AUTOGRAPH 



511 



AUTOMATON 



autographs of famous men who lived two cen- 

 turies before him. 



The interest and value of autographs depend 

 on the fame of the writer, on the relative 

 scarcity of specimens, and also on the historical 

 or other interest of the particular example. A 

 letter in which Christopher Columbus an- 

 nounced the discovery of the New World would 

 be priceless; all of the twenty-nine authentic 

 Columbus autographs are in the hands of his 

 ndants and will probably never be sold. 

 A letter written by Americus Vespucius to his 

 father is one of the priceless gems in the British 

 Museum, which probably has the greatest auto- 

 graph collection in the world. Six hours before 

 her death, Mary Queen of Scots wrote to King 

 Henry III of France, asking him to take care 

 of her son "as much as he deserves it"; this 

 letter is also in the British Museum. Among 

 other famous people whose autographs are 

 very rare are Leonardo da 'Vinci, Raphael, Sir 

 .cis Drake, Sir Thomas More and John 

 Milton. 



The value of an autograph depends greatly 

 on the character of the example. A signature 

 of George Washington is worth perhaps $20 to 

 $40, whereas an entire letter in his handwriting 

 has sold for as much as $500 or $600. A letter 



SOME NOTAi:: K3RAPHH 



Reading ir i> to i..ttom nnd from 



left to right, the names are O. Washington 

 Lee, William Shakespeare. John Milt \ I. 



' .hri A. Macdonald, De la Sail.. < 

 pher Columbus. 



to his father, in which General Grant an- 

 nounced his enlistment in the Union army, was 

 n < ntly sold for $910, but letters of his of no 

 particular interest may be bought for $10 to 

 $40. In December, 1800, Abraham Lincoln 

 wrote to his ft >an Trumbull, about 



the possibility of compromise between tin- 

 North and South ; this letter was sold in 1914 

 at public auction for $1,100. At the same nm*> 

 a letter from Lincoln to Grant, written on 

 A I Til 6, 1865, only tlm c days before he was 

 :is sold for $1,375. Autograph letters by 



Keate, Shelley, Charlotte Corday, La Salle, 

 Marquette, Frontenac, John Eliot, Peter 

 Minuit and Nathan Hale are highly prized. 



For the Young Collector. The beginner can- 

 not hope to acquire such almost priceless 

 autographs, but he can start with those which 

 are within the limits of his purse. Many living 

 men of prominence are glad to grant requests 

 for autographs. The beginner must not be dis- 

 couraged, however, if his is one of the hundreds 

 of requests which are refused. There is the 

 story of one little girl who wrote to a great 

 man for his autograph: in reply he said that 

 he never granted such requests, and the un- 

 thinking girl tore up his letter! The s< 

 for autographs should be careful to spell names 

 and addresses correctly, not like one carelessi 

 or ignorant collector who wrote to Robert Louis' 

 Stevenson but spelled his name Stephenson. 

 There are few celebrities who would take the 

 trouble to answer such a request, even with 

 the gentle sarcasm which Stevenson turned on 

 this correspondent. The autograph collector 

 should always remember that he is asking a 

 favor of a man or woman who probably re- 

 ceives a dozen similar requests a day, and the 

 least the collector can do is to be as courteous 

 and considerate and brief as possible. W.F.Z. 



AUTO-INTOXICATION, the name applied 

 to a chronic form of "self-poisoning," due to 

 absorption of toxins produced in the body by 

 physical disorders. A very common cause is 

 incomplete digestion in the intestinal tract, 

 as a result of which there is an accumulation 

 of the poisonous by-products of the digestive 

 process. Among the evidences of this form 

 of self-poisoning are constipation, anaemia, 

 headache and so-called "bilious" attacks. 

 Hygienic living and special attention to tin- 

 lift, are helpful measures for the cure of this 

 condition. 



AUTOMATON, a device which represents 

 the figures and actions of animals and human 

 beings. Some very ingenious pieces of mechan- 

 ism of this character have been made, such 

 as singing and flying birds, and mechanical 

 (inures capable of playing instruments, writ- 

 mir. -tc. In lxr;> th.ro was exhibited in F.nn- 

 land a seated human figure, "Psycho," th.t 

 created widespread interest. It could move its 

 head, select from a rack in front of it the cards 

 needed in playing a hand of whist, and work 

 out numerous mathematical calculations. The 

 of this automaton devised another 

 figure which could draw tin- hk -nrss of any 

 person selected from a list of 200 names. 



