Page 12 - January 2009

Fig. 4. The tarantula (Lycosa tarentula).
the tarantula (Fig. 4), a poisonous spider native to the Apulia Region in Italy (Aranea Apula...arachneum animal nocentis- simum) that during 17th Century was considered very dan- gerous. The “tarantolati” (Fig. 5) were considered to be insane because they danced continuously without stopping, and looked like people dancing on a fire, jumping continu- ously, nervously. They could apparently be healed, thanks to the performance of a particular type of melody and rhythm (antidotum tarantulae).
In the Phonosophia anacamptica, Kircher was extensive- ly interested in the prodigious phenomenon of echo. He con- sidered echoes to be founded on sound waves that produced reverberation after hitting “obiecta phonocamptica,” or “obstacles,” propagated in air or water. In the same book he deals with sound propagation in tubes of various shapes and typologies, of sound strengthened in natural caves re-emerg- ing at the surface with increased force, of how to listen to other people’s conversations with the aid of tubes and hidden devices while remaining in a concealed room, and how to exchange coded messages by the use of special trumpets.
Finally, Kircher accurately described cars and contrap- tions that he had himself often invented in order to astonish and amaze people: speaking statues, channels in which sounds and noises were spread, and musical instruments with internal mechanisms that generated unexpected harmonies, playing by themselves depending on the direction of the wind.
The mechanics of the magnificent
Kircher’s works express the typical Baroque vision of the “marvellous world.” All the machines that he invented reveal the strong alliance between science and magic. He wished to amaze, to convince people of improbable things and, finally, to explain the arcane that lies between hermeticism and exact science. From the point of view of the traditional history of science, the inventions of this German Jesuit remained a provocative source of perplexity. Such inventions could hard- ly be included into “experimental science.” Nevertheless, at that time, the Kircherian Museum (see Fig. 3) was renowned for its great splendour. The Kircherian inventions and other items collected in his museum reveal his audience to be specifically selected. The marvellous exhibits that he con- served and displayed belonged to a large variety of branches of learning, from mechanics to metallurgy, distillation to cos- metics, and magnetism to aerology.
Fig. 5. The “tarantolati.”
Sound entertainment for the aristocracy
The talking statue. Kircher’s talking statue caused a great amount of discussion: some people, following the prin- ciples of the occult sciences, believed the statue could have been constructed. They declared that Alberto Magnus built a man’s head that could perfectly pronounce articulate sounds. Moreover, Kircher declared that he had already fully demon- strated in his work, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, that the Egyptians had built some statues that were able to speak. Nevertheless, many people asserted this idea was in contrast with natural laws, and they argued that such a device had never been con- structed. They declared that the machines of Alberto Magnus and the Egyptians were either fake or built with the help of evil spirits and divinities that gave responses through speak- ing oracles and statues. Others considered it feasible that a statue could be built with the capacity to pronounce some articulated sounds: following the examples in nature, it would be possible for the wind to animate a mechanical lar- ynx, tongue, and other phonetic organs capable of producing the clear effect of an articulate voice.
However, Kircher did not wish to enter the argument over the famous head of Alberto Magnus or ancient Egyptian devices, because he thought they were impossible in them- selves. Therefore he provided an alternative construction method for a similar statue, able not only to pronounce artic- ulate sounds, but even to sing, reply to any solicitations, and to reproduce animal cries.
The text of Phonurgia nova relevant to Fig. 6 says:
“Inside a room ABCD, where a spiral-shaped tube (cocleato) was put and moved in E or in the vertical con- duit S, lies a statue having moving mouth and eyes and having breathing life through the entire mass of the body. This statue must be located in a given place, in order to allow the end section of the spiral-shaped tube to pre- cisely correspond to the opening of the mouth. In this manner it will be perfect, and capable of clearly emitting any kind of sound: in fact the statue will be able to speak continuously, uttering in either a human or animal voice: it will laugh or sneer; it will seem to really cry or moan; sometimes with great astonishment it will strongly blow. If the opening of the spiral-shaped tube is located in corre- spondence to an open public space, all human words pro- nounced, focused in the conduit, would be replayed
Kircher’s Phonurgia nova 11