{"id":"01KG6YHB0MWD86M0FG3CYSRHGP","cid":"bafkreig7efxwdeaemlk5ansna43qjmlrwhwzs4cvbqun26gcnrnpsukomy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8469,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.413Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 8","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":8420,"text":"clearest, beyond the immediate subject.\r\n\r\nAt that period, no large bell was made to sound otherwise than as at\r\npresent, by agitation of a tongue within, by means of ropes, or\r\npercussion from without, either from cumbrous machinery, or stalwart\r\nwatchmen, armed with heavy hammers, stationed in the belfry, or in\r\nsentry-boxes on the open roof, according as the bell was sheltered or\r\nexposed.\r\n\r\nIt was from observing these exposed bells, with their watchmen, that\r\nthe foundling, as was opined, derived the first suggestion of his\r\nscheme. Perched on a great mast or spire, the human figure, viewed from\r\nbelow, undergoes such a reduction in its apparent size, as to\r\nobliterate its intelligent features. It evinces no personality. Instead\r\nof bespeaking volition, its gestures rather resemble the automatic ones\r\nof the arms of a telegraph.\r\n\r\nMusing, therefore, upon the purely Punchinello aspect of the human\r\nfigure thus beheld, it had indirectly occurred to Bannadonna to devise\r\nsome metallic agent, which should strike the hour with its mechanic\r\nhand, with even greater precision than the vital one. And, moreover, as\r\nthe vital watchman on the roof, sallying from his retreat at the given\r\nperiods, walked to the bell with uplifted mace, to smite it, Bannadonna\r\nhad resolved that his invention should likewise possess the power of\r\nlocomotion, and, along with that, the appearance, at least, of\r\nintelligence and will.\r\n\r\nIf the conjectures of those who claimed acquaintance with the intent of\r\nBannadonna be thus far correct, no unenterprising spirit could have\r\nbeen his. But they stopped not here; intimating that though, indeed,\r\nhis design had, in the first place, been prompted by the sight of the\r\nwatchman, and confined to the devising of a subtle substitute for him:\r\nyet, as is not seldom the case with projectors, by insensible\r\ngradations, proceeding from comparatively pigmy aims to Titanic ones,\r\nthe original scheme had, in its anticipated eventualities, at last,\r\nattained to an unheard of degree of daring.\r\n\r\nHe still bent his efforts upon the locomotive figure for the belfry,\r\nbut only as a partial type of an ulterior creature, a sort of\r\nelephantine Helot, adapted to further, in a degree scarcely to be\r\nimagined, the universal conveniences and glories of humanity; supplying\r\nnothing less than a supplement to the Six Days’ Work; stocking the\r\nearth with a new serf, more useful than the ox, swifter than the\r\ndolphin, stronger than the lion, more cunning than the ape, for\r\nindustry an ant, more fiery than serpents, and yet, in patience,\r\nanother ass. All excellences of all God-made creatures, which served\r\nman, were here to receive advancement, and then to be combined in one.\r\nTalus was to have been the all-accomplished Helot’s name. Talus, iron\r\nslave to Bannadonna, and, through him, to man.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 8"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGCCBQ15QDEM5CEG7CHSQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YHB0QNDK923932QYKZZ6V","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YHB0M1VHD96FHEX3ENFSP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:58.164Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:07.979Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}