Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 Part 10 (1/2)

See G. F. Stout, _a.n.a.l. Psych_, i. 258 foll.; Win. James, _Princ. of Psych._ i. chap. 5; also the articles PSYCHOLOGY, SUGGESTION, &c.

_Sensory Automatism_ is the term given by students of psychical research to a centrally initiated hallucination. Such hallucinations are commonly provoked by crystal-gazing (_q.v._), but auditory hallucinations may be caused by the use of a sh.e.l.l (sh.e.l.l-hearing), and the other senses are occasionally affected.

_Motor Automatism_, on the other hand, is a non-reflex movement of a voluntary muscle, executed in the waking state but not controlled by the ordinary waking consciousness. Phenomena of this kind play a large part in primitive ceremonies of divination (_q.v._) and in our own day furnish much of the material of Psychical Research. At the lowest level we have vague movements of large groups of muscles, as in ”bier-divination,” where the murderer or his residence is inferred from the actions of the bearers; of a similar character but combined with more specialized action are many kinds of witch seeking. These more specialized actions are most typically seen in the Divining Rod (_q.v._; see also TABLE-TURNING), which indicates the presence of water and is used among the uncivilized to trace criminals. At a higher stage still we have the delicate movements necessary for Automatic Writing (_q.v._) or Drawing. A parallel case to Automatic Writing is the action of the speech centres, resulting in the production of all kinds of utterances from trance speeches in the ordinary language of the speaker to mere unintelligible babblings. An interesting form of speech automatism is known as Glossolalia; in the typical case of Helene Smith, Th. Flournoy has shown that these utterances may reach a higher plane and form a real language, which is, however, based on one already known to the speaker.

See _Man_ (1904), No. 68; _Folklore_, xiii. 134; Myers in _Proc. S.P.R._ ix. 26, xii. 277, xv. 403; Flournoy, _Des Indes a la planete Mars_ and in _Arch. de Psychologie_; Myers, _Human Personality_.

(N. W. T.)

AUTOMATON (from [Greek: autos], self, and [Greek: mao], to seize), a self-moving machine, or one in which the principle of motion is contained within the mechanism itself. According to this description, clocks, watches and all machines of a similar kind, are automata, but the word is generally applied to contrivances which simulate for a time the motions of animal life. If the human figure and actions be represented, the automaton has sometimes been called specially an _androides_. We have very early notices of the construction of automata, _e.g._ the tripods of Vulcan, and the moving figures of Daedalus. In 400 B.C., Archytas of Tarentum is said to have made a wooden pigeon that could fly, and during the middle ages numerous instances of the construction of automata are recorded.

Regiomonta.n.u.s is said to have made of iron a fly, which would flutter round the room and return to his hand, and also an eagle, which flew before the emperor Maximilian when he was entering Nuremberg. Roger Bacon is said to have forged a brazen head which spoke, and Albertus Magnus to have had an androides, which acted as doorkeeper, and was broken to pieces by Aquinas.

Of these, as of some later instances, _e.g._ the figure constructed by Descartes and the automata exhibited by Dr Camus, not much is accurately known. But in the 18th century, Jacques de Vaucanson, the celebrated mechanician, exhibited three admirable figures,--the flute-player, the tambourine-player, and the duck, which was capable of eating, drinking, and imitating exactly the natural voice of that fowl. The means by which these results had been produced were clearly seen, and a great impulse was given to the construction of similar figures. Knauss exhibited at Vienna an automaton which wrote; a father and son named Droz constructed several ingenious mechanical figures which wrote and played music; Frederick Kaufmann and Leonard Maelzel made automatic trumpeters who could play several marches. The Swiss have always been celebrated for their mechanical ingenuity, and they construct most of the curious toys, such as flying and singing birds, which are frequently met with in industrial exhibitions. The greatest difficulty has generally been experienced in devising any mechanism which shall successfully simulate the human voice (not to be compared with the gramophone, which reproduces mechanically a real voice).

No attempt has been thoroughly successful, though many have been made. A figure exhibited by Fabermann of Vienna remains the best. Kempelen's famous chess-player for many years astonished and puzzled Europe. This figure, however, was no true automaton, although the mechanical contrivances for concealing the real performer and giving effect to his desired movements were exceedingly ingenious. J. N. Maskelyne, in more recent times (1875-1880), has been prominent in exhibiting his automata, Psycho (who played cards) and Zoe (who drew pictures), at the Egyptian Hall, London, but the secret of these contrivances was well kept. (See CONJURING.)

AUTOMORPHISM (from Gr. [Greek: autos], self, and [Greek: morphe], form), the conception and interpretation of other people's habits and ideas on the a.n.a.logy of one's own.

AUTONOMY (Gr. [Greek: autos], self, and [Greek: nomos], law), in general, freedom from external restraint, self-government. The term is usually coupled with a qualifying adjective. Thus, political autonomy is self-government in its widest sense, independence of all control from without. Local autonomy is a freedom of self-government within a sphere marked out by some superior authority; _e.g._ munic.i.p.al corporations in England have their administrative powers marked out for them by acts of parliament, and in so far as they govern themselves within these limits exercise local autonomy. Administrative or const.i.tutional autonomy, such as exists in the British colonies, implies an extent of self-government which falls short only of complete independence. The term is used loosely even in the case of _e.g._ religious bodies, individual churches and other communities [v.03 p.0049] which enjoy a measure of self-government in certain specified respects.

