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 156 AUTOPLASTY AUTUN during the continuance of the game. A very ingenious automaton clarinet player was made by Van Oeckelen in Holland, and exhibited in New York about 1860. It performed operatic and classical selections, with accompaniment of other instruments played by living perform- ers; it took the instrument from its mouth, moved its head and eyes, and bowed before the audience. It was wound up like a clock, and a drum, like that of a hand organ, was placed in its chest, a different one for every piece of music. The most perfect and latest is perhaps the speaking automaton of Faberman of Vien- na, exhibited in New York in 1872. It is the result of a thorough physiological study of the human organs of speech, and their close imita- tion by the materials and mechanical arts of the present day. As these contrivances have no practical utility, serving only to display the ingenuity of the maker, their construction in the United States is confined to children's toys. AUTOPLASTY (Gr. avrtf, self, and vMaaeiv, to shape or form), a surgical operation by which the nose or other superficial portion of the body, being destroyed by accident or by dis- ease, may be renewed or replaced by a portion of skin taken from another part of the same body. This art is said to have been practised in India from time immemorial. It was a cus- tom to punish crime by cutting off the nose, or the lips, or the ears of the criminal ; and for a time the parts were immediately replaced and found to grow again. To prevent this the ex- cised parts were destroyed by fire ; but the fact of the natural part adhering after it had been excised, and healing as a common wound, sug- gested the idea that a portion of skin removed from any other part of the body, and applied immediately to the mutilated part, might heal and become a natural substitute for the part re- moved. When the nose was cut off by the ex- ecutioner, the surgeon cut a triangular portion of skin from the forehead, leaving it still attach- ed by a small pedicle over the root of the nose, and, twisting it round, reversed it over the na- sal region to supply the place of the nose which had been cut off. The skin adhered and the deformity was lessened, but a scar remained upon the forehead where the skin had been removed. This method was adopted in other countries, where the nose, the eyelids, or any portion of the face had been injured by accident or by disease. Celsus speaks of nasal and labial autoplasty. In the 15th century this art was practised in Calabria by the Branca family of surgeons, who introduced the practice of taking a portion of skin from the arm to replace a de- formity in the face, instead of turning over a piece of skin from the immediate neighborhood of the part repaired, leaving a scar close by al- most as bad as the original deformity. In the following century Lanfranc, an Italian surgeon, practised the art of nasal autoplasty with suc- cess in Paris ; and the celebrated Gasparo Ta- gliacozzi (Taliacotius) practised the same art in Italy, and wrote his work on the art of autoplas- tic surgery, which is still in good repute. The last-named surgeon improved the operation to such an extent, and did so much to bring it permanently into recognition, that the restora- tion of the nose or other lost parts, when per- formed according to his method, received his name, and became known as the " Taliacotian operation." In the beginning of the present century this art was revived by the celebrated English surgeon Carpue, and has been much improved by Grafe, Dzondi, Delpech, Cooper, Dupuytren, Roux, Lisfranc, Blandin, Velpeau, Lallemand, Dieffenbach, and other celebrated surgeons of the present time. New methods have been introduced, and almost any superfi- cial portion of the body may be now repaired by autoplastio surgery. Three methods are adopted, the Indian, the Italian, and the French, and one or the other is preferred ac- cording to the parts involved. The Indian method, already described, consists in turning over a contiguous portion of skin to repair the deformity ; the Italian method consists in tak- ing a portion of skin from the arm, or from a distant portion of the body ; the French meth- od consists in loosening the skin on either side of the injury, so as to detach it from the parts beneath, drawing it together until it covers the lost part, and then uniting the borders, by suture pins and ligatures, until the parts ad- here and grow together. This is far the best wherever it is practicable. The resources of this art are now very considerable, but skill is required to operate well, and judgment to de- cide whether it will be practically useful ; for, where the general health of the patient is unfa- vorable, the operation may be unadvisable. Different names are given to the operation, ac- cording to the parts repaired by this method : it is termed " blepharoplasty " when applied to the eyelids ; " otoplasty " when applied to the ears ; " rhinoplasty " when applied to the nose ; " cheiloplasty " in reference to the lips ; " pal- atoplasty " for the roof of the mouth ; and " bronchoplasty " for the trachea. AUTUMN (Lat. autummts), the third season of the year. In the northern temperate zone it begins when the sun in its apparent de- scent to the southern hemisphere crosses the equatorial line, and ends at the period of the sun's greatest southern declination, or when he enters Capricorn. This astronomical au- tumn begins about Sept. 23, and lasts till about Dec. 21. But in popular language in the Uni- ted States autumn comprises the months of September, October, and November; in Eng- land, August, September, and October. In the southern hemisphere, the autumn takes place at the time of our spring. AUTUN (anc. Hibracte, afterward Avgmtodu- num), a town of France, in Burgundy, depart- ment of Sa6ne-et-Loire, on the Arroux, 50 m. N. N. W. of Macon; pop. in I860, 12,389. It lies at the foot of a range of well wooded hills ; the surrounding country is rich in vineyards and corn fields. The town contains many antiqui-