266 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



In the dial-plate there were twelve small windows 

 corresponding with the divisions of the hours. 

 The hours were indicated by the opening of the 

 windows, which let out little metallic balls, 

 which struck the hour by falling upon a brazen 

 bell. The doors continued open till twelve 

 o'clock, when twelve little knights, mounted on 

 horseback, came out at the same instant, and 

 after parading round the dial, shut all the windows 

 and returned to their apartments.* 



The next automata of which any distinct 

 account has been preserved are those of the 

 celebrated John Muller, Regiomontanus, which 

 have been mentioned by Kircher, Baptista Porta, 

 Gassendi, Lana, and Bishop Wilkins. This 

 philosopher is said to have constructed an arti- 

 ficial eagle, which flew to meet the Emperor 

 Maximilian when he arrived at Nuremberg on 

 the 7th June, 1740. After soaring aloft in the 

 air, the eagle is stated to have met the Emperor 

 at some distance from the city, and to have 

 returned and perched upon the town gate, where 

 it waited his approach. When the Emperor 

 reached the gate, the eagle stretched out its 

 wings, and saluted him by an inclination of its 

 body. Muller is likewise reported to have con- 

 structed an iron fly which was put in motion by 

 wheel-work, and which flew about and leapt 

 upon the table. At an entertainment given by 

 this philosopher to some of his familiar friends, 

 the fly flew from his hand, and after performing 

 a considerable round, it returned again to the 

 hand of its master. 



The Emperor Charles V., after his abdication 

 * Annales Loisiliani, anno 807. 



