ight railing
surrounded the figure, to prevent the spectators from crowding too
closely about it; and only those who wished to inspect the construction
of it (so far as the Exhibitor could allow this to be seen without
divulging his secret), and the person whose turn it was to put a
question to it, were allowed to go inside this railing, and close up to
it. The usual mode of procedure was to whisper the question you wished
to ask into the Turk's right ear; on which he would turn, first his
eyes, and then his whole head, towards you; and as you were sensible of
a gentle stream of air, like breath coming from his lips, you could not
but suppose that the low reply which was given to you did really
proceed from the interior of the figure. From time to time, after a few
answers had been given, the Exhibitor would apply a key to the Turk's
left side, and wind up some clockwork with a good deal of noise. Here,
also, he would, if desired, open a species of lid, so that you could
see inside the figure a complicated piece of mechanism consisting of a
number of wheels; and although you might not think it probable that
this had anything to do with the speaking of the automaton, still it
was evident that it occupied so much space that no human being could
possibly be concealed inside, were he no bigger than Augustus's dwarf
who was served up in a pasty. Besides the movement of the head, which
always took place before an answer was given, the Turk would sometimes
also raise his right hand, and either make a warning gesture with the
finger, or, as it were, motion the question away with the whole hand.
When this happened, nothing but repeated urging by the questioner could
extract an answer, which was then generally ambiguous or angry. It
might have been that the wheel work was connected with, or answerable
for, those motions of the head and hands, although even in this the
agency of a sentient being seemed essential. People wearied themselves
with conjectures concerning the source and agent of this marvellous
Intelligence. The walls, the adjoining room, the furniture, everything
connected with the exhibition, were carefully examined and scrutinised,
all completely in vain. The figure and its Exhibitor were watched and
scanned most closely by the eyes of the most expert in mechanical
science; but the more close and minute the scrutiny, the more easy and
unconstrained were the actions and proceedings of both. The Exhibitor
laughed and jo