veil;' and that his left hand actually fills the sleeve of the figure, moving the fingers with a string.' (Surely, to make this sort of agency complete, the chess-player might have been furnished with gloves!)

The author ingeniously finds a space at the back of the drawer, not heretofore noticed, which would receive the legs of a concealed person. He also makes some pertinent remarks on the illusion which is probably practised on the spectator in the winding up of the machinery, the ticking of clock-work that is heard, &c. We still imagine, however, that the dimensions of the chest would afford no room for the concealment of a figure that could thus direct the arm, and are certain no such figure could rise out of it into that part of the body supposed, as we saw it displayed in London. A youth coiled up in the commode would much more easily' play the game. The whole chest is but two feet and a half high, three feet long, and two feet in breadth. On the whole, we must leave the question of human agency still undecided, and pass on to the mention of another of M. de Kempelin's ingenious inventions.

'On what do you think M. de Kempelin is at present employed?' says M. de Wendisch, in a letter to a friend on the pursuits of that gentle man, in 1783-' on a machine that talks!" Acknowledge that he must be gifted with a creative genius bold and invincible, to undertake a project of this kind; and will it be believed that he has every reason to hope for complete success? He has already succeeded so far as to prove the possibility of such a machine, and to deserve on the part of the learned, that they should dedicate their attention to this new and hitherto unknown invention. His machine answers, clearly and distinctly enough, several questions. The voice is sweet and agreeable; there is but the letter R which it pronounces lispingly, and with a certain harshness. When its answer is not understood, it repeats it slower; and if required to speak a third time, it repeats it again, but in a tone of impatience and vexation. I have heard it pronounce in different languages, very well and very distinctly, the following words and phrases: 'Papa,''Mama,' 'My wife,' My husband,' A-propos,' Marianne, Rome,' Madam,' The queen,' The king,' At Paris,' Come,' 'Mama loves me,' 'My wife is my friend.'' This writer then speaks of the machine being at that time nothing more than a square box, to which was affixed a pair of organ-bellows; and that, at each answer of this non-descript speaker, the inventor put his hand under a curtain that covered it, to touch, apparently, the springs that produced the articulation. It appears to have been M. Kempelin's design to give to this automaton the form of a child of five or six years of age, as the voice which he produced was that of this period of life. He, however, exhibited it in an unfinished state; and we have not been able to learn to what figure it was finally adapted. The narrative of his proceedings in accomplishing what he did effect, and which we abridge from a curious treatise of his, On the Mechanism of Speech,' appears to us to be amongst the most interesting and useful of all the automa

tical details. Our modern removers of impediments in speech may work wonders, perhaps, by looking into his artificial jaws!

The first object of M. Kempelin, though upon what ground he reasoned we cannot imagine, was the production of the vowel sounds, rather than those of any of the consonant, which he hardly expected to be able to combine with them. He investigated the affinity between the sound of various instruments and the human voice; and between the use of the artificial reed-stop, or voce humana (which has sometimes been applied to the natural organs), and the general functions of the glottis. To the honor of our northern countrymen, after exhausting his patience on qualifying and combining bassoon, with clarionet reeds, those of hautboys, &c. he found the reed of the Highland bagpipe to furnish the best prac tical basis of his attempts, and sounds approximating the nearest to the harmony divine of human speech! He now conceived that the fundamental powers of the voice were in A, the sound of which vowel he easily produced by combining the reed with a tube and a pair of organ-bellows; but beyond this he could not proceed, until it occurred to him that the organ of developing the sounds desired, demanded his principal attention. He divided, therefore, a deep elliptical box into two parts, which shut upon each other with a hinge, in the manner of the human jaws, connecting his tube with the back of it, and carefully varying their opening and manner of action, until he could command the sounds of O OU, and E. Year after year was devoted to this instrument, we are told; but I, or the German U, refused to obey his call. K, L, M, and P, however, rewarded his efforts; when he attempted to form the letters he had obtained, into syllabic combinations and words. Here an almost insuperable difficulty occurred; the sounds of the letters would not flow into each other without a clatter or pause. If too slowly enunciated, they would seem like a child repeating his alphabet, and have no resemblance to the word intended; and if the tube was too rapidly supplied, it would produce a catching gust of air in the mouth, which interrupted every letter with the sound of K. An aspirating sound following that of the consonants, was also very troublesome to overcome. In the beginning of the third year of his labor, he could execute, pretty accurately the words Papa, Mama, Aura, Lama, Mulo. The sounds of most of the other consonants were ultimately obtained. P, K, and T, required the greatest quantity of air, we are told; and the whole machine about six times the quantity of the human lungs. But the two latter consonants, with D and G, were always imperfectly articulated. Some of his best sentences were, Romanorum Imperator semper Augustus. Leopoldus Secundus. Vous êtes mon ami. Je vous aime de tout mon cœur. M. de Kempelin finally perfected, 1. Nostrils, which he found of great importance in articulation, and which consisted of two tin tubes, communicating at bottom with the mouth. 2. The mouth, made of elastic gum, and of a bell form, so contrived that the sounds of the reed issued immediately from it,

