An Attempt to Analyse the Automaton Chess Player of Mr. De Kempelen / To Which is Added, a Copious Collection of the Knight's Moves over the Chess Board

An analytical essay scrutinizes a celebrated chess‑playing automaton and its public exhibition, detailing the displayed internal mechanisms, the exhibitor’s demonstrations, and illustrated plates. It classifies automata into simple, compound, and spurious types, argues that the machine’s responsive, variable play cannot arise from fixed mechanism alone, and examines proposed means of concealed human control. The text describes how the apparatus is shown to spectators, critiques explanations that rely on hidden mechanical links, and offers methods for imitating the figure’s movements. An extensive appendix supplies diagrams and systematic routes for the knight’s moves across various board configurations.