In philosophy, the term (with its ant.i.thesis ”heteronomy”) was applied by Kant to that aspect of the rational will in which, _qua_ rational, it is a law to itself, independently alike of any external authority, of the results of experience and of the impulses of pleasure and pain. In the sphere of morals, the ultimate and only authority which the mind can recognize is the law which emerges from the pure moral consciousness. This is the only sense in which moral freedom can be understood. (See ETHICS; KANT.) Though the term ”autonomy” in its fullest sense implies entire freedom from causal necessity, it can also be used even in determinist theories for relative independence of particular conditions, theological or conventional.

AUTOPSY (Gr. [Greek: autos], self, and [Greek: opsis], sight, investigation), a personal examination, specifically a _post-mortem_ (”after death”) examination of a dead body, to ascertain the cause of death, &c. The term ”necropsy” (Gr. [Greek: nekros], corpse) is sometimes used in this sense. (See CORONER and MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.)

AUTRAN, JOSEPH (1813-1877), French poet, was born at Ma.r.s.eilles on the 20th of June 1813. In 1832 he addressed an ode to Lamartine, who was then at Ma.r.s.eilles on his way to the East. The elder poet persuaded the young man's father to allow him to follow his poetic bent, and Autran remained from that time a faithful disciple of Lamartine. His best known work is _La Mer_ (1835), remodelled in 1852 as _Les Poemes de la mer. Ludibria ventis_ (1838) followed, and the success of these two volumes gained for Autran the librarians.h.i.+p of his native town. His other most important work is his _Vie rurale_ (1856), a series of pictures of peasant life. The Algerian campaigns inspired him with verses in honour of the common soldier.

_Milianah_ (1842) describes the heroic defence of that town, and in the same vein is his _Laboureurs et soldats_ (1854). Among his other works are the _Paroles de Salomon_ (1868), _epitres rustiques_ (1861), _Sonnets capricieux_, and a tragedy played with great success at the Odeon in 1848, _La Fille d'Eschyle_. A definitive edition of his works was brought out between 1875 and 1881. He became a member of the French Academy in 1868, and died at Ma.r.s.eilles on the 6th of March 1877.

AUTUN, a town of east-central France, capital of an arrondiss.e.m.e.nt in the department of Saone-et-Loire, 62 m. S.W. of Dijon on the Paris-Lyon railway to Nevers. Pop. (1906) 11,927. Autun is pleasantly situated on the slope of a hill at the foot of which runs the Arroux. Its former greatness is attested by many Roman remains, the chief of which are two well-preserved stone gateways, the Porte d' Arroux and the Porte St Andre, both pierced with four archways and surmounted by arcades. There are also remains of the old ramparts and aqueducts, of a square tower called the Temple of Ja.n.u.s, of a theatre and of an amphitheatre. A pyramid in the neighbouring village of Couhard was probably a sepulchral monument. The chapel of St Nicolas (12th century) contains many of the remains discovered at Autun. The cathedral of St Lazare, once the chapel attached to the residence of the dukes of Burgundy, is in the highest part of the town. It belongs mainly to the 12th century, but the Gothic central tower and the chapels were added in the 15th century by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy, born at Autun. The chief artistic features of the church are the group of the Last Judgment sculptured on the tympanum above the west door, and the painting by Ingres representing the martyrdom of St Symphorien, which took place at Autun in 179. In the cathedral square stands the fountain of St Lazare, a work of the Renaissance. The hotel Rolin, a house of the 15th century, contains the collections of the ”Aeduan literary and scientific society.”

The hotel de ville, containing a museum of paintings, the law-court and the theatre are modern buildings. Autun is the seat of a bishopric, of tribunals of first instance and of commerce, and has an ecclesiastical seminary, a communal college and a cavalry school. Among the industries of the town are the extraction of oil from the bituminous schist obtained in the neighbourhood, leather manufacture, metal-founding, marble-working, and the manufacture of machinery and furniture. Autun is the commercial centre for a large part of the Morvan, and has considerable trade in timber and cattle.

Autun (_Augustodunum_) succeeded Bibracte as capital of the Aedui when Gaul was reorganized by Augustus. Under the Romans, it was a flouris.h.i.+ng town, covering double its present extent and renowned for its schools of rhetoric. In the succeeding centuries its prosperity drew upon it the attacks of the barbarians, the Saracens and the Normans. The counts of Autun in 880 became dukes of Burgundy, and the town was the residence of the latter till 1276. It was ravaged by the English in 1379, and, in 1591, owing to its support of the League, had to sustain a siege conducted by Marshal Jean d'Aumont, general of Henry IV.

See H. de Fontenay, _Autun et ses monuments_ (Autun, 1889).