and connected with the air-chest by a tin tube, which kept it always full of air. 3. The airchest, which was of an oblong shape, and received at one end the voice-pipe containing the reed, and at the other the bellows-pipe, both closed round with leather. In this chest were contained two inferior ones, each having a valve at the top closed by a spring, and a round aperture adapted to receive through the side of the larger chest a tin funnel, and a round wooden tube, which produced the hissing sounds of C H, J, S, and Z. The voice-pipe entered the larger chest between the two smaller ones. 4. The bellows, answering the purpose of lungs, and which acted in the ordinary manner of those belonging to an organ. 5. The reed, which was in imitation of a bagpipe drone, the hollow portion being square, and the tongue of it formed of thin ivory, vibrating horizontally, to produce the various sounds. The square end was inserted, as we have noticed, in the air-chest. Along the upper side of the tongue was a movable spring, which slightly bent it inward; and the part on which it fell was covered with leather, to modulate the vibrations. The sounds were more acute as the spring acted toward the outer extremity of the tongue, which was then more rapid in its motions; as it was withdrawn from this part, the vibrations were slower, and the sounds more grave. The name of M. Maillardet, a Swiss artist, of modern celebrity, is the only one that merits association with that of De Kempelin. He has executed two or three celebrated figures. One of these is a lady at her piano-forte. She executes eighteen tunes by the actual pressure of her fingers on the keys; and while all the natural notes are thus performed, her feet play the flats and sharps by means of pedals. The instrument, in fact, may be correctly called an organ, as it is mainly moved by bellows; to bring which into proper action is the one important object of the machinery. The whole is impelled by six strong springs, acting on twenty-five communicating levers, and regulated and equalised by a brass fly. The interior of the instrument is, of course, very complicated and minute in its mechanism, which requires to be wound up once an hour. Before commencing a tune, the lady bows her head to the auditors; she is apparently agitated with an anxiety and diffidence, not always felt in real life; her eyes then seem intent on the notes, her bosom heaves, and at a distance it is impossible to discover any semblance of a work of art.

A magician, that has sometimes accompanied this musical lady, is also a considerable triumph of mechanical skill. He sits at the bottom of a wall, with a long wand in his right hand, and a book in his left. Questions inscribed on thin oval counters, twenty in number, are put into the spectator's hand, who is desired to enclose one or more of them in a drawer, which shuts with a spring. A medallion, for instance, has the question, What is the most universal passion? which being put into the drawer, the figure rises with a solemn gait, bows his head, draws a circle or two with his wand, consults his book, and lifts it towards his face, as if in meditation. He then strikes with his wand on the wall above

his hand, when two folding-doors open, and discover the inscription Love, as the reply. The counters are remarkably thin, and similar in all other respects but their inscriptions, which some of them bear on both sides: certainly the mechanism that can discriminate the one from the other, must be exquisite; and mechanism alone, we have the highest authority for believing it is.

M. Maillardet's Writing-boy is hardly less meritorious. He is exhibited kneeling on one knee, and an attendant having dipped his pencil and laid the paper before him, he executes drawings, and French and English sentences, in writing, of a very superior description. Every natural motion of the fingers, elbow, eyes, &c. is correctly imitated. The first of these figures the artist stated to have cost him the sum of £1500 in its construction.

