57 8 A U T 
He was difcovered by Syfyphus in ftealing cattle; but, as 
this man was in love with his daughter Anticlea, they 
made up the matter. Ovid. 
AUI O'MATE, called alfo Hiera, one of the Cyclades, 
an ifland to the north of Crete, faid to have emerged out 
of the lea, between the illands Thera and Theralia, in the 
fifth year of the emperor Claudius; in extent thirty ftadia. 
Orofivs. 
AUTOMA'TIA, the goddefs of chance, to whom 
Timoleon, a famous Corinthian general, built a temple. 
AUTOMA'TICAL, adj. Belonging to an automaton ; 
having the power of moving itfelf. 
AUTO'M ATON,y! [ automate , Fr. automata, It. auto¬ 
maton, avrofs.alov, of atiT&p.al©-, Gr. fpontaneous ; in 
the plural automata.'] A felf-moving machine, or one fo 
conlh lifted, by means of weights, levers, pullies, &c. as 
to move for a confiderable time, as though endowed w ith 
animal life. According to this defcription, clocks, watches, 
and all machines of that kind, are automata. Very furpri- 
fmg imitations of this kind have been made. So long ago 
as 400 years before Chrilt, Archytas of Tarentum is faid 
to have made a wooden pigeon that could fly. Regio¬ 
montanus made a wooden eagle that flew forth from the 
city, met the emperor, faluted him, and returned. He 
alio made an iron fly, which flew out of his hand at a feaft, 
and returned again after flying about the room. Dr. Hook 
is laid to have made the model of a flying chariot, capa¬ 
ble of fupporting itfelf in the air. But M. Vaucanfon dif- 
tinguiflied himfelf Hill more eminently; lie made a duck, 
which w as capable of eating, drinking, and imitating ex¬ 
actly the voice of a natural one. Nay, what is flill more 
furprifing, the food it fw'allowed was evacuated in a di- 
gelied (late ; not that it was really in a flate of natural ex¬ 
crement, but only confiderably altered from what it was 
when fwallowed ; and this digeftion was performed on the 
principles of folution, not of trituration. The wings, vif- 
cera, and bones, of this artificial duck, were alfo formed 
fo as very firongly to referable thole of a living animal. 
F.ven in the actions of eating and drinking, this refem- 
blance was prelerved ; the artificial duck Iwallowed with 
avidity and vaftly quick motions of the head and throat; 
and likewife muddled the water with its bill exactly like 
a natural one. M. le Droz, of la Chaux de Fonds, in 
t ie county of Neufchatel, alfo executed fome very curious 
pieces of mechanifni, which deferve to be ranked with 
thole already mentioned. One was a clock, which was 
prefented to his Spanilh majefty ; and had, among other 
curiofities, a fheep which imitated the bleating of a natu¬ 
ral one ; and a dog watching a balket of fruit. When any 
one attempted to purloin the fruit, the dog gnalhed his 
teeth and barked ; and if it was actually taken away he 
never ceafed barking till it was reflored. 
But the motions of the human body are more compli¬ 
cated, and confequently more difficult to be imitated, than 
thole of any other creature; whence the conftruftion of 
an automaton in fuch a manner as to imitate any of the 
human actions with tolerable exatlnefs, is juftly fuppofed 
to indicate a greater fki!l in mechanics than any other piece 
of workmanlhip whatever. A very remarkable figure of this 
kind appeared in Paris, in the year 1738. It reprefented 
a flute-player, and was capable of performing many dif¬ 
ferent pieces of mufic on the German flute ; which, con- 
hdering the difficulty of blowing that inftrument, the dif¬ 
ferent contractions of tlie lips necelfary to produce the dif- 
rindtions between the high and low notes, and the compli¬ 
cated motions of the fingers, mull appear truly wonderful. 
This machine was the invention of M. Vaucanfon, member 
of the Royal Academy of Sciences ; and a particular de- 
Icription of it was publifhed in the Memoirs of the Aca¬ 
demy for that year. The figure itfelf was about five feet 
and a half in height, fituated at the end of an artificial 
rock, and placed upon a fquare pedeltal four feet and an 
half high, and three and an half broad. The air entered 
the body by three pipes feparated one from the other. It 
was conveyed to them by nine pair of bellows, three of 
A U T 
which were placed above, and fix below. Thefe were 
made to expand and contrafl regularly in fucceffion, by 
means of an axis of Heel turned round by clock-work. 
