enough; but the difficulty lies in its original construction. The Automaton Chess-player affords strong evidence of the fallibility of human judgment and human testimony. Thousands of individ. uals have seen its performance, who would have had no scruple about taking their oaths that they had viewed the whole of the engine at once. In this respect, the ingenuity displayed by its origi nal constructor is above praise. Man loves so to be duped! The history of the Chess-playing Automaton, subsequently to 1820, may be shortly summed up. Having travelled over the greater part of Europe, it was transported to the United States of America, where for a time it proved that the natives of the New World were made of the same stuff as their elder brethren. Jonathan dropped his dollars freely; and the calculating spirit of the land of stripes and stars, slumbered beneath the spell of Maelzel's magic. A German accompanied it, as holding the important post of invisible demonstrator, ordinary and extraordinary. Carrying out the same principle of conduct, the Automaton subsequently took to playing whist, as well as chess. For some years, latterly, the figure has lain in a state of inglorious repose in a warehouse at New Orleans; and there we leave him, fearing the word resurgam may not be applied to its escutcheon. A similar bubble once blown becomes forever exploded in its pristine form. Many must be the adventures of the Automaton, lost, unhappily, to the knowledge of man. A being that kept so much good company, during so long a space of time, must, indeed, have gone through an infinity of interesting events. In this age of autobiog raphy, when so many wooden men and women have the assurance to thrust their personal memoirs on the world, a book on the life and adventures of the Automaton Chess-player would surely be received with proportionate interest. We ourselves recollect once hearing some amusing anecdotes of the thing from Mouret himself, the individual who for many years was concealed within the machine. Our limits permit our quoting but a couple of these logwood reminiscences, which we quote by way of wind-up. In a journey once through a remote part of Germany, the Automaton set up his tent in a small town, where a professor of legerdemain being already in possession of the field, a clash between the interests of the two parties was unavoidable. The Automaton, as the monster of the late arrival, naturally put the conjurer on the shelf; and the poor Hocus-pocus, in the energies developed by famine, conversant as he was with the art he professed, discovered his rival's secret the first time he witnessed the show. Backed by an accomplice, the conjurer raised a sudden cry of " Fire! fire!" The spectators began to rush forth in alarm; and the Automaton, violently impelled by the struggles of its inward man, suddenly rolled head over heels on the floor. Maelzel flew to the rescue and dropped the curtain, before terror had quite driven the impris oned imp to burst its chain, and rush to daylight. On another occasion, Messrs. Maelzel and Mouret were exhibiting the Automaton at Amsterdam, when it happened that the former was indebted in a considerable sum of money, relatively speaking, to his agent for his services. In fact, Maelzel, acting on the philosophical aphorism of "base is the slave who pays, had not given poor Mouret a shilling for a twelvemonth; and the latter found that, although a spirit of darkness, he could not live upon air. Mouret was lodged and boarded, but wanted also to eat. It so chanced, under these circumstances, that one day the king of Holland sent a messenger to engage the chief part of the exhibition-hall, that morning, for himself and court; and kindly seconded his royal command by the sum of three thousand florins, sent by the same courier. Maelzel proclaims the good tidings; a splendid breakfast is prepared; Mouret is pressed to eat and drink; and the parties are naturally delighted at the pleasing prospect of checkmating royalty. Maelzel hastens to arrange every preparation for receiving the Dutch monarch with "all the honors." The exhibition was to commence at half-past twelve; but, although noon had struck on every clock in the city, Mouret was not at his post. Maelzel inquires the reason, and is told that Mouret has got a fever, and gone to bed. The German flew to the Frenchman's chamber, and found half the story at least to be correct; for there, sure enough, lay Mouret, snugly tucked up in the blankets. "What is the meaning of this?" "I have a fever." "But you were very well just now?" "Yes; but this disorder-O ciel!-has come on suddenly.” "But the king is coming." "Let him go back again!" "But what shall I say to him?" "Tell him-mon Dieu!—the Automaton has a sore throat." "Can you jest at such a moment? Consider the money I have received, and that we shall have the saloon full.” "Well, Mynheer Maelzel, you can return the money." "Pray, pray, get up!" "I cannot." "What can I do to restore you?" "Pay me the fifteen hundred francs you owe me !" "This evening?" *Nɔ; pay me now-this moment, or I leave not my bed!" The case was urgent, and the means of restoration to health, however desperate, must be adopted. With a heavy sigh, Maelzel told down the cash; and never had the Automaton played with so much inward unction as he did that morning. The king declined compromising royalty by entering the lists himself; but placed his minister-of-war in the opposition chair, and graciously condescended to offer his royal advice in each critical situation of the pieces. The coalition was beaten, and the surrounding courtiers, of course, attributed defeat solely to the bad play of the minister of-war! Chinese Bamboo Irrigation-wheel. The Chinese irrigation-wheel, which is turned by the current of the stream, varies from twenty to thirty feet or more in height, according to the elevation of the bank; and when once erected, a constant supply of water is poured by it into a trough, on the summit of the river's side, and conducted in channels to all parts of the sugar plantations. One is at a loss which most to admire, the cleverness and efficiency, or the cheapness and simplicity of the contrivance. The props of the wheel are of timber, and the axis is a cylinder of the same material; but every other portion of the machine exhibits some modification or other of the bamboo, even to the fastenings and bindings, for not a single nail or piece of metal enters into its composition. The wheel consists of two rims of unequal diameter, of which the one next the bank is rather the least. "This double wheel," observes Staunton, "is connected with the axis by sixteen or eighteen spokes of bamboo, obliquely inserted near each extremity of the axis, and crossing each other at about two-thirds of their length. They are there strengthened by a concentric circle, and fastened afterwards to the rims; the spokes inserted in the interior extremity of the axis (or that next to the bank,) reaching the outer rim, and those proceeding from the exterior extremity of the same axis reaching the inner and smaller rim. Between the rims and the crossings of the spokes is woven a kind of close basket-work, serving as ladle-boards," which are acted upon by the current of the stream, and turn the wheel round. The whole diameter of the wheel being something greater than the height of the bank, about sixteen or twenty hollow bamboos, closed at one end, are fastened to the circumference, to act as buckets. These, however, are not loosely suspended, but firmly attached with their open mouths towards the inner or smaller rim |