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<p>The <b><span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">Canard Digérateur</i></span></b>, or <b>Digesting Duck</b>, was an <a href="Automaton" title="Automaton">automaton</a> in the form of a <a href="Duck" title="Duck">duck</a>, created by <a href="Jacques_de_Vaucanson" title="Jacques de Vaucanson">Jacques de Vaucanson</a> and unveiled on 30 May 1764 in France. The mechanical duck appeared to have the ability to eat kernels of grain, and to metabolize and defecate them. While the duck did not actually have the ability to do this—the food was collected in one inner container, and the pre-stored feces were "produced" from a second, so that no actual digestion took place—Vaucanson hoped that a truly digesting automaton could one day be designed.

</p><p><a href="Voltaire" title="Voltaire">Voltaire</a> wrote in 1769 that "Without the voice of <a href="Catherine-Nicole_Lemaure" title="Catherine-Nicole Lemaure">le Maure</a> and Vaucanson's duck, you would have nothing to remind you of the glory of <a href="France" title="France">France</a>."<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>The duck is thought to have been destroyed in a fire at a <a href="Private_museum" title="Private museum">private museum</a> in 1879.<sup id="cite_ref-guardian_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-guardian-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Operation">Operation</h2></div>

<p>The automaton was the size of a living duck, and was cased in gold-plated copper. As well as quacking and muddling water with its bill, it appeared capable of drinking water, and of taking food from its operator's hand, swallowing it with a gulping action and excreting what appeared to be a digested version of it.<sup id="cite_ref-guardian_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-guardian-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Vaucanson described the duck's interior as containing a small "chemical laboratory" capable of breaking down the grain.<sup id="cite_ref-guardian_2-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-guardian-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> When the stage magician and automaton builder <a href="Jean-Eug%C3%A8ne_Robert-Houdin" title="Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin">Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin</a> examined the duck in 1844, he found that Vaucanson had faked the mechanism, and the duck's excreta consisted of pre-prepared breadcrumb pellets, dyed green. Robert-Houdin described this as "a piece of artifice I would happily have incorporated in a conjuring trick".<sup id="cite_ref-guardian_2-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-guardian-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Modern_influence">Modern influence</h2></div>

<p>A replica of Vaucanson's mechanical duck, created by Frédéric Vidoni, was part of the collection of the (now defunct) <a href="Grenoble%2C_France" class="mw-redirect" title="Grenoble, France">Grenoble</a> Automata Museum. Another replica was commissioned privately from David Secrett, an automaton maker known for his archer figures.

</p><p>The duck is mentioned by the hero of <a href="Nathaniel_Hawthorne" title="Nathaniel Hawthorne">Nathaniel Hawthorne</a>'s <a href="Short_story" title="Short story">short story</a> "<a href="The_Artist_of_the_Beautiful" title="The Artist of the Beautiful">The Artist of the Beautiful</a>", and is referenced and discussed in <a href="John_Twelve_Hawks" title="John Twelve Hawks">John Twelve Hawks</a>' novel "Spark". In <a href="Thomas_Pynchon" title="Thomas Pynchon">Thomas Pynchon</a>'s historical novel <i><a href="Mason_%26_Dixon" title="Mason & Dixon">Mason & Dixon</a></i>, Vaucanson's duck attains consciousness and pursues an exiled Parisian chef across the United States. The duck is referred to in <a href="Peter_Carey_(novelist)" title="Peter Carey (novelist)">Peter Carey</a>'s novel, <i><a href="The_Chemistry_of_Tears" title="The Chemistry of Tears">The Chemistry of Tears</a></i>.<sup id="cite_ref-Morrison_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Morrison-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Vaucanson and his duck are referred to in <a href="Lawrence_Norfolk" title="Lawrence Norfolk">Lawrence Norfolk</a>'s 1991 novel <i>Lempriere's Dictionary</i>, as well as a brief mention in <a href="Frank_Herbert" title="Frank Herbert">Frank Herbert</a>'s <a href="Destination%3A_Void" title="Destination: Void">Destination: Void</a>. The Duck is featured in <a href="Lavie_Tidhar" title="Lavie Tidhar">Lavie Tidhar</a>'s <i>The Bookman</i>, in the Egyptian Hall, alongside <a href="Mechanical_Turk" title="Mechanical Turk">the Turk</a>. The duck is also a key element to Max Byrd's mystery novel The Paris Deadline.