On this axis were different protuberances at proper dif- 
tances, to which were fixed cords thrown over pullies, 
and terminating in the upper boards of the bellows, fo 
that, as the axis turned, thefe boards were alternately 
railed and let down. A contrivance was alfo uled to pre¬ 
vent the difagreeable biffing fluttering noife ufually attend¬ 
ing the motion of bellows : this was by making the cord, 
by which the bellows was moved, prefs, in its defeent, 
upon one end of a fmaller lever, the other end of which 
afeending forced open the fmall leathern valve that admit¬ 
ted the air, and kept it fo, till, the cord being relaxed by 
the defeent of the upper board, the lever fell, and the 
air was forced out. Thus the bellows performed their 
functions conftantly without the lead biffing or other noife 
by which it cctild be judged in what manner the air was 
conveyed to the machine. The three tubes, by which 
the air entered, terminated in three fmall refervoirs in the 
trunk ot the figure. There they united, and, afeending 
towards the throat, formed the cavity of the mouth, 
which terminated in two fmall lips adapted to perform 
their proper functions. Within this cavity alfo was a 
fmall moveable tongue; which, by its play, at proper pe¬ 
riods, admitted the air, or intercepted its paflage to the 
flute. 
The fingers, lips, and tongue, received their proper di¬ 
rections by means of a Heel cylinder turned by clock¬ 
work. It was divided into fifteen equal parts, which by 
means of pegs, prefling upon the ends of fifteen different 
levers, caufed the other extremities to afeend. Seven of 
thefe levers directed the fingers, having wires and chains 
affixed to their afeending extremities, which, being at¬ 
tached to the fingers, caufed them to afeend in proportion 
as the other extremity was preffed down by the motion of 
the cylinder, and vice verfa. Thus the afeent or defeent 
of one end of a lever produced a fimilar afeent or defeent 
in the correfponding finger, by which one of the holes of 
the flute was occafinally opened or flopped, as by a liv¬ 
ing performer. Three of the levers ferved to regulate 
the ingrefs of the air, being contrived fo as to open or 
ffiut, by means of valves, the three refervoirs of air above- 
mentioned, fo that more or lefs ftrength might be given, 
and a higher or lower note produced, as occaflon required. 
The lips were, by a fimilar mechanifm, directed by four 
levers, one of which opened them, to give the air a free 
palfage ; the other contracted them ; the third drew them 
backward ; and the fourth puflied them forward. The 
lips were projected upon that part of the flute which re¬ 
ceives the air ; and, by the different motions already men¬ 
tioned, modified the tone in a proper manner. The re¬ 
maining lever was employed in the direction of the tongue, 
which it eafily moved fo as to ffiut or open the mouth ot 
the flute. 
Thus we fee how all the motions neceffary for a Ger¬ 
man-flute player could be performed by this machine; 
but a confiderable difficulty (till remains, namely, how 
to regulate thefe motions properly, and make each of 
them follow in juft fucceffion. This, however, was ef¬ 
fected- by the following Ample method. The extremity 
of the axis of the cylinder was terminated on the right 
fide by an endlefs ferew, confiding of twelve threads, each 
placed at the diftance of a line and an half from the other. 
Above this ferew was fixed a piece of copper, and in it a 
fteel pivot, which, falling in between the threads of the 
ferew, obliged the cylinder to follow the threads, and, 
inftead of turning direCtly round, it was continually pufh- 
ed to one fide. Hence, if a lever was moved, by a peg 
placed on the cylinder, in any one revolution, it could not 
be moved by the fame peg in the fucceeding revolution, 
becuufe the peg would be moved a line and a half beyond 
it by the lateral motion of the cylinder. Thus, by an ar¬ 
tificial difpofition of thofe pegs in different parts of the 
cylinder, the ftatue was made, by the fucceffive elevation 
of 
