50

Speaking Machines.

adaptation of the organs of the voice to the articulation of the letters, considered that the letters of the alphabet constituted the order in which articulate sounds were naturally produced by the structure of the tongue and larynx; that when one letter was uttered, the tongue was in its proper position for the pronunciation of the subsequent one. Thus, as several different sounds are formed merely by raising or depressing the tongue slightly, as in the sounds Aw, Ah, Ae, A, E, it was easy to produce them by means of a tube with a reed, and terminating with a bell. Mr. Willis has effected this by using a long tube with a reed, capable of being lengthened or shortened at pleasure. In the pronunciation of the vowels, i, e, a, o, u, it required to be shortest with the first, and in uttering the subsequent letters to be gradually lengthened. In this way it was easy to measure the length necessary for each note. When Ae was pronounced, the tube was 1 inch long; Aw, 3.8 inches; Ah, 2.2 inches; A, 0·6 inch; E, 0.3 inch. A Speaking Machine invented in Germany pronounced distinctly mamma, papa, mother, father, summer. The instrument consists of a pair of bellows, to which is adapted a tube terminating in a bell, the aperture of which is regulated by the hand, so as to produce the articulate sounds. This machine was exhibited at the Royal Institution, in 1835, by Professor Wheatstone.

." "Je

De Kempelen, the inventor of the Automaton Chess-player, also constructed a Speaking Automaton, in which he ultimately succeeded so far as to make it pronounce several sentences, among the best of which were, Romanorum imperator semper Augustus;" "Leopoldus secundus;" "Vous êtes mon ami ;" vous aime de tout mon cœur." It was some years, however, before he could accomplish more than the simple utterance of the sounds o, ou, and e. Year after year, we are told, was devoted to this machine; but i or u, or any of the consonants, refused to obey his summons. At length he added, at the open extremity of the vocal tube, an apparatus similar in action and construction to the human mouth, with its teeth; when he quickly succeeded in making it not only pronounce the consonants, but words, and even the sentences quoted above. He had previously imitated the tongue, and its actions. is interesting, not only as a rare instance of human ingenuity, but also as exhibiting in a most striking light the beautiful adaptation of parts to their respective functions; and that so perfect are the contrivances in Nature for particular ends, that, in order to arrive at any thing like an imitation of those functions, we must follow closely the method she employs.

The fact

In 1843 there was exhibited before the American Philosophical Society a Speaking Machine, susceptible of various movements by means of keys, and thus made to enunciate various

Speaking Machines.

51

letters and words; in enunciating the simple sounds could be seen the movements of the mouth, the parts of which were made of caoutchouc. The inventor, Mr. Reale, in a frenzy, destroyed this instrument, which it had taken him sixteen years to construct.

Three years later, in 1846, there was shown at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, the Euphonia of Professor Faber, of Vienna, the result of twenty-five years' labour. It consisted of a draped bust and waxen-faced figure, in which the sounds were produced by striking on sixteen keys, and thus were enunciated words. A small pair of bellows was worked with the nozzle into the back part of the head, and the mouth formations were of caoutchouc.

Now, the several attempts of Cagniard la Tour, Biot, Müller, and Steinle to produce articulate sounds, or even to imitate the human voice, have not been very successful; but M. Faber's machine-with its bellows worked by a pedal, and its caoutchouc imitation of the larynx, tongue, nostrils, and a set of keys by which the springs are brought into action-is considered the nearest approach to perfect success.

Reviewing the results of the Automata of the last century, Professor Helmholtz observes: "This inventive genius was boldly chosen, and was followed up with an expenditure of sagacity which has contributed not a little to enrich the mechanical experience which a later age knew how to take advantage of. We no longer seek to build machines which shall fulfil the thousand services required of one man, but strive, on the contrary, that a machine shall perform one service, but shall occupy in doing it the place of a thousand men."

Nevertheless, the above passion for automatic exhibitions introduced among the higher order of artists habits of nice and accurate execution in the formation of the most delicate pieces of machinery; and the same combination of the mechanical powers which in one century enriched only the conjuror who used them, is in another employed in extending the power and promoting the civilisation of our species.

Robert Houdin is one of the latest adepts in automatic art. He was born at Blois, the son of a watchmaker, and had such early mechanical tastes, that he professes to have come into the world, metaphorically, "with a file or hammer in his hand." His aptitude showed itself in early efforts to train mice and canary-birds, to construct ingenious toys and model apparatus ; and he perfected himself at Paris as a mechanist. In 1844, he made himself widely known by exhibiting an Automaton Writer, which attracted the notice of Louis Philippe and his family. The figure drew, as well as wrote answers to questions, and by a curious coincidence its performance on this occasion was par

52

Automaton Nightingale.

ticularly ominous. When the Comte de Paris requested it to draw a crown, the Automaton began drawing the outline demanded, but its pencil broke, and the crown could not be finished. Houdin was going to recommence the experiment, when the King declined, with thanks. "As you have learned to draw," he said to the Comte de Paris, " you can finish this for yourself." This incident is characteristic as regards the tact of the king.

