AUTOMAT′IC

Syn. Automat i′cus , Autom′at us , L.; Automat i que , Fr.; Automat is che , Ger. Self-acting or self-moving, or that seems to be so; mechanical; of or resembling an automaton. In physiology , involuntary, applied to functions which are performed without the operation of the will; as the movements in respiration, the contractions and dilations of the heart, the persistent contraction of the sphincters, . In mechanics , ., moving and acting from concealed machinery; also, as applied to machinery , self-regulating and directing, within the limits prescribed by its author, though moved by external power. To the last cla belongs the self-acting machinery of our flax and cotton mills, our engineering establishments, .; in which the elemental powers are made to animate, as it were, millions of complex organs, infusing into forms of wood, iron, and bra , an agency resembling that of intelligent beings. The manufactures in which such machinery is employed are termed the AUTOMATIC ARTS .