The last machine of this kind which we shail notice is the engine invented by Mr. Babbage, capable of computing any table by the method of differences, whether they are positive or negative, or of both kinds. The greater the number of differences, the more will this engine outstrip the most rapid calculator; and by the application of certain parts of no great complexity, the roots of equations, and consequently the roots of numbers may be extracted.

One machine of this kind this gentleman has executed. Drawings and plans of a second have been made by him to multiply any number of figures by any other number; of a third, to make tables of prime numbers from 0 to ten millions; and of a fourth, to construct tables which have no order of differences constant. This last engine will calculate tables governed by laws which have not been hitherto shown to be explicitly determinable; and will solve equations, for which analytical methods of solution have not yet been contrived. Thus one of the greatest difficulties with which calculators are beset, arising from the errors of copyists, and of the press, is obviated. In Mr. Babbage's engine, the machine itself takes from several boxes, containing types, the numbers which it calculates: thus becoming at the same time computer and compositor; and preventing all error both in copying and in printing. It is worked by the hand, and it would be very easy, if any advantage were to be gained by such a method, to apply to it a self-moving power.

We have now placed before the reader as complete an account of the most celebrated automata as the limits of our publication will admit. We believe no remarkable contrivance of this kind has escaped our notice; and is it too much to ask him for one serious reflection, at the close, upon the wisdom of that Almighty Architect, by whom we are so fearfully, so wonderfully, so inimitably made? Without any speculation on the possible powers of man, or the tendency of his habits and impulses on a large and hypothetical scale, let the entire muscular action of a single youthful arm, in striking a shuttlecock, be perfectly imitated by him, and we could consent to resign to the artist the government of our share of the world!

AUTOMENES, one of the Heraclidæ, king of Corinth At his death, A. A. C. 779 annual ma

papilio.

AUTOMOLI, a nation of Ethiopia, mentioned by Herodotus.

AUTOMOLITE, in mineralogy, a substance which, from its crystalline form, was considered to be a variety of spinelle, containing a portion of oxide of zinc. But a later and more accurate analysis has shown it to be an aluminate of zinc. It has hitherto been found only in Sweden, in small octahedral crystals, imbedded in talc. AUTONINE (Bernard), a French lawyer, was advocate to the parliament of Bourdeaux. He was author of, 1. A Comparison of the French and Roman Law; 2. A Commentary on the Provincial Law of Bourdeaux; 3. Censura Gallica in Jus Civile Romanum.

AUTONOE, in fabulous history, a daughter of Cadmus, who married Aristeus, by whom she had Acteon, frequently called Autoneius Heros. Acteon became a famous huntsman, but happening to look at Diana and her attendants bathing near Gargaphia, he was changed into a stag. and devoured by dogs; which was so afflicting to Autonoe, that she retired from Boeotia to Megara, and soon after died.

AUTONOMIA; from αυτος, and νομος, law; a power of being governed by our own laws and magistrates. The liberty of the cities which lived under the faith and protection of the Romans, consisted in their autonomia, i. e. they were allowed to make their own laws, and elect their own magistrates; by whom justice was to be administered, and not by Roman presidents or judges, as was done in other places, which were not indulged with the autonomia.

AUTOPHOROS; from avros and pepw, to bear, i. e. self-bearing; an epithet applied to a thief taken in the act with the stolen goods upon him.

AUTOPHOSPHORUS is, by some, used to denote phosphorus, on account of its kindling of itself.

I

AUTOPRACTI; from αυτός, and πράττω, exact; in the civil law, persons indulged with this privilege, that they should not be compelled to pay taxes, but should be left to their own free will. Of this number were men of distinguished dignity, and those eminent for their probity and honor.

AUTOPSY. From avros and ofic, a man's own right, as distinct from that of others. Not

in use.

In those that have forked tails, autopsy convinceth us, that it hath this use. Ray on the Creation. AUTOPYRITES, AUTOPYROS; from avros, and rupog, wheat; in the ancient diet a species of bread, wherein the whole substance of the wheat was retained, without retrenching any part of the bran. Galen describes it otherwise, viz. as bread where only the coarser bran was taken out. And thus it was a medium between the finest bread, called similagineus, and the coarsest called furfuraceus. This was also called the syncomistus.

