Doing some research on a tangentially-related topic of physiology and narrative, I came across some Victorian material on “automatic writing,” which was a manifestation of mesmeric or psychic influence by which a person unconsciously produced writing – channelled from another person – without consciousness of the act. But among these results popped up this one very different reference in the January 1870 issue of The Eclectic Magazine of Literature and Science to a machine for automatic writing: a futuristic technology that would have the ability to transfer a person’s spoken words into print. It makes for some fun reading:
Source: The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature and Science 11. January 1830. 123.