The most obvious solution of the nature and operation of the directing force may be drawn from the hypothesis, that a living subject is enclosed within the left or larger chamber of the chest, who guides the arm and hand of the Automaton when raised, either in this or that direction, according to the ever varying appearance of the game, which might be discerned through a transparent chess-board. It is sufficient, however, in order to refute this hypothesis, to repeat what has been already mentioned in page 17, that both before and after the exhibition of the Automaton, the exhibiter is willing to lay open for the examination of every spectator its entire construction internally, so as to satisfy the most incredulous person, that no concealment whatsoever of a living subject can take place. With more semblance of reason, it has been conjectured that there is a communication between the left arm and hand of the Automaton, and a person placed in an adjoining room, who, though unseen, himself, is a spectator of the game; and that by means of this communication, the directing force required may be conveyed at the time when the arm and hand are raised. This conjecture, however plausible, may be answered by the statement of a plain fact, referred to before, that M. de Kempelen exhibited his Automaton, on two different occasions, at the Imperial palace of Vienna; and it is absolutely chimerical to suppose, that upon those occasions, any communication could be opened with an adjoining apartment in the palace to that in which the Automaton was exhibited. Still the question returns, What is the nature and operation of the directing force, by which the left arm and hand of the Automaton when raised, and prepared to act, are guided? With respect to the nature of this directing force, there can be only one reasonable opinion, that it must proceed from the immediate direction of some human agent; and since there is no communication with such an agent concealed within the chest, or in a room adjoining, it must proceed from the immediate direction of the exhibiter himself.