In some instances, the effect of automata is increased by the exhibiter proposing certain questions, and receiving responses from the figure—as shaking the head, to denote a negative; or nodding, to indicate assent. It is evident that here the inquiries or remarks are thrown in to accord with the motions that the figure is contrived to make. When, however, a performer, as one has recently done, puts a whistle in the mouth of an automaton, and then, sitting down by its side, plays a tune on a guitar, desiring the figure to accompany him; the hasty sounds with which the figure seems inclined to begin, the irregularity with which it proceeds, and the long and loud closing note, may all be easily supplied by some confederate. Surprising as are the effects produced by many automata, it would be wrong to infer that their only results are the wonder of the multitude, or gain or applause to their inventors. “They gave rise,” as sir David Brewster has remarked, “to the most ingenious mechanical devices, and introduced, among the higher order of artists, habits of nice and accurate execution in the formation of the most delicate pieces of machinery.” Those combinations of wheels and pinions, which almost eluded observation, “reappeared in the stupendous mechanism of our spinning-machines and our steam-engines. The elements of the tumbling puppet were revived in the chronometer, which now conducts our navy through the ocean; and the shapeless wheel which directed the hand of the drawing automaton (of Maillardet,) has served, in the present age, to guide the movements of the tambouring-engine. Those mechanical wonders, which in one century enriched only the conjurer who used them, contributed in another to augment the wealth of the nation; and those automatic toys which once amused the vulgar, are now employed in extending the power, and promoting the civilisation of our species. In whatever way, indeed, the power of genius may invent or combine, and to whatever bad or even ludicrous purposes that invention or combination may be originally applied, society receives a gift which it can never lose; and though the value of the seed may not at once be recognised, though it may lie long unproductive in the ungenial soil of human knowledge, it will; some time or other, evolve its germ, and yield to mankind its natural and abundant harvest.”[D]
A singular fact is connected with the early history of the Astronomical Society of London. A valuable set of tables, for reducing the observed to the true places of stars, was in course of preparation, at the expense of the society, including above three thousand stars, and comprehending all known to those of the fifth magnitude, inclusive, and all the most useful of the sixth and seventh. An incident which now occurred, gave rise to one of the most extraordinary of modern inventions. To insure accuracy in the calculation of certain tables, separate computers had been employed; and two members of the society having been chosen to compare the results, detected so many errors, as to induce one of them to express his regret that the work could not be executed by a machine. For this, the other member, Mr. Babbage, at once replied, that “this was possible;” and, persevering in the inquiry which had thus suggested itself, he produced a machine for calculating tables with surprising accuracy.
The calculating part of the machinery occupies a space of about ten feet broad, ten feet high, and five feet deep. It consists of seven steel axes, erected over one another, each of them carrying eighteen wheels, five inches in diameter, having on them small barrels, and inscribed with the symbols 0, 1, to 9. The machine calculates to eighteen decimal places, true to the last figure; but, by subsidiary contrivances, it is possible to calculate to thirty decimal places. Mr. Babbage has since contrived a machine, much more simple in its construction, and far more extensive in its application.
In thus enumerating various displays of mechanical genius, we are reminded that the prophet Isaiah, after describing the diverse labours of the husbandman, adds, “This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” In all the evidence we have of human talent, then, let us acknowledge that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning,” Jas. i. 17. Would that the gifts of God were always used for the Divine glory!
CHAPTER IV.
Terrestrial phenomena—Footmarks on rocks—The Logan stone—Sounds in stones—The cave of St. Paul—Atmospherical phenomena—Intermitting springs—Waters of magical power.
In proceeding to illustrate the operation of natural laws, we may look now at some of the phenomena connected with the globe we inhabit, of which, where little knowledge is possessed, erroneous and frequently superstitious opinions are still entertained.
Marvellous tales are often told of rocks. There is, for example, a tradition of a nobleman being engaged in the chase, or pursued by his enemies, without being hurt; whose horse left the prints of his feet on a mass of stone, over which he passed. But, unhappily for the tale, other impressions have been observed besides those of the horse’s feet; and it is affirmed by various naturalists, deserving of credit, that they must have been made by very different animals, at a remote period, before the stone had completely hardened. Other instances of the same kind might easily be given. In the British Museum, there is a slab having similar impressions, obviously produced by the same means. It was dug from a great depth; a mass of stone, many feet in thickness, having been formed above the layer which received, in a soft state, the impression from the feet of several animals.
Other impressions, of which we read or hear, are nothing more than tricks of art. Such, most probably, is the impression of the foot of Budda upon the Peak of Adam, at Ceylon; the print of the foot of the idol Gaudama, in the Burmese empire, which has been three times reproduced; and most certainly this is the case with the so-called impressions of the feet of our blessed Lord and Saviour, shown to the present day, on Mount Olivet.
The cave of St. Paul, at Civita Vecchia, the former capital of the island of Malta, is an excavation, about nineteen feet in height, and fifty in circumference; in a soft, white, limestone rock, more friable than chalk. A belief that the stone was endowed with miraculous medical virtues, led people to carry away large quantities of it during the sway of the knights. In 1770, when visited by Brydone, the cave was in the highest celebrity; not only every house in the island had a medical chest of it, but large quantities were sent to different countries in Europe, and even to the East Indies. It was supposed to have a miraculous power which preserved it from diminution; which may be accounted for by a natural law—the calcareous process of formation still going on—while its healing power is to be attributed to its having some of the properties of magnesia; which leads, according to Dr. Walsh, to its still being given as a purgative-sudorific in eruptive or fever complaints.