#digesting duck

"An American artist's (mistaken) drawing of how the Digesting Duck may have worked"

Shout out to Jacques de Vaucanson! What a freak :)

Pastiche transcription below

A false diagram of the inner working of Jaucques de Vaucanson's mechanical automaton Canard Digérateur or, Digesting Duck. Vaucanson built the mechanical mallard in 1739 in an attempt to recreate a functioning automated digestive track that would eat, metabolize, and defecate on its own. 

Though the creation of a fully automated digestive system was never achieved, the final version of the Digesting Duck gave the appearance of a fully working system, storing food placed into its mouth, and expelling pre-loaded waste out the other end. 

Of the infamous automaton, Voltaire famously remarked, "Sans...le canard de Vaucanson vous n'auriez rien qui fit ressouvenir de la gloire de la France." or  "Without...the duck of Vaucanson, you will have nothing to remind you of the glory of France." 

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