A U T 



MSS. of Liithn- ann otlier eminent men wlio ilved at lh< 

 time of the reformation, vvhofe writings are of mueli kfs 

 inifwrtance than thofe of the apolV.es, are flill fiibfillincr. 

 Various caufes may have contributed to this circunillnnce, 

 of which fcvenil have been aliefjed in Griefbach's " Hiftoria 

 Textus Epiflo]ar:>m.Paul','' feft. ii. J 7, 8. Michatlis has 

 ^ivcn the following account of it. Tlie fevcral books of 

 the N. T. were circulated among the Cliri.lian? in nume- 

 r.)us copies ; " thefe were foon colledled into a vol;uiic, 

 and fonued the edition in gentral life ; and as no difpules 

 had then arifen on the fubjcft of various readings, they fc!t 

 not the neCL-ffity of preftrvlng in a common archive the 

 MSS. of the apol\l:s. The fituation of the Chriftian 

 churches was at that time extremely different from the pre- 

 fent : the mofl: eminent, which were thofe of Rome, and 

 Corinth, confifted of a number of fmall focieties, that affem- 

 bled feparattly in private houfus, having no public buiMiiig 

 as a common receptaelc for the vvliole community ; and 

 even in thofc private houfes a moderate number only could 

 meet together, as it was their cuftom not merely to pray 

 and to teach, but likevvife to celebrate their feafts of love. 

 The epiille, which tliey had received from St. Paul, was not 

 the property of any one fociety in particular, but belonged 

 to the community at larii-e, and that which was fent to the 

 Corinthians was addrelfid to the communities throughout 

 all Achaia. Each fociety copied the cpiftle in its turn, and 

 befide the general copies, many individuals probably took 

 copies for thcmfelves, whence ' the original MS. of the 

 apoftle, in pafllng through fo many hands, wliere perhaps not 

 always the greateft care was taken, mud unavoidably have 

 fuffered. The Chriftian communities in Rome and Corinth 

 had no common archive, or public liiirary, in which the MS. 

 of the apoftle might have been afterwards depofited, for 

 want of which, the original, as foon as a fufficient number 

 of copies had been made, was forgotten and loft. In other 

 cities, the number of fingle focicties, among which the 

 epiftle was divided, was inferior indeed to that in Rome, 

 Corinth, or Ephefus, but the fame caufes contributed in 

 each to the lofs of the original epiftle." 



The fame learned author adds, " the late or early lofs 

 of the autographa has no influence on the grounds of our 

 faith ; for the credibility of a book, which during the life 

 of the author has been made known to the world, depends 

 not on the prefcrvation of the author's manufcript. No 

 reader of the prefent work will inquire after the copy, 

 which I fend to the printer, to determine whether the work 

 jtfelf be fpurious or authentic ; nor was it neceffary, for 

 determining the authenticity of the New Teftament, to 

 preferve the originals ; for each book, during the lives of 

 the apoftles, was circulated throughout the Chriftian world, 

 in numberlefs copies, though they were not colletted during 

 that period into a fingle volimie." As the autographa of 

 the N. T. fell fo early into oblivion, it feems reafonable, in 

 certain cafes, to make ufe of critical conjefture for fettling 

 the true reading of difputed paffages in the N. T., as well 

 as in other books. On this fubjeft, fee Michaclis In- 

 trod. vol. i. §. 2. p. 2^3, &c. 



For the purpofe of multiplying autographs, or original 

 topics of the fame writirg-, feveral machines have been in- 

 vented. See Writ iNG 717i7r/i/nc. 



AUTOISON, in Grography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Upper Sa«ne, and chief place of a can- 

 ton, in the dillrift of Vefoul ; five leagues fouth of Be- 

 fan5on. 



AUTOL, a town of Spain, in Old Caftile, one league 

 fi'om Calahbrra. 



A U T 



AUTOLTTHOTOMUS, he who cuts himfelf for the 

 ftone. See IjiTHOTOMif. 



Of this we liave a very extraordinary inftance given by 

 Relfclius, in the Ephemeridcs of the" Academy Naturrc Cu- 

 rioforum, an. 3. obi. i(;o. 