Houdin, in his Memoirs,* relates the following remarkable proof of his assiduity in this mechanical phase of his life. He had received an order from a merchant of St. Petersburg to construct an Automaton Nightingale, and he agreed for a large sum to make a perfect imitation of the above bird. This undertaking offered some serious difficulties; for, he tells us, though he had already made several birds, their singing was quite arbitrary, and he had only consulted his own taste in arranging it. The imitation of the nightingale's pipe was much more delicate, for he had to copy notes and sounds which were almost inimitable. Fortunately it was the season for this skilful songster, and Houdin resolved to employ him as his teacher. He went constantly to the wood of Romainville, the skirt of which almost joined the street in which he lived; and, laying himself on a soft bed of moss in the densest foliage, he challenged his master to give him lessons. (The nightingale sings both by night and day, and the slightest whistle, in tune or not, makes him strike up directly.) Houdin wanted to imprint on his memory the musical phrases with which the bird composes its melodies. The following are the most striking among them: Tiou-tiou-tiou, ut-ut-ut-ut-ut, tchitchou, tchitchou, tchit-tchit, rrrrrrrrrrrrrouit, &c. Houdin had to analyse these strange sounds,-these numberless chirps, these impossible "rrrrrouits," and recompose them by a musical process. To imitate this flexibility of throat, and reproduce the harmonious modulations, Houdin made a small copper tube, about the size and length of a quill, in which å steel piston, moving very freely, produced the different sounds required; this tube represented in some respects the nightingale's throat. This instrument had to work mechanically: clockwork set in motion the bellows, opened or closed a valve which produced the twittering, the modulation, and the sliding notes, while it guided the piston according to the different degrees of speed and depth wanted. Houdin had also to impart motion to the bird: it must move its beak in accordance with the sounds it produced, flap its wings, and leap from branch to branch, which, however, was purely a mechanical labour.

• Memoirs of Robert Houdin, Ambassador, Author, and Conjuror. Written by himself. 1859.

Expanding Model.

53

After repeated experiments, Houdin succeeded in creating a system half musical, half mechanical, which only required to be improved by fresh studies from nature. Provided with this instrument, Houdin hurried off to the wood of Romainville, where, seating himself under an oak, near which he had often heard a nightingale sing, he wound up the clockwork, and it began playing in the midst of profound silence; but the last notes had scarcely died away ere a concert commenced from various parts of the wood. This collective lesson did not suit his purpose, for he wished to compare and study, and could positively distinguish nothing. Fortunately for Houdin, all the musicians ceased, and one of them began a solo of dulcet sounds and accents, which Houdin most attentively followed, thus passing a portion of the night, when the conjuror returned home. His lesson had done him so much good, that the next morning he began making important corrections in his mechanism; and after five or six more visits to the wood, Houdin attained the required result-the nightingale's song was perfectly imitated.

In the Great Exhibition of 1851 was shown a mechanical curiosity-an expanding Model of a Man, the construction of which has a romantic interest. It was the invention of the Polish Count Dunin, who in early life became involved in the insurrection of his countrymen, and was banished. In his dreary exile, he betook himself to mechanical pursuits, that he might expiate his offence, real or imaginary, against the Emperor of Russia, by showing that he might be useful if he were restored to his country.

The Model represents a man 5 feet high, in the proportions of the Apollo Belvidere; from that size it can be proportionally increased to 6 feet 8 inches; and as it is intended to measure the clothing of an army, it is capable of expansion and contraction in all its parts. The internal mechanism is completely concealed, the figure externally being composed of thin slips of steel and copper, by the overlapping of which expansion or contraction is exercised; the motion being communicated by thin metal slides within the figure; these slides having pins worked in curved grooves in circular steel plates, which are put in revolution by a train of wheels or screws. A winding-key, turned right or left, effects the expansion or contraction noiselessly, and in the direction of the fibres of the muscles in the living subject. The mechanical combinations are composed of 857 framing-pieces, 48 grooved steel plates, 163 wheels, 203 slides, 476 metal washers, 488 spiral springs, 704 sliding plates, 497 nuts, 3500 fixing and adjusting screws, with numerous steadying pins; so that the number of pieces is upwards of 7000. this beautiful piece of mechanism a Great-Exhibition Council Medal was awarded to Count Dunin.

For

THE AUTOMATON CHESS-PLAYER.

WE have reserved for a separate chapter the origin and history of this marvellous contrivance, which, at various periods during the lapse of ninety years, has astonished and delighted the scientific world in several cities of Europe and North America. Its machinery has been variously explained. It was constructed in 1769 by M. de Kempelen, a gentleman of Presburg in Hungary, long distinguished for his skill in mechanics. The Chess-player is a life-sized figure, clothed in a Turkish dress, sitting behind a large chest, three and a half feet long, two feet deep, and two and a half feet high. The player sits on a chair fixed to the chest, his right arm rests on the table or upper surface of the chest, and in the left he holds a pipe, which is removed during the game, as it is with this hand that he makes the moves. A chess-board, with the pieces, is placed before the figure. The exhibitor first opens the doors of the chest, and shows the interior, with its cylinders, levers, wheels, pinions, and other pieces of machinery, which have the appearance of occupying the whole space. This machinery being wound up, the Automaton is ready to play; and when an opponent has been found, the figure takes the first move, moves its head, and seems to look over every part of the chess-board. When it gives check to its opponent, it shakes its head thrice, and only twice when it checks the queen. It likewise shakes its head when a false move is made, replaces the adversary's piece on the square from which it was taken, and takes the next move itself. In general, though not always, the Automaton wins the game. During its progress, the exhibitor often stood near the machine, and wound it up like a clock after it had made ten or twelve moves. At other times he went to a corner of the room, as if it were to consult a small square box, which stood open for this purpose.

The earliest English account of the Automaton Chess-player that we can find is in a letter from the Rev. Mr. Dutens to the Gentleman's Magazine, dated Presburg, January 24, 1771. The writer formed an acquaintance with the inventor, whom he terms M. de Kempett (not Kempelen), an Aulic counsellor, and director-general of the salt-mines in Hungary. Mr. Dutens