The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 5, April, 1836Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 5, April, 1836
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
also in the left thigh. The interior of the figure, as seen through
these apertures, appears to be crowded with machinery. In general,
every spectator is now thoroughly satisfied of having beheld and
completely scrutinized, at one and the same time, every individual
portion of the Automaton, and the idea of any person being concealed
in the interior, during so complete an exhibition of that interior,
if ever entertained, is immediately dismissed as preposterous in the
extreme.
M. Maelzel, having rolled the machine back into its original
position, now informs the company that the Automaton will play a
game of chess with any one disposed to encounter him. This challenge
being accepted, a small table is prepared for the antagonist, and
placed close by the rope, but on the spectators' side of it, and so
situated as not to prevent the company from obtaining a full view of
the Automaton. From a drawer in this table is taken a set of
chess-men, and Maelzel arranges them generally, but not always, with
his own hands, on the chess board, which consists merely of the
usual number of squares painted upon the table. The antagonist
having taken his seat, the exhibiter approaches the drawer of the
box, and takes therefrom the cushion, which, after removing the pipe
from the hand of the Automaton, he places under its left arm as a
support. Then taking also from the drawer the Automaton's set of
chess-men, he arranges them upon the chess-board before the figure.
He now proceeds to close the doors and to lock them--leaving the
bunch of keys in door No. 1. He also closes the drawer, and,
finally, winds up the machine, by applying a key to an aperture in
the left end (the spectators' left) of the box. The game now
commences--the Automaton taking the first move. The duration of the
contest is usually limited to half an hour, but if it be not
finished at the expiration of this period, and the antagonist still
contend that he can beat the Automaton, M. Maelzel has seldom any
objection to continue it. Not to weary the company, is the
ostensible, and no doubt the real object of the limitation. It will
of course be understood that when a move is made at his own table,
by the antagonist, the corresponding move is made at the box of the
{321} Automaton, by Maelzel himself, who then acts as the
representative of the antagonist. On the other hand, when the Turk
moves, the corresponding move is made at the table of the
antagonist, also by M. Maelzel, who then acts as the representative
of the Automaton. In this manner it is necessary that the exhibitor
should often pass from one table to the other. He also frequently
goes in rear of the figure to remove the chessmen which it has
taken, and which it deposits, when taken, on the box to the left (to
its own left) of the board. When the Automaton hesitates in relation
to its move, the exhibitor is occasionally seen to place himself
very near its right side, and to lay his hand, now and then, in a
careless manner, upon the box.
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