Jacques de, an ingenious mechanician, was born of a noble family at Grenoble, in Dauphiné, 24th February 1709. While yet a boy, he exhibited a taste and a talent for mechanics, and succeeded in the construction of a wooden clock which marked the time with accuracy. Afterwards, for the purpose of studying mechanics more fully, he went to Paris, where he made an automaton that played on the flute. This curious and ingenious machine, having attracted much attention and admiration, he produced others even more wonderful, among which was a duck that swam, quacked, flapped its wings, and even swallowed and digested its food, like a living animal. But besides these ingenious toys, Vaucanson also invented some really useful contrivances. Having been appointed in 1741 inspector of silk factories, he introduced many improvements, and invented machines for weaving and dressing silk. He wrote in the journals of the Academy of Sciences several admirable descriptions of the machines he had invented, and had a very valuable collection of these and other objects connected with art and manufactures, which was unfortunately dispersed after his death in 1782.