1770 Mechanical Turk chess machine

[Jon]

It's interesting you mention that. The Turk used many of the techniques of modern magicians: magnets, levers, people hiding in small spaces, cabinet doors opening and closing in careful order.

Ironically, while modern illusionists seek to create the illusion that their trick is indeed "magic", the point of the Turk was to convince the viewer that the illusion was actually "science".