John Nepomuk Maelzel, the son of an ingenious mechanician and organ builder, was born on August 15, 1772, in Regensburg, Bavaria. Thoroughly trained in the theory and practice of music, he became the best pianist in Regensburg at the age of fourteen. After teaching music for a few years, he moved to Vienna in 1792, where he occupied himself not only in scientific and mathematical studies, but with mechanical experiments on musical instruments, a field which had become promising after musical clocks were intro duced in the eighteenth century. 1 Maelzel invented an orchestral automaton that was composed of all the pieces of an entire military band and for which Albert, Duke of Saxe-Teschen, paid 3,000 florins in 1803. In 1806 another in strument of the same kind, with clarinets, violins, violas and violon cello added, was also completed by Maelzel. This instrument was enclosed in a large cabinet case and played compositions by Mozart, Haydn, Cherubini, Crescentini, and others. It was exhibited with much success locally, and was later taken to Paris where it was christened the?? panharmonicon.,, It received tremendous popularity in Europe, and later toured America where people gladly paid one dollar to hear it perform. 2