AUTOTHEISM, the doctrine of God's self

existence.

AUTOUR, in natural history, a sort of bark which resembles cinnamon, but is paler and thicker; it is the color of a broken nutmeg, and full of spangles. It comes from the Levant, and is an ingredient in the carmine dye. Also, in ornithology, the name under which Buffon describes the goshawk, or falco palumbarius of Linnæus.

AUTREAU (James d'), a French poet and painter, who died in great poverty, in the hospital of incurables in Paris, in 1745. His dramatic works were published in 4 vols. 12mo. 1749. He had little merit as a painter.

AUTRICUM, in ancient geography, 1. the capital of the Carnutæ, in Gallia Celtica; afterwards called Carnotena, Carnotenas, and Civitas Carnotenum; now Chartres; and, 2. the ancient name of Auxerre. AUTUMN, AUTUMNAL, AUTUM'NITY.

Perhaps from augeo, auctum, from the augmented fruits of nature.

For I will board her though she chide as loud As thunder, when the clouds in autumn crack. Shakspeare.

Thy grandsire's words savour'd of thriftie leekes, Or manly garlicke: but thy furnace reekes Hote steams of wine; and can aloofe descrie, The drunken draughts of sweete autumnitie.

Bp. Hall's Satires, book iii. Thou shalt not long

AUTUMN begins when the sun enters Libra. When it ends, winter begins. Several nations have computed their years by autumns; the Anglo-Saxons by winters. Tacitus tells us the Germans were acquainted with all the other seasons of the year, but had no notion of autumn. The ancient Jews began their civil year in autumn; reckoning that all the fruits of the earth were in perfection at the creation. The French, without regarding the principle, adopted the practice in their late revolutionary calendar; of which, the first month, Vendemiare, commenced with the equinox. Thus faith and modern philosophy, in one instance, produced the same effect. Autumn has been reputed an unhealthy season. Tertullian calls it 'tentator valetudinum;' and the satirist speaks of it in the same light:

'Autumnus Libitina quastus acerbæ

Autumn is commonly represented by painters under the figure of a female crowned with vine branches, and bunches of grapes; naked in that part which respects summer, and clothed in that which corresponds to winter. Its garment is covered with flowers, like that of Bacchus. AUTUMN, in alchemy, the season when the operation of the philosopher's stone is brought to perfection.

AUTUMNAL EQUINOX, the time when the sun enters the autumnal point.

AUTUMNAL POINT is that part of the equinox from which the sun begins to descend towards the south pole.

AUTUMNAL SIGNS, in astronomy, are the signs Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius, through which the sun passes during the autumn.

AUTUMNALIA, the fruits of the earth that ripen in autumn.

AUTUMNALIS, in ornithology, a species of psittacus, called also psittacus Americanus, and crick à tête bleue, by Buffon. It is the lesser green parrot of Edwards, and autumnal parrot of Latham. It is distinguished by being of a green color, with the front and spot on the quill-feathers scarlet; crown and primary quill-feathers, blue. Of this kind there are two varieties. Also a species of anas, or duck, that inhabits South America. And a species of fringilla, called by Latham the autumnal finch.

AUTUMNUS, in entomology, the name given by Ammiral to the moth, or phalana, called by Gmelin P. FAGANA: which see.

AUTUN, an ancient city of France, in the department of the Saone and Loire, formerly the capital of the Autunois district, and now of an arrondissement, with nine cantons, and 67,000 inhabitants. Before the revolution the intendant of Burgundy resided nere, and it was the see of a bishop, suffragan of Lyons. The Arroux washes its walls, whose ruins are so firm, and the stones so closely united, that they seem almost to be cut out of the solid rock. Among the antiquities of this city are the ruins of three ancient temples, one of which was dedicated to Janus, and another to Diana; two antique gates of considerable beauty, with a theatre and a pyramid; which last is probably a tomb. In the church of St. Martins is the tomb of the sanguinary Brunehault, who is said to have poisoned her son Childebert, and to have procured the death of ten kings; and who met her death by being tied to the tail of a wild mare, by order of her grandson, Clovis II. The present bishop ranks under the metropolitan of Besançon, and exercises jurisdiction over the departments of the Saone and Loire, and the Nievre. Autun consists of the upper town, the castle, and the lower town. It is tolerably well built, contained before the revolution nine parish churches, five abbeys, with five other religious houses, and about 8000 inhabitants. The natives manufacture delft wares, carpets, coverlets, blankets, and tapestry. The city lies at the foot of three great mountains, sixteen leagues south-west of Dijon, and fortyfive south-east of Paris.

