The
      door marked I, it will be remembered, is still open. The
      exhibiter now proceeds to open the drawer which lies beneath the
      cupboards at the bottom of the box—for although there are
      apparently two drawers, there is really only one—the two handles
      and two key holes being intended merely for ornament. Having
      opened this drawer to its full extent, a small cushion, and a set
      of chessmen, fixed in a frame work made to support them
      perpendicularly, are discovered. Leaving this drawer, as well as
      cupboard No. 1 open, Maelzel now unlocks door No. 2, and door No. 3, which are discovered to be folding doors, opening into one and
      the same compartment. To the right of this compartment, however,
      (that is to say the spectators’ right) a small division, six
      inches wide, and filled with machinery, is partitioned off. The
      main compartment itself (in speaking of that portion of the box
      visible upon opening doors 2 and 3, we shall always call it the
      main compartment) is lined with dark cloth and contains no
      machinery whatever beyond two pieces of steel, quadrant-shaped,
      and situated one in each of the rear top corners of the
      compartment. A small protuberance about eight inches square, and
      also covered with dark cloth, lies on the floor of the
      compartment near the rear corner on the spectators’ left hand. Leaving doors No. 2 and No. 3 open as well as the drawer, and
      door No. I, the exhibiter now goes round to the back of the main
      compartment, and, unlocking another door there, displays clearly
      all the interior of the main compartment, by introducing a candle
      behind it and within it. The whole box being thus apparently
      disclosed to the scrutiny of the company, Maelzel, still leaving
      the doors and drawer open, rolls the Automaton entirely round,
      and exposes the back of the Turk by lifting up the drapery. A
      door about ten inches square is thrown open in the loins of the
      figure, and a smaller one also in the left thigh. The interior of
      the figure, as seen through these apertures, appears to be
      crowded with machinery. In general, every spectator is now
      thoroughly satisfied of having beheld and completely scrutinized,
      at one and the same time, every individual portion of the
      Automaton, and the idea of any person being concealed in the
      interior, during so complete an exhibition of that interior, if
      ever entertained, is immediately dismissed as preposterous in the
      extreme. M. Maelzel, having rolled the machine back into its original
      position, now informs the company that the Automaton will play a
      game of chess with any one disposed to encounter him. This
      challenge being accepted, a small table is prepared for the
      antagonist, and placed close by the rope, but on the spectators’
      side of it, and so situated as not to prevent the company from
      obtaining a full view of the Automaton. From a drawer in this
      table is taken a set of chess-men, and Maelzel arranges them
      generally, but not always, with his own hands, on the chess
      board, which consists merely of the usual number of squares
      painted upon the table. The antagonist having taken his seat, the
      exhibiter approaches the drawer of the box, and takes therefrom
      the cushion, which, after removing the pipe from the hand of the
      Automaton, he places under its left arm as a support. Then taking
      also from the drawer the Automaton’s set of chess-men, he
      arranges them upon the chessboard before the figure. He now
      proceeds to close the doors and to lock them—leaving the bunch of
      keys in door No. 1. He also closes the drawer, and, finally,
      winds up the machine, by applying a key to an aperture in the
      left end (the spectators’ left) of the box. The game now
      commences—the Automaton taking the first move. The duration of
      the contest is usually limited to half an hour, but if it be not
      finished at the expiration of this period, and the antagonist
      still contend that he can beat the Automaton, M. Maelzel has
      seldom any objection to continue it. Not to weary the company, is
      the ostensible, and no doubt the real object of the limitation. It Wits of course be understood that when a move is made at his
      own table, by the antagonist, the corresponding move is made at
      the box of the Automaton, by Maelzel himself, who then acts as
      the representative of the antagonist. On the other hand, when the
      Turk moves, the corresponding move is made at the table of the
      antagonist, also by M. Maelzel, who then acts as the
      representative of the Automaton. In this manner it is necessary
      that the exhibiter should often pass from one table to the other. He also frequently goes in rear of the figure to remove the
      chess-men which it has taken, and which it deposits, when taken,
      on the box to the left (to its own left) of the board. When the
      Automaton hesitates in relation to its move, the exhibiter is
      occasionally seen to place himself very near its right side, and
      to lay his hand, now and then, in a careless manner upon the box. He has also a peculiar shuffle with his feet, calculated to
      induce suspicion of collusion with the machine in minds which are
      more cunning than sagacious. These peculiarities are, no doubt,
      mere mannerisms of M. Maelzel, or, if he is aware of them at all,
      he puts them in practice with a view of exciting in the
      spectators a false idea of the pure mechanism in the Automaton. The Turk plays with his left hand. All the movements of the arm
      are at right angles. In this manner, the hand (which is gloved
      and bent in a natural way,) being brought directly above the
      piece to be moved, descends finally upon it, the fingers
      receiving it, in most cases, without difficulty. Occasionally,
      however, when the piece is not precisely in its proper situation,
      the Automaton fails in his attempt at seizing it. When this
      occurs, no second effort is made, but the arm continues its
      movement in the direction originally intended, precisely as if
      the piece were in the fingers. Having thus designated the spot
      whither the move should have been made, the arm returns to its
      cushion, and Maelzel performs the evolution which the Automaton
      pointed out. At every movement of the figure machinery is heard
      in motion. During the progress of the game, the figure now and
      then rolls its eyes, as if surveying the board, moves its head,
      and pronounces the word _echec _(check) when necessary.