Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

It must have been this principle which first suggested to the minds of Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke the construction of an automaton cornet player. The extra long tube of which I have made mention passes through the body of the figure into its mouth, where it meets the mouth of the cornet when it is placed against the lips. This tube is passed through one of the legs of the chair on which the cornet player is seated, and thence beneath the stage, where a living cornet player manipulates the instrument in the hands of the figure by means of three strings or wires attached to the fingers of the figure. Thus while he is blowing through the tube he has the string of the first piston on his forefinger, that of the middle piston on the middle finger, and that of the third piston on the third finger. As he mouths his instrument he moves his fingers in precisely the same manner as he would had he an instrument instead of only a tube to play upon; and as he moves his fingers so he pulls the wires joined to the three fingers of the figure, and thus produces the change of notes which the exigencies of the tune require.