M. Kempelen of Vienna, a celebrated mechanician, was occupied with the

same subject. In his first attempt he produced the vowel sounds, by adapting a reed R, Fig. 49, to the bottom of a funnel-shaped cavity A B, and placing his hand in various positions within the funnel. This contrivance, however, was not fitted for his purpose, but after long study, and a diligent examination of the organs of speech, he contrived a hollow oval box, divided into two portions attached by a hinge so as to resemble jaws. This box received the sound which issued from the tube connected with the reed, and by opening and closing the jaws, he produced the sounds, A, O, OU, and an imperfect E, but no indications of an I. After two years’ labour he succeeded in obtaining from different jaws the sounds of the consonants P, M, L, and by means of these vowels and consonants, he could compose syllables and words, such as _mama_, _papa_, _aula_, _lama_, _mulo_. The sounds of two adjacent letters, however, ran into each other, and an aspiration followed some of the consonants; so that, instead of _papa_, the word sounded _phaa-ph-a_; these difficulties he contrived with much labour to surmount, and he found it necessary to imitate the human organs of speech by having only one mouth and one glottis. The mouth consisted of a funnel, or bell-shaped piece of elastic gum, which approximated, by its physical properties, to the softness and flexibility of the human organs.[22] To the mouth-piece was added a nose made of two tin tubes, which communicated with the mouth. When both these tubes were open, and the mouth-piece closed, a perfect M was produced; and when one was closed and the other open, an N was sounded. M. Kempelen could have succeeded in obtaining the four letters D, G, K, T, but, by using a P instead of them, and modifying the sound in a particular manner, he contrived to deceive the ear by a tolerable resemblance of these letters. [22] Had M. Kempelen known the modern discovery of giving glue any degree of softness, by mixing it with molasses or sugar, which is always absorbing moisture from the atmosphere, he might have obtained a still more perfect imitation of the human organs. There seems to be no doubt that he at last was able to produce entire words and sentences, such as _opera_, _astronomy_, _Constantinopolis_, _Vous êtes mon ami, Je vous aime de tout mon cœur, Venez avec moi à Paris, Leopoldus secundus, Romanorum imperator semper Augustus_, &c., but he never fitted up a speaking figure; and probably, from being dissatisfied with the general result of his labours, he exhibited only to his private friends the effects of the apparatus, which was fitted up in the form of a box. This box was rectangular, and about three feet long, and was placed upon a table, and covered with a cloth. When any particular word was mentioned by the company, M. Kempelen caused the machine to pronounce it, by introducing his hands beneath the cloth, and apparently giving motion to some parts of the apparatus. Mr. Thomas Collinson, who had seen this machine in London, mentions, in a letter to Dr. Hutton, that he afterwards saw it at M. Kempelen’s own house in Vienna, and that he then gave it the same word to be pronounced which he gave it in London, viz. the word _Exploitation_, which, he assures us, it again distinctly pronounced with the French accent.