274 CLASSICS OF MODERN SCIENCE 

 character of the art was, at the time referred to, naturally very differ- 

 ent from its present one. Surprised and stimulated by its own suc- 

 cess, it thought no problem beyond its power, and immediately attacked 

 some of the most difficult and complicated. Thus it was attempted to 

 build automaton figures which should perform the functions of men 

 and animals. The wonder of the last century was Vaucanson's duck, 

 which fed and digested its food ; the flute player of the same artist, 

 which moved all its fingers correctly ; the writing boy of the older, and 

 the pianoforte player of the younger Droz: which latter, when per- 

 forming, followed its hands with its eyes, and at the conclusion of the 

 piece bowed courteously to the audience. That men like those men- 

 tioned, whose talent might bear comparison with the most inventive 

 heads of the present age, should spend so much time in the construc- 

 tion of these figures, which we at present regard as the merest trifles, 

 would be incomprehensible, if they had not hoped in solemn earnest 

 to solve a great problem. The writing boy of the elder Droz was 

 publicly exhibited in Germany some years ago. Its wheel-work is so 

 complicated, that no ordinary head would be sufficient to decipher its 

 manner of action. When, however, we are informed that this boy 

 and its constructor, being suspected of the black art, lay for a time 

 in the Spanish Inquisition, and with difficulty obtained their freedom, 

 we may infer that in those days even such a toy appeared great enough 

 to excite doubts as to its natural origin. And though these artists may 

 not have hoped to breathe into the creature of their ingenuity a soul 

 gifted with moral completeness, still there were many who would be 

 willing to dispense with the moral qualities of their servants if, at the 

 same time, their immoral qualities could also be got rid of ; and accept, 

 instead of the mutability of flesh and bones, services which should 

 combine the regularity of a machine with the durability of brass and 

 steel. The object, therefore, which the inventive genius of the past 

 century placed before it with the fullest earnestness, and not as a 

 piece of amusement merely, 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 time knew how to take 

 advantage of. We no longer seek to build machines which shall fulfil 

 the thousand services required of one man, but desire, on the con- 

 trary, that a machine shall perform one service, but shall occupy in 

 doing it the place of a thousand men. 