AUTUNOIS, a ci-devant district of France, in Burgundy, now comprehended in the department of Saone and Loire. See AUTUN.

AUTURA, or AUDURA, a river of Gallia Celtica, now called Eure. It falls into the Seine, on the south side.

AUVAIL, a town of Germany, in the circle of Westphalia.

AUVERGNE, a ci-devant province of France, about 100 miles in length, and seventy-five in breadth; the capital of which was Clermont. It was bounded on the north by the Bourbonnois; on the east by Forez and Velay; on the west by Limosin, Quercy and La Marche; and on the south by Rovergue and the Cevennes : and was divided into upper and lower; the latter, otherwise called Limagne, being one of the finest countries in the world. The mountains of Upper Auvergne though not fruitful, afford good pasture, which feeds great numbers of cattle, the chief riches of that country. It now forms the two departments of Cantal and Puy-de-Dome, except some small districts annexed to those of Creuse Allier, and the Upper Loire. Auvergne is conspicuous in the various revolutions experienced by France, and anciently maintained a pre-eminence among the independent states of Gaul. Its inhabitants boasted a singular trophy in the sword of Cæsar, which he lost before the walls of Gergovia. But they maintained a faithful alliance with the Romans after they became subject to them.

AUVERGNIE, a town of Switzerland, in the canton of Neufchatel, three miles south of that place.

AUVERS, a town of France, on the right bank of the Oise, in the department of the Seine and Oise, arrondissement of Pontoise. Also a town in the west of France, in the arrondissement of Le Mans, and department of the Sarthe.

AUVILLARS, or AUVILLARD, a town of France, in Lower Armagnac, Gascony, in the department of the Tarn and Garonne. It is the head of a canton, and contains manufactures of woollen stockings, and upwards of 2000 inhabitants. It stands on the Garonne, which here forms a small harbour. Five leagues south of Agen.

AUVERNAS, a very deep-colored heady wine, made of black raisins, so called at Orleans' but it is not fit to drink before it is above a yea old; but if kept two or three years, it becomes excellent.

AUVIGNY (N. Castressd'), a French historian of the eighteenth century. He was both a writer and a soldier, and lost his life at the battle of Dettingen, in 1743, at the age of thirty-one. His writings are, 1. Memoirs of Madam Barneveldt, 2 vols. 12mo. 2. Histories of Rome and France abridged for young persons. 3. History of Paris, 4 vols. 12mo. 4. Lives of illustrious Frenchmen, 8 vols. 12mo. AVULS'ED, Avello, avulsum, I tear or AVULSION. pull away. Torn or pulled away.

Spare not the little offsprings, if they grow Redundant; but the thronging clusters thin By kind avulsion. Philips.

The pressure of any ambient fluid can be no intel

ligible cause of the cohesion of matter; though such

superficies one from another, in a line perpendicular a pressure may hinder the avulsion of two polished

to them.

Locke.

AUX, in astronomy, see AUGES. Some use aux to denote the arch of the ecliptic, intercepted between the first point of Aries, and the point wherein the sun, or a planet, is at its greatest distance from the earth.

AUXENTIUS, bishop of Milan, in the fourth century. He was a native of Cappadocia, and of Arian principles. Constantius gave him the bishopric of Milan; and though excommunicated by a council held at Rome, in 368, he held his see to his death, in 374.

AUXENTIUS, another of the Arian party, who challenged St. Ambrose to a public disputation, which was wisely declined by that great prelate. AUXERRE, an ancient town of France, the capital of the department of Yonne, formerly the capital of the Auxerrois, in Burgundy. The palace of the ci-devant bishop is one of the finest in France, and the churches are very beautiful. It is advantageously situated for trade with Paris, on a hill on the banks of the river Yonne, eleven leagues S. S. E. of Sens, and thirty-seven south-east of Paris. Its principal trade is in wood, and the excellent wares of the neighbourhood. Here is also a manufacture of woollen stuffs. Population about 12,000.

