154 ON THE INTERACTIOX OF NATURAL FORCES. 



animals. The marvel of the last century was Vaucanson's 

 duck, which fed and digested its food ; the flute-player of 

 tlie same artist, which moved all its fingers correctly ; the 

 writing- boy of the elder, and the pianoforte-player of the 

 younger Droz ; which latter, when performing, followed its 

 hands with its eyes, and at the conclusion of the piece 

 bowed courteously to the audience. That men like those 

 mentioned, whose talent might bear comparison with the 

 most inventive heads of the present age, should spend so 

 much time in the construction of these figures which we 

 at present regard as the merest trifles, woidd be incom- 

 prehensible, 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 wheelwork 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 ob- 

 tained 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 in- 

 genuity 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 

 to accept, instead of the mutability of flesh and bones, ser- 

 vices 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 



