We must suppose that he (Sylvester) was possessed of extraordinary knowledge and the most

remarkable mechanical skill and inventiveness. This speaking head must have been fashioned ’under a
certain conjunction of stars occurring at the exact moment when all the planets were starting on their
courses.’ Neither the past, nor the present nor the future entered into it, since this invention apparently
far exceeded in its scope its rival, the perverse ’mirror on the wall’ of the Queen, the precursor of our
modern electronic brain. Naturally, it was widely asserted that Gerbert was only able to produce such a
machine because he was in league with the Devil and had sworn eternal allegiance to him.