AUXERROIS, a ci-devant territory of France, in Burgundy, of which Auxerre was the capital. It now forms the greater part of the arrondissement of Auxerre, in the department of the Yonne.

AUXESIS, in mythology, a goddess worshipped by the inhabitants of Egina, and mentioned by Herodotus and Pausanias.

AUXILIAR, Lat. auxilium, AUXILIARY, n. & adj. strength; one who AUXILIATORY. gives or lends us additional strength. An aider, assister, or supporter. The giant brood,

That fought at Thebes and Ilium on each side, Mix'd with auxiliar gods. Milton's Paradise Lost. Their tractates are little auxiliary unto ours, nor afford us any light to detenebrate this truth.

Brown's Vulgar Errours. There is not the smallest capillary vein but it is present with, and auxiliary to it, according to its use. Hale's Origin of Mankind.

Nor from his patrimonial heaven alone, Is Jove content to pour his vengeance down, Aid from his brother of the seas he craves To help him with auxiliary waves. Dryden. Ovid. They had both kept good company, rattled in chariots, glittered in play-houses, and danced at court, and were both expert in the games that were in their times called in as auxiliaries against the intrusion of thought. Rambler.

AUXILIARY VERB. A verb that helps to conjugate other verbs. In almost all languages, some of the commonest nouns and verbs have many irregularities; such are the common auxiliary verbs, to be, and to have; to do, and to be done, &c.

AUXILIARY VERBS, in grammar, are prefixed to other verbs, to form their moods and tenses. In the English language, the auxiliary verb am supplies the want of passive verbs. All the modern languages make use of auxiliary verbs, because their verbs do not change their terminations as those of the Latin and Greek, to denote the different tenses or times of being, doing, or suffering; nor the different moods or manners of their signifying: so that, to supply this defect, recourse is had to different auxiliary verbs.

AUXILIUM, in law. See AID.

AUXILIUM, AD FILIUM MILITEM FACIENDUM, vel filiam maritandam, was a writ directed to the sheriff of every county, where the king or other lord had any tenants, to levy them reasonable aid, towards the knighting of his eldest son, or the marriage of his eldest daughter.

AUXILIUM CURLE, signifies an order of court, for the summoning of one party at the suit of another.

AUXO, in mythology, the name of one of the two graces worshipped by the Athenians. See HEGEMONE.

AUXOIS, a small ci-devant territory of France, in Burgundy, of which Semur was the capital. It is now in the department of Cote d'Òr.

AUXON, a town of France, in Champagne, department of the Aube, with 2340 inhabitants. 5 leagues S. S. W. of Troyes. Also a town in Upper Auvergne, department of the Upper Loire, near the Allier, with 1500 inhabitants and the title of barony. It carries on a traffic in corn, wine, and cloth. 12} leagues northwest of Le Puy.

AUXONNE, the capital of a county of the same name in France, in the province of Burgundy, on the left bank of the Saone. It is regularly fortified, and contains manufactures of serge and other cloths.

AUXY, the French name of a species of wool, spun in the neighbourhood of Abbeville, by workmen, called houpiers. It is very fine and beautiful, and used to make the finest stockings.

AW, a river of Scotland, in Argyllshire. Also a town of Germany in the electorate of Bavaria Aw, or LOCH-Aw, a beautiful and extensive lake in Argyllshire, in the parish of Glenorchy. The whimsical tradition respecting the origin of this lake is recorded by Ossian. The substance of it is, that to Bera the aged, was committed the charge of that awful spring, which was appointed by fate to destroy the inheritance and race of her fathers. This event, she was to prevent, or at least to protract, by covering the spring before sun-set, with a stone, on which the sacred and mysterious characters were engraved. One night this was forgot. The confined waters of the mountain burst forth, and sweeping all before them, covered that large expanse, now known by the name of the Lake of Aw.' Mr. Stewart, minister of Stachur, explains the fable by the etymology of Bera; Beir, in the Gaelic signifying a thunderbolt. This lake is about thirty miles long, but not above three quarters broad upon an average, though in some places,