AUTOLALA, in Jndoit Geography, a town of Gsc- 

 tulia, in Libya Interior, v/hich ftood betwixt the Subus and 

 the Salatb.us, the only two rivers of note, except the GIr 

 and Niger, that watered Gcetulia. Nothing is now known 

 of this ancient city, but that it gave name to the Autololes, 

 a powerful tribe of Gaetulia Proper, that fpread themfelvcs 

 over that part of Tingitania which bordered on the coall. of 

 the Atlantic ocean. 



AUTOLYCUS, in Biography, a Greek mathematician 

 and aftronomer of Pitane, in iEolia, flouriftied about 320 

 years before Chrift. He was pix'ceptor in mathematics to 

 Arcefilaus, who was alfo a difciple of Theophraftus, the 

 fucceflbr of Ariftotle. That he was an eminent mathema- 

 tician appears from two of his works that are extant ; viz. 

 a trcatife " On the moveable Sphere," publilhcd by Dafy- 

 podius in Greek and Latin, 8vo., at Straft^urg, in 1572; 

 and in a Latin trandation in the " Synopfis Matiiematica" 

 of Merfennus, publilhed in 410., at Paris, in 1644; and 

 alfo a treatife " On the rifing and letting of the Stars," 

 edited with the former work by Dafypodius. I3iog. Laert. 

 Vit. Arcefil. Fabr. Bib. Gra;c. torn. ii. p. 89. Montucln 

 Hift. Mathem. t. i. p. 192. 



AUTOMATON, or Automatum, compounded of 

 a.v7®; ipfe, and jixxij.ca, I am excited or ready, whence 

 aviDfjiun-:, fpuntaneons ; a felf-moving engine ; or a machine 

 which has the principle of motion within itfeif. Such were 

 Archytas's flying dove, mentioned by Aulus Gellius, Noft. 

 At. lib. X. c. 12. (fee Aerostation); and Regiomonta- 

 nus's wooden eagle, which, as hiftorians relate, flew forth 

 from the city of Nuremberg, met the emperor Maximilian on 

 his arrival, June 7, 1470, faluted him, and returned ; as alfo his 

 iron fly, wliich,at a feaft, flew out of his hands and taking a 

 round, returned thither again ; and alfo Dr. Hooke's flying 

 chariot, capable of fupporting itfelt in the air. Hakew. 

 Apol. c. X. feft. I. None of the contemporary writers, 

 though they often mention Regiomontanus, take any notice 

 of thofe pieces of mechanifm that have been afcribed to 

 him ; and it is probable, fays Eeckmann (Hift. Invent, 

 vol. iii. p. 325.) tliat the whole tale originated from Peter 

 Ramus (Sehol. Mathem. 1. ii. p. 65.), who never was at Nu- 

 remberg till the -year '571. Charles V., it is faiJ, after his 

 abdication, amufcd himfelf during the latter period of his 

 lite, with automata of various kinds. 



Among automata are alfo reckoned all mechanical en- 

 gines which go by fprings, weights, &c. included within 

 them : fuch are clocks, watches, &c. Vide Bapt. Port. 

 Mag. Nat. c. 19. Scalig. SiiLtil. 326. 



When clocks were brought to perfedtion, fome artifts 

 added to them figures, which, at the time of ftriking, per- 

 lormtd certain movements ; and as th.ey fuecetdcd in thefe, 

 fome of them attempted to conftruft fingle figures, detached 

 from clocks, which cither moved certain limbs, or advanced 

 forward and ran. In the middle of the fixtcenth century, 

 when Hans Bullman, of Nuremberg, conftrudlcd figures of 

 men and women, which m.oved backwards and forwards by 

 clockwork, beat a di'um, and played on the lute, according 

 to mufical time, they excited univerfal aftoniiliment. The 

 moft ancient automata, of which we have any record, are 

 the tripods conftru^led by Vulcan (fee Iliad, xviii. 373. 

 Philoftrat. Optr. ed. Olearii, p. 117 and 240.}, which being 

 furnilhed with wheels, advanced forwards to be wfed, and 



again 



