From time to time he raised his hand to examine his work the better, corrected some defect, and blew the dust from the paper. Henri Louis, having gone to Versailles, ex- hibited his automatons to the king. The draughtsman, to the amazement of the whole court, sketched the portrait of the French king with laurel wreath on his head.
 ! Jaquet-Droz went over to England, he placed the draughtsman before the king and soon the hands of the automa- l ton were actively at work, but the sur prise of those present was boundless 1 when they beheld. not the image of the l king of France, which they had expect ed, but that of the English monarch. 1 Of course, the portraits were not finish I ed productions, but presented a gen. I eral resemblance.
 The draughtsman of Jaquet-Droz was not, however, the most remarkable
 of the works created by the inexfausti- I ble genius of this artist. Let one judge ! from the writer, seated before an iso- lated desk, without contact with any I person. He would dip his pen in the I inkstand and write, without dictation, I slowly, it is true, but distinctly and cor rectly.
 Each word occupied a suitable place at the desired distance from the pre-
 ceding. When line was finished he l commenced a new one, leaving between I them the necessary space. The move ment of the eyes and of the arms and
 hands were admirably initiated. The | writer might even be interrupted He
 stopped in the middle of a word if ask I ed and wrote another
 5 The means used by Jaquet-p proz for \ securing this result have remained un-
 known. The scourtiers, scientists. and
 the most skilful mechanicians have
 vainly sought to penetrate the mystery I It is needless to say that the writer
 performed only in the presence of Ja- < quet- Droz, which involves the idea oi . some action exercised by this artist. Il
 has been supposed that he made use oi \ magnet concealed in his shoes oI I clothing. This idea was suggested by
 his habit of walking back and forth
 and turning sometimes to one side and