the intonations of the Egyptian hymns, as sung by the priests, might have been produced by a simple, mechanical contrivance, by means of which a successive number of blows were struck against a series of tuned metallic plates, similar to those employed in music boxes or harmonicons; and as the ancients were familiar with mechanical contrivances driven by means of compressed air, or by water power, such a device could be readily operated. Another suggestion is made that, since the colossus faced the east and emitted the sounds at the very moment the rays fell on the lips, it might readily be that the so-called miraculous mechanism was put in motion by some physical force the priests had discovered; that, for example, the strong and sudden heat produced by the concentration of the solar rays might be sufficient to expand one or more metallic rods which, by lengthening, might open a supply of compressed air or permit the escape of water from a reservoir, thus operating a device similar to that referred to above.

Still another suggestion was that, if the statue was hollow, the air it contained, being affected by the heat of the sun, might, as it escaped from the statue, be made to produce sounds which the priests might interpret as best suited their interests.

While, of course, it is impossible to say just what contrivances were employed to cause the apparent speaking of the statue, yet I think I can make it clear to you how easy it would be, in the light of our knowledge of physical science to-day, to produce a speaking Memnon who could utterly out-Memnon Memnon himself. You will understand this much better after reading the next chapter.

CHAPTER IX

SPEAKING HEADS AND OTHER ACOUSTIC WONDERS

If the speaking head of Memnon, or the Colossus of Thebes, had been the only statue of its kind in the world we might, perhaps, have been more willing to credit it with supernatural powers, but, when we find it was only one of a great number of similar statues, we are apt to regard its so-called miraculous powers as the result of a fraud practiced by the priests on the credulity of the people.

On a careful study of the writings of the ancients we find descriptions of, or references to, numerous speaking heads, or statues. I will first give you some of these references from Thomson's translation of Salverte's Magic, already referred

to.

Pindar, the Greek poet, describes the statues of the Gilded Virgins that adorned the roof of the Temple of Delphi. He says that these statues possessed the power of producing ravishing sounds which apparently came from their lips. It has been suggested that such sounds could readily have been produced by musical instruments concealed in the statues, operated by compressed air. Since the ancients were familiar with hydraulic organs, such devices might readily have been employed to produce the so-called miraculous sounds.

But there is another possible explanation of the manner in which the entrancing sounds from the Gilded Virgins might have been produced. As we have seen, it is easy to transmit both spoken or musical sounds through considerable distances by means of speaking-tubes, and this might readily have been done with the statues on the roof of the Temple of Delphi.

It is said that the so-called ancient magician, Albertus Magnus, constructed many mechanical devices that possessed such strange powers that the common people believed them to be of supernatural origin. Among these were various automata or mechanical figures, capable of performing actions, or going through motions, as though they were endowed with life. Among these was the figure of a man, who not only possessed the power of walking, but could talk, answer questions, or solve such problems as might be given to it. It is said that Albertus one day exhibited this automaton to his pupil, Thomas Aquinas. The figure did so many remarkable things that the frightened pupil, believing it to be the work of the devil, broke it into a number of pieces which he threw into the fire.

Wonderful automata have also been constructed during recent times. One of the most celebrated of these, known as the automaton chess-players, consisted of a figure of a man seated at a table in front of a chess-board. When his opponent sat down to the table opposite the figure and played a game against his mysterious opponent, the figure would move the pieces on the chess-board with such skill that, I believe in practically all cases, the player, no matter how skilful, was invariably defeated. Napoleon I, who was beaten by the automaton, had Maelzel, the inventor, carefully examine it. Maelzel demonstrated that a dwarf was hidden inside the chest.

But mechanical automata had been produced that operated entirely independently of fraud. I have, myself, seen Faber's Talking Man. This was the figure of a man capable of speaking. The device for speaking consisted of various wind instruments capable of producing a succession of sounds that somewhat resembled human speech. It was, however, at the best, a clumsy device that required for its operation a key-board, not unlike that on a piano, at which the person who operated the mechanism sat, successively striking the proper keys. The result was an odd species of

articulate speech not unlike the laborious sounds produced by the deaf when taught to speak.

I need not say to you that, in later days, by means of that wonderful invention of Mr. Edison's, the phonograph, or by that equally wonderful invention, the telephone, first conceived by Philip Riess, a German, and afterwards greatly improved by Bell, an American, articulate speech, of a quality almost equal to that produced by man, is obtained by means of a mechanism almost ridiculously simple in its construction.

But let us come back to the discussion of some of the speaking heads of antiquity. Odin, or Woden, the Scandinavian deity, who occupied in the mythology of the northern countries of Europe a position not unlike that which Zeus, or Jupiter, did among the ancient Greeks, is said to have possessed, among his choicest treasures, a speaking head. Unlike most speaking heads, this one did not consist of an ingeniously devised head made of metal or of wood, but was the head of the great hero, Mirme. It is said that, on the death of Mirme, Odin embalmed the head and, covering it with a thin layer of gold, endowed it with the power of speech. Odin is said to have professed great belief in the oracular powers of this head, for he went to it for advice in all difficult matters.

But, perhaps, one of the most celebrated heads of antiquity was that at Lesbos, or the island of Mitylene, one of the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. This head delivered oracles so frequently fulfilled that this speaking head became famous in all parts of the then known world. It was this oracle that predicted the bloody death of Cyrus, and it is said to have consisted of the embalmed head of Orpheus, who, in Grecian mythology, was said to have been the son of Apollo and the Muse, Calliope. It was Orpheus who is said to have been able to sing so beautifully as not only to charm wild beasts, but to endow inanimate things with the temporary power of life. This speaking head of Leshos be

came so celebrated among the ancient Persians that Apollo himself is said to have become jealous of it.

It seems that, at a very early time, the ancients began making speaking heads of the actual heads of the dead, in place of such inanimate things as stone or metal. On the death of a celebrated personage, the head was carefully embalmed, a plate of gold placed under the tongue (for what reason I do not know), and the head then preserved from the air by enclosing it in a thin covering of gold. As you can readily understand, speech, that was believed to come from the lips of one who formerly possessed life, naturally excited much greater wonder on the part of its hearers than a head of wood or metal.

In some places speaking heads, known as the Theraphim, consisting of embalmed heads, were very common, and were claimed to have conversed with the people who consulted them, giving advice on different matters in a similar manner to that of the oracles. For the greater convenience of their operation, these heads were placed against the walls of the temples where they could more readily be operated by the priests hiding on the other side of the wall.

In view of these cases and many others that might be mentioned, I think there can be no reasonable doubt that the speaking statue of Memnon must be regarded as a mechanical fraud. In some manner, which does not seem to have been discovered, the operation of the mechanical device, that was either placed in the statue or was connected with it, appeared to be actually dependent, in some way or other, on the rising of the sun. Ewbank declares that the speaking mechanism was operated by air or vapor dilated by the sun's heat.

Various attempts have been made to show the manner in which the sun's heat might so act on water or other liquid exposed to the sun to raise water. Ewbank thus describes the following device invented by Heron for raising water:

"On the lid of a box or cistern, containing water, is