ARCHYTAS'S WOODEN PIGEON, ETC. 265 



of the human body. Some of his statues are 

 said to have moved about spontaneously ; and 

 Plato, Aristotle, and others have related that it 

 was necessary to tie them, in order to prevent 

 them from running away. Aristotle speaks of a 

 wooden Venus, which moved about in conse- 

 quence of quicksilver being poured into its inte- 

 rior ; but Callistratus, the tutor of Demosthenes, 

 states, with some probability, that the statues of 

 Daedalus received their motion from the mechani- 

 cal powers. Beckmann is of opinion that the 

 statues of Daedalus differed only from those of 

 the early Greeks and Egyptians in having then- 

 eyes open and their feet and hands free, and 

 that the reclining posture of some, and the atti- 

 tude of others, " as if ready to walk," gave rise 

 to the exaggeration that they possessed the power 

 of locomotion. This opinion, however, cannot be 

 maintained with any show of reason ; for if we 

 apply such a principle in one case, we must apply 

 it in all, and the mind would be left in a state of 

 utter scepticism respecting the inventions of 

 ancient times. 



We are informed by Aulus Gellius, on the 

 authority of Favorinus, that Archytas of Taren- 

 tum, who flourished about four hundred years 

 before Christ, constructed a wooden pigeon that 

 was capable of flying. Favorinus relates that, 

 when it had once alighted, it could not again 

 resume its flight ; and Aulus Gellius adds, that 

 it was suspended by balancing, and animated by 

 a concealed aura, or spirit. 



Among the earliest pieces of modern mecha- 

 nism was the curious water-clock presented to 

 Charlemagne by the Kaliph Haroun al Raschid. 



