When Descartes resided in Holland, he made with great labour and
industry a female automaton, which gave some wicked wits occasion to
report that he had an illegitimate daughter, named Franchine. The object
of Descartes was, to demonstrate that beasts have no souls, and are but
machines nicely composed, that move whenever another body strikes them
and communicates to them a portion of its motions. Having carried this
singular machine on board of a Dutch vessel, the captain, who sometimes
heard it move, had the curiosity to open the box. Astonished to see a
little human form uncommonly animated, yet when touched appearing to be
nothing but wood--and being little versed in science, but very
superstitious--he took the ingenious labour of the philosopher for a
little devil, and terminated the experiment of Descartes, by throwing
his "wooden daughter" into the sea.
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