The Man Who Knew Everything: The Strange Life of Athanasius Kircher

The Man Who Knew Everything: The Strange Life of Athanasius Kircher — page 7
The Wonders of the KIRCHERIAN MUSEUM If you had visited the Kircherian Museum along with Queen Christina in 1655 here are some of the things you would have seen THE VOMITING STATUE A glass of water vomited by a statue of a lobster For a different flavor you could try the vomiting eagle or the spitting lady The statues were funny but they also demonstrated principles of hydraulics the movement of liquid THE FAN CLUB Scholars scientists and other priests more than 750 pen pals in all wrote to Kircher from around the world with news of their discoveries and ideas He displayed all their letters a bit like an early version of Facebook THE BOX OF MIRRORS Kircher would place a cat inside to see it spit snarl and try to bat away all the other cats Or sometimes he would place a gold coin inside the box and watch people grab at reflections 8