of the Acad. of Sciences for 1729..
A still more extraordinary piece of mechanism is that described by M. Carnus, who says he construct ed it for the amusement of Louis XIV. when a child. It consisted of a small coach drawn by two horses, in which was the figure of a lady, with a footman and page behind. According to the account given by. M. Camus himself, this coach being placed at the extremity of a table of a determinate size, the coach man smacked his whip, and the horses immediately, • set out, moving their legs in a natural manner. When the carriage-reached the edge of the table, it turned at a right angle, and proceeded along that edge. When it arrived opposite to the place where the king was seated, it stopped, and the page getting down opened the door ; upon which the lady alighted, having in her hand a petition, which she presented with a curtsey. After waiting some time, she again curt sied, and re-entered the carriage ; the page then re sumed his place, the coachman whipped his horses, which began to move, and the footman, running after the carriage, jumped up behind it. It is to be re gretted, says M. Montucla, that M. Camus, instead of confining himself to a general account of the me chanism which he employed to produce these effects, did not enter into a more minute description. See Montucia's Edit. of Ozanam's Mathematical Re ereat iota.
Ingenious pieces of . machinery imitating the mo tions of men and animals are frequently attached to hour clocks, and brought into action at the end of the different hours. fliere is a remarkable clock of this kind at Lyons, and another at Strasburg. M. le Droz of la Cuaux de Fonds, in the county of Neufchatel, was famous for constructing clocks of this kind. A very curious one, presented to his Spanish majesty, had, among other curiosities, a sheep which imitated the bleating of a natural one; and a dog watching a basket of fruit. When any-one attempted to purloin the fruit, the dog gnashed his teeth and barked ; and if it was actually taken away, he never ceased barking till it was restored.
Even the clock presented by the Kalif Haroun al Rashid to the French Emperor Charlemagne, deserves to be mentioned as a remarkable specimen of ingenuity, considering the time at which it was made. It was a clepsydra, or clock moved by water. In the dial were twelve small doors, forming the divisions of the hours ; and each of these doors opened in succession at the hour marked, and let out little balls, which, fall ing on a brazen bell, struck the hour. The doors cpntinued open till 12 o'clock, when twelve little knights, mounted on horseback, came out together, paraded round the dial, and shut all the doors. Such a machine might well astonish all Europe, at a time when the learned were wholly occupied by questions of grammar, or scholastic theology. See Bossut's History of the Mathematics. (m) Besides these machines, many of extreme ingenuity have been constructed by skilful artists. Some are complicated, and perform a great variety of motions in the course of which a series of different figures are introduced to view ; while others arc confined to the action of a single figure, and its appendages. Of the former description are the machines composed of numerous parts, adapted for certain branches of trades and manufactures ; or where all the successive ope rations of mining, carrying, and preparing the ore, are represented ; or where cavalcades, processions, or sports, are shown. We have seen automatical exhi bitions, imitating cascades of the most limpid water, and the blowing or closing of the petals of beautiful flowers. But the chief object of mechanics has been to imitate the action and faculties of living na ture, in which they have succeeded in a manner 'sur passing belief. What relates to the motion of the human figure, we have treated of under the article ANDROIDES, already referred to ; and we shall now continue briefly to advert to those of some animals, in addition to what is above mentioned.