</p><p>In 2002, Belgian conceptual artist <a href="Wim_Delvoye" title="Wim Delvoye">Wim Delvoye</a> introduced the world to his "<a href="Cloaca_(art_installation)" title="Cloaca (art installation)">Cloaca Machine</a>", a mechanical art work that actually digests food and turns it into excrement, fulfilling Vaucanson's wish for a working digestive automation. Many iterations of the Cloaca Machine have since been produced; the latest iteration sits vertically, mimicking the human digestive system. The excrement produced by the machine is vacuum-sealed in Cloaca-branded bags and sold to art collectors and dealers; every series of excrements produced has sold out.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<ul><li><a href="Gastrobot" title="Gastrobot">Gastrobot</a>, modern digestion-fuelled robots</li>

<li><a href="Reductionism" title="Reductionism">Reductionism</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFVoltaire1819" class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-long-vol cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Voltaire (1819). Plancher, P. (ed.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=W2JfAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22sans+la+voix+de+la+le+Maure%2C%22&pg=PA491"><i>Œuvres complètes de Voltaire</i></a> [<i>Complete Works of Voltaire</i>] (in French). Vol. 32: Correspondance générale. Rue Hautefeuille, Paris: Mme. Jeunehomme. p. 491. <q>... sans la voix de la le Maure, & le canard de Vaucanson, vous n'auriez rien qui fit ressouvenir de la gloire de la France.</q></cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-guardian-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-guardian_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-guardian_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-guardian_2-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-guardian_2-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFWood2002" class="citation news cs1"><a href="Gaby_Wood" title="Gaby Wood">Wood, Gaby</a> (February 15, 2002). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/feb/16/extract.gabywood">"Living Dolls: A Magical History Of The Quest For Mechanical Life by Gaby Wood"</a>. <i>The Guardian</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">November 21,</span> 2016</span>. <q>In 1882, someone wrote a letter to a German newspaper claiming they had seen the duck in a private museum in Krakow during the summer of 1879. But within days the museum had burnt down.</q></cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-Morrison-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Morrison_3-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFMorrison2012" class="citation web cs1">Morrison, Rebecca K. (30 March 2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-chemistry-of-tears-by-peter-carey-7600562.html">"The Chemistry of Tears, By Peter Carey"</a>. <i>The Independent</i> (book review)<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">19 May</span> 2012</span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFAmy2002" class="citation news cs1">Amy, Michaël (20 January 2002). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/20/arts/art-architecture-the-body-as-machine-taken-to-its-extreme.html">"ART/ARCHITECTURE; The Body As Machine, Taken To Its Extreme"</a>. <i>The New York Times</i>. <a href="ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331">0362-4331</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">16 April</span> 2019</span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGrimes2002" class="citation news cs1">Grimes, William (30 January 2002). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/30/dining/critic-s-notebook-down-the-hatch.html">"CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; Down the Hatch"</a>. <i>The New York Times</i>. <a href="ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331">0362-4331</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">16 April</span> 2019</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Sources">Sources</h2></div>

<ul><li>Wood, Gaby (2003). <i>Living Dolls: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life</i>. London: Faber. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9782738120021</bdi></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2></div>

<ul><li>Heudin, Jean-Claude (2008). <i>Les créatures artificielles: des automates aux mondes virtuels</i>. Paris: Editions Odile Jacob. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9782738120021</bdi></li>

<li>Riskin, Jessica. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.uchicago.edu/research/jnl-crit-inq/issues/v29/v29n4.riskin.html">"The defecating duck, or, the ambiguous origins of artificial life"</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050106023614/http://www.uchicago.edu/research/jnl-crit-inq/issues/v29/v29n4.riskin.html">Archived</a> 6 January 2005 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>, <i>Critical Inquiry</i> 29, no. 4 (2003): 599–633.</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/canard-digerateur-de-vaucanson-vaucansons-digesting-duck">Canard Digérateur de Vaucanson - Vaucanson's Digesting Duck</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,,650977,00.html"><i>Living Dolls: A Magical History Of The Quest For Mechanical Life</i> by Gaby Wood</a> Guardian Unlimited Books, Extracts, Saturday 16 February 2002</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070807052352/http://music.calarts.edu/~sroberts/articles/DeVaucanson.duck.html">"A Zenith" by Sara Roberts</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.instituteartist.com/feature-I-m-Sorry-Dave-I-m-Afraid-I-Can-t-Do-That-Simon-Norfolk">I'm Afraid I Can't Do That</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140416054035/http://www.instituteartist.com/feature-I-m-Sorry-Dave-I-m-Afraid-I-Can-t-Do-That-Simon-Norfolk">Archived</a> 16 April 2014 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> by <a href="Simon_Norfolk" title="Simon Norfolk">Simon Norfolk</a>, an article discussing the Digesting Duck's impact on the philosophical definition of <a href="Life" title="Life">life</a>.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://blog.dugnorth.com/2012/03/film-featuring-modern-automata-of-david.html">BBC film featuring the modern automata of David Secrett in 1979</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160315093022/http://blog.dugnorth.com/2012/03/film-featuring-modern-automata-of-david.html">Archived</a> 15 March 2016 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

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