Autom´aton (Gr. automatos, spontaneous), a self-moving machine performing actions like those of a living being, and often shaped like one. The walking statues of Dædalus, the flying dove of Archytas, the brazen head of Friar Bacon, the iron fly of Regiomontanus, the door-opening figure of Albertus Magnus, the parading knights of the clock presented to Charlemagne by Harun al Rashid, the toy carriage and attendants constructed by Camus for Louis XIV, the flute-player, tambour-player, and duck of Vaucanson, and the writing child of the brothers Droz are among the more noteworthy of traditional automata. See Conjuring.
Automobile. See Motor Vehicles.
Auton´omy, the power of a State, institution, &c., to legislate for itself.
Autoph´agi (-jī), birds which feed themselves as soon as hatched.
Au´toplasty, the operation by which wounds and diseased parts are repaired with healthy tissues taken from other parts of the same person's body.
Autoplate. See Printing.
Autop´sy, literally, personal observation or inspection, commonly restricted to post-mortem examination. See Coroner.
Au´totype, a species of photographic print. A thin sheet of gelatine on paper is rendered sensitive to light by treatment with bichromate of potash, and then exposed under an ordinary photographic negative. The portions of gelatine affected by the light become insoluble, the remainder of the gelatine is then washed away, and the picture remains reproduced in the gelatine, there being slight elevations and depressions corresponding with the distribution of light and shade. This may be printed from, but it is more often made use of to obtain electrotypes or other reverses, from which impressions can more easily be taken.
Autumn, the season between summer and winter, in the northern hemisphere often regarded as embracing August, September, and October, or three months about that time. The beginning of the astronomical autumn is 22nd Sept., the autumnal equinox; and the end is 21st Dec., the shortest day. The autumn of the southern hemisphere takes place at the time of the northern spring.