Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society » More Kircherian Cat Torture

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March 8th, 2006

More Kircherian Cat Torture

None of our investigations to date has elicited greater interest than the Cat Piano. At the risk of making it seem as though Father Kircher was possessed of a sadistic grudge towards felines, we wanted to call to your attention Kircher’s catoptric theatre, a sort of hall of mirrors into which a cat would be deposited and mayhem would ensue.

Gaspar Schott wrote:

“You will exhibit the most delightful trick if you impose one of these appearances on a live cat, as Fr. Kircher has done. While the cat sees himself to be surrounded by an innumerable multitude of catoptric cats, some of them standing close to him and others spread very far away from him, it can hardly be said how many capers will be exhibited in that theatre, while he sometimes tries to follow the other cats, sometimes to entice them with his tail, sometimes attempts a kiss, and indeed tries to break through the obstacles in every way with his claws so that he can be united with the other cats, until finally, with various noises, and miserable whines he declares his various affectations of indignation, rage, jealousy, love and desire. Similar spectacles can be exhibited with other animals.”

For more on the subject, we refer you to “Between the Demonic and the Miraculous: Athanasius Kircher and the Baroque Culture of Machines,” an essay by Michael John Gorman. And for more on another unfortunate incident involving cats, we recommend The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History by Robert Darnton.

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