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Sofia ZhaoJane Tang

(corresponds to the pair of opposites of light and shadow in the realm of visible things), inbetweenis the diversity of individual phenomena.

The objective is to explain the development of diversity from the Divine and to integrate it, in all itsