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Its original projector, however, Baron Kempelen, had no scruple in declaring it to be a "very ordinary piece of mechanism a bagatelle whose effects appeared so marvellous only from the boldness of the conception, and the fortunate choice of the methods adopted for promoting the illusion." But it is needless to dwell upon this point.
They will scarcely be so weak as not to 'realize, in time, by large purchases of houses and land, with other property of intrinsic value. Von Kempelen, however, is by no means 'a misanthrope, in appearance, at least, whatever he may be in fact.
It was altogether unnecessary to devote seven or eight pages for the purpose of proving what no one in his senses would deny viz: that the wonderful mechanical genius of Baron Kempelen could invent the necessary means for shutting a door or slipping aside a pannel, with a human agent too at his service in actual contact with the pannel or the door, and the whole operations carried on, as the author of the Essay himself shows, and as we shall attempt to show more fully hereafter, entirely out of reach of the observation of the spectators.
People had indeed heard of the talking heads of antiquity, and seen the articulating machines of De Kempelen and Faber, with their artificial vocal organs and complicated levers, manipulated by an operator. But the phonograph was automatic, and returned the words which had been spoken into it by a purely mechanical mimicry.
When the great excitement occurred about the forgery on the house of Gutsmuth & Co., suspicion was directed toward Von Kempelen, on account of his having purchased a considerable property in Gasperitch Lane, and his refusing, when questioned, to explain how he became possessed of the purchase money.
I say 'his wishes, for that he meant to include this note-book among the miscellaneous papers directed 'to be burnt, I think there can be no manner of doubt. Whether it escaped the flames by good fortune or by bad, yet remains to be seen. That Von Kempelen and his immediate friends will reap a rich harvest, it would be folly to doubt for a moment.
He left the hotel before me, intending to go to New York, and thence to Bremen; it was in the latter city that his great discovery was first made public; or, rather, it was there that he was first suspected of having made it. This is about all that I personally know of the now immortal Von Kempelen; but I have thought that even these few details would have interest for the public.
He also improved the speaking machine of De Kempelen, and endorsed the opinion of Sir David Brewster, that before the end of this century a singing and talking apparatus would be among the conquests of science.
The simple truth is, that up to this period all analysis has failed; and until Von Kempelen chooses to let us have the key to his own published enigma, it is more than probable that the matter will remain, for years, in statu quo.
The following anecdote, at least, is so well authenticated, that we may receive it implicitly. Von Kempelen had never been even tolerably well off during his residence at Bremen; and often, it was well known, he had been put to extreme shifts in order to raise trifling sums.
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