AUTUNITE, or CALCO-URANITE, a mineral which is one of the ”uranium micas,”

differing from the more commonly occurring torbernite (_q.v._) or cupro-uranite in containing calcium in place of copper. It is a hydrous uranium and calcium phosphate, Ca(UO_2)_2(PO_4)_2 + 8(or 12)H_2O. Though closely resembling the tetragonal torbernite in form, it crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and is optically biaxial. The crystals have the shape of thin plates with very nearly square outline (89 17' instead of 90). An important character is the perfect micaceous cleavage parallel to the basal plane, on which plane the l.u.s.tre is pearly. The colour is sulphur-yellow, and this enables the mineral to be distinguished at a glance from the emerald-green torbernite. Hardness 2-2; specific gravity 3.05-3.19. Autunite is usually found with pitchblende and other uranium minerals, or with ores of silver, tin and iron; it sometimes coats joint-planes in gneiss and pegmat.i.te. Falkenstein in Saxony, St Symphorien near Autun (hence the name of the species), and St Day in Cornwall are well-known localities for this mineral.

(L. J. S.)

AUVERGNE, formerly a province of France, corresponding to the departments of Cantal and Puy-de-Dome, with the arrondiss.e.m.e.nt of Brioude in Haute-Loire. It contains many mountains volcanic in origin (Plomb du Cantal, Puy de Dome, Mont Dore), fertile valleys such as that of Limagne, vast pasture-lands, and numerous medicinal springs. Up to the present day the population retains strongly-marked Celtic characteristics. In the time of Caesar the _Arverni_ were a powerful confederation, the Arvernian Vercingetorix being the most famous of the Gallic chieftains who fought against the Romans. Under the empire _Arvernia_ formed part of _Prima Aquitania_, and the district shared in the fortunes of Aquitaine during the Merovingian and Carolingian periods. Auvergne was the seat of a separate counts.h.i.+p before the end of the 8th century; the first hereditary count was William the Pious (886). By the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine with Henry Plantagenet, the counts.h.i.+p pa.s.sed under the suzerainty of the kings of England, but at the same time it was divided, William VII., called the Young (1145-1168), having been despoiled of a portion of his domain by his uncle William VIII., called the Old, who was supported by Henry II. of England, so that he only retained the region bounded by the Allier and the Coux. It is this district that from the end of the 13th century was called the _Dauphine d'Auvergne_. This family quarrel occasioned the intervention of Philip Augustus, king of France, who succeeded in possessing himself of a large part of the country, which was annexed to the royal domains under the name of _Terre d'Auvergne_. As the price of his concurrence with the king in this matter, the bishop of Clermont, Robert I. (1195-1227), was granted the lords.h.i.+p of the town of Clermont, which subsequently became a counts.h.i.+p. Such was the origin of the four great historic lords.h.i.+ps of Auvergne. The _Terre d'Auvergne_ was first an appanage of Count Alphonse of Poitiers (1241-1271), and in 1360 was erected into a duchy in the peerage of France (d.u.c.h.e-pairie) by King John II. in favour of his son John, through whose daughter the new t.i.tle pa.s.sed in 1416 to the house of Bourbon. The last duke, the celebrated constable Charles of Bourbon, united the domains of the _Dauphine_ to those of the [v.03 p.0050] duchy, but all were confiscated by the crown in consequence of the sentence which punished the constable's treason in 1527. The counts.h.i.+p, however, had pa.s.sed in 1422 to the house of La Tour, and was not annexed to the domain until 1615. The administration of the royal province of Auvergne was organized under Louis XIV. At the time of the revolution it formed what was called a ”government,” with two divisions: Upper Auvergne (Aurillac), and Lower Auvergne (Clermont).

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Baluze, _Histoire genealogique de la maison d'Auvergne_ (1708); Andre Imberdis, _Histoire generale de l'Auvergne_ (1867); J. B. M.

Bielawski, _Histoire de la comte d'Auvergne et de sa capitale Vic-le-Comte_ (1868); B. Gonot, _Catalogue des ouvrages imprimes et ma.n.u.scrits concernant l'Auvergne_ (1849). See further Chevalier, _Repertoire des sources hist., Topobibliographie_, s.v.

AUXANOMETER (Gr. [Greek: auxanein], to increase, [Greek: metron], measure), an apparatus for measuring increase or rate of growth in plants.

AUXENTIUS (fl. _c._ 370), of Cappadocia, an Arian theologian of some eminence (see ARIUS). When Constantine deposed the orthodox bishops who resisted, Auxentius was installed into the seat of Dionysius, bishop of Milan, and came to be regarded as the great opponent of the Nicene doctrine in the West. So prominent did he become, that he was specially mentioned by name in the condemnatory decree of the synod which Damasus, bishop of Rome, urged by Athanasius, convened in defence of the Nicene doctrine (A.D. 369).

When the orthodox emperor Valentinian ascended the throne, Auxentius was left undisturbed in his diocese, but his theological doctrines were publicly attacked by Hilary of Poitiers.

The chief source of information about him is the _Liber contra Auxentium_ in the Benedictine edition of the works of Hilary.

AUXERRE, a town of central France, capital of the department of Yonne, 38 m. S.S.E. of Sens on the Paris-Lyon railway, between Laroche and Nevers.