Man of Misconceptions : The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change (9781101597033) (32 page)

theriaca, 162, 196

transfer of disease to lower life form, 50–51

variety of ailments, applicability to, 50

weapon salve, 50

Magnetic Kingdom of Nature
(Kircher), 198–99, 256

magnetism

“animal magnetism,” 265–67

calculation of longitude at sea, 98–100

in cartography, 52

in cosmology, 51–52, 101–2, 150, 152, 180–81, 257, 265

Descartes on, 108

electromagnetism, 100, 267–68

entertainments, 50, 70–71

first experimental scientific work, 51, 257

The Great Art of Light and Shadow
(Kircher), 115

hidden powers and secret knots, 50, 51, 58, 140, 180–81, 268

laws of attraction and repulsion, 102, 115, 199, 258

The Magnet . . .
(Kircher), 100–104,
105
, 107–8, 150

Magnetic Art
(Kircher), 58

Magnetic Kingdom of Nature
(Kircher), 198–99, 256

of plants and seeds, 66–67, 70–71, 102–3, 109, 115–16, 218

widespread interest in, 180–81

Maignan, Emmanuel, 118

Mainz, 14, 52–55

Mainz, Prince-Elector of (Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg), 47, 49–52

Malta, 88–89, 90–91

Maltese Observatory
(Kircher), 90–91

Marione, Matteo, 119

materiality and immateriality, 40–41, 50, 65, 108, 167, 180, 257–59

mathematical organ, 172–73

Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, The
(
Principia
; Newton), 250–52, 257–58

mathematics

analytic geometry, 242

Arithmologia
(Kircher), 242–43,
244

binary system, 215, 261–62

binomial theorem, 252

calculus, 215, 243, 252, 258–59

disparagement of, 32

increase in importance of, 32–33, 241–42

Kircher's Collegio Romano chairmanship in, 98–100

Kircher's failings in, 242

mathematical organ, 172–73

music-writing system, 122–23

mystical significance of numbers, 242–43

in natural philosophy, 241, 251

megaphone (speaking trumpet), 225–28

Mencken, H. L., 208

Mentorella, 174–75, 203, 210–11, 226–28, 246–48

Mersenne, Marin, 65, 99, 123, 242

Mesmer, Franz Anton, 265–67

Micrographia
(Hooke), 181–83

microscope, 117–19, 164–69, 181–83

Milton, John, 181

Minervan obelisk, 203–6, 234–35

moon, surface of, 34–35, 150, 272–73

moons of Jupiter, 34

Moray, Robert, 178, 193

Morland, Samuel, 225–26, 228

Müller, Andreas, 207–8

Münster, 26, 27

“musarithmetic arks,” 123

museum, at Collegio Romano

curiosities, 98, 114, 145–48, 240

gallery spaces,
xv
, 146, 229–30, 240–41

Kircher's books and letters, 148–49

after Kircher's death, 248–49

music

cat piano, 120–21,
122

doctrine of the affections, 123–24

mechanical music-writing system, 122–23

musical instruments, 119, 120–21

musical antidote for poison, 104–6

Universal Music-making
(Kircher), 119–24, 202, 228

Naples, 158, 163, 171

natural magic, 41–42, 45–51, 141, 146–47, 178

Natural Magic
(della Porta), 45–47, 51, 117

natural philosophy

Aristotelian concepts, 22–24

hidden, occult virtues, 22, 24, 41–42, 47, 198, 258–59

Jesuit embrace of, 21–22

knowledge through argument and reason, 24, 104–6

mathematics and, 32, 251–52

unchallenged assumptions, 23–24, 104, 166

Neoplatonists, 38–41, 45, 141

Nephi manuscript, 64, 67, 71, 81–82, 86, 142

Neuss, 27–30

New and Universal Polygraphy
(Kircher), 172

New Work on Producing Sound
(Kircher), 228

Newton, Isaac

alchemical experiments, 254, 256

day-to-day life, 252

dispute over invention of calculus, 215, 243, 252, 258–59

on gravity, 253, 257–59

Kircher's likely influence on, 253–54

Principia
, 250–52, 257–58

productivity and scientific contributions, 252–53

reflecting telescope, 254

study of theology and hidden spirits, 254–56

Noah's ark, 231–32

obelisks

of Fountain of the Four Rivers, 126, 127–31

Minervan fragment, 203–6, 234–35

re-erection in Rome, 55, 126–27, 205

replicas in Collegio Romano museum,
xv
, 240

St. John Lateran obelisk, 71–72

See also
hieroglyphics

occult virtues, 24, 41–42, 47, 140, 198, 258–59

Oldenburg, Henry, 180, 181–83, 192–93

On the Nature of Things
(Lucretius), 168

optics and light

catoptrics, 114, 118, 147, 254

entertainments, 47, 147–48

The Great Art of Light and Shadow
(Kircher), 115–19, 130, 202, 242, 253–54

helioscope, 53

magic lantern, 114–15, 147

magnetism and, 115–16

microscope, 117–19, 164–69, 181–83

Newton's investigations, 252–53

reflected-sunlight project, 61

sundials, 38, 45, 57

telescope, 34–35, 46, 62, 150, 254

Oration on the Dignity of Man
(Pico della Mirandola), 41

Paderborn, 15–17, 25–26

Pamphilian Obelisk
(Kircher), 131, 136

pantometer, 52

Paracelsus, 188, 189

Peiresc, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de, 62–67, 68, 70–72, 84

Petrucci, Gioseffo, 203–4, 234–38

Petty, William, 177

philosopher's stone, 188

Philosophical Transactions
(Oldenburg), 181–83

Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni, 41, 56, 141

plague

causes and countermeasures, 160–64

in Europe, 54, 59, 60, 159

Examination of the Plague
(Kircher), 164–69

in London, 183

in Naples and Rome, 158–60

pesthouses, 162–63

planets.
See
cosmology

Plato, 40, 185, 189, 212.
See also
Neoplatonists

Poe, Edgar Allan, 270

Principia
(
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
; Newton), 250–52, 257–58

Protestants

animosity toward Jesuits, 9–11

campaign against Catholics, 24–25

defenestration of Prague, 15

Thirty Years War, 15, 54, 57, 58–59, 132–33

publications, Kircher's.
See
books, Kircher's

Redi, Francesco, 193–95, 224–25, 233, 235–36, 255

Renaissance, 38, 41

Republic of Letters, 63, 148–49

Riccioli, Giovanni Battista, 149, 272–73

Richelieu, Cardinal, 60

Rome

grain shortage and hunger, 130–31

Kircher's assignment to, 77–78, 91

Kircher's misdirected journey to Vienna, 72–74, 245

plague, 158–63

points of interest, 82

revitalization and cultural projects, 78–79, 207

Vatican library collections, 84–85

See also
Collegio Romano; Collegio Romano museum; Egyptian obelisks

Roth, Heinrich, 196–97

Rowland, Ingrid, 173

Royal Society (London), 176–83, 214–15, 251, 256–57

Said, Edward, 263

San Bartolomeo pesthouse (Rome), 162

Santa Maria sopra Minerva, 203, 205

Schama, Simon, 130

Scheiner, Christopher, 35, 53

Schott, Kaspar

assignment to Palermo, 91

as author, 172–73, 179

on cat piano, 120–21

friendship and collaboration with Kircher, 58, 132, 135, 146, 152, 172–73

recollections and observations on Kircher, 139, 148, 149, 206

Schweikhard von Kronberg, Johann.
See
Mainz, Prince-Elector of

science

experimental method, 51, 165–66, 176–77, 179, 194–95, 250–51

irreproducibility of Kircher's experiments, 180, 193, 194, 264

Kircher's concept of experimentation, 166, 239–40

See also
natural philosophy

“secret knots,” 140, 256, 268

Sicily, 91–94

sickness.
See
magnetic healing; plague

snake stone, 197–99, 200, 224–25, 234–35

Society of Jesus.
See
Jesuits

Solipsists, in satirical
Monarchy of the Solipsists
, 118

sound.
See
acoustics and sound

Southwell, Robert, 180

speaking trumpet, 225–28

Spee, Friedrich, 57

Spessart Forest, 12–13

Speyer, 55–56

spontaneous generation

as accepted fact, 23–24

Experiments on the Generation of Insects
(Redi), 193–95, 224

Kircher's study of plague, 164–67

long-standing debate concerning, 268–69

Natural Magic
(della Porta), 46

Newton on, 255–56

Noah's ark story, 232

Underground World
(Kircher), 189–90

St. John Lateran obelisk, 71–72

Stolzenberg, Daniel, 67, 140

sun-centered model of cosmology, 35–36, 39, 150, 154, 250

sundials, 38, 45, 57

sunflower seeds and sunflower-seed clock, 66–67, 70–71, 103, 109, 115–16, 218

sunspots, 35, 53

tarantella, 104–6

tarantula venom and antidote, 104–6

telescopes, 34–35, 46, 62, 150, 254

theriaca, 162, 196

Thirty Years War, 15, 54, 57, 58–59, 132–33

“tone architecture,” 119–20

Torricelli, Evangelista, 146, 179

Trismegistus, Hermes, 38–41, 56, 136–38, 144, 255

Tuscany, unpublished guide to, 241

underground explorations, 94–96, 129

Underground World
(Kircher)

on alchemy, 188–90, 218–19

breadth of topics covered, 191–92

precursor,
Ecstatic Journey II
, 170–71

publication of, 184, 202

readers and doubters, 192–95

on subterranean fire and water, 184–87

universal language, 171–72, 177, 212

Universal Music-making
(Kircher), 119–24, 202, 228

universal sperm, 154, 166–67, 189–90, 205

vacuums, 22, 146, 179

Van Tuyl, Charles D., 201

Vatican.
See
Catholic Church and Catholics; Rome;
specific popes

vegetable lamb plant, 106–7

vegetable phoenix, 156, 180, 264

vegetable spirit, 256

venom antidotes

magnetic action in, 103–4

musical, 104–6

snake stone, 197–99, 200, 224–25, 234–35

theriaca, 196

Verne, Jules, 270–71

Verschuur, Gerrit, 267

Vesuvius, Mount, 94–96, 129

Vienna, 67–68, 70, 236

Vlad, Roman, 124

volcanos, 94–95, 185

Voltaire, 4, 253–54

Wallace, David Foster, 250

Wallis, John, 256–57

weapon salve, 50

Wedgwood, C. V., 25, 59

Wilkins, John, 177–78, 181

Wilson, Edward O., 268

wonder cabinets, 145

Wren, Christopher, 180, 181, 183

Wunderkammern. See
wonder cabinets

Würzburg, 57–59

Yates, Frances, 39

Yeats, William Butler, 264

Zwefler, Johann, 218

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

1
: Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries

2
: Seminar für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensgeschichte, University of Cologne

3
: Seminar für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensgeschichte, University of Cologne

4
: Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries

5
: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

6
: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

7
: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

8
: Bibliothèque du Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers

9
: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

10
: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

11
: The Internet Archive, University of California Libraries

12
: University of Wisconsin Digital Collections

13
: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

14
: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

15
: Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries

16
: Museum of Jurassic Technology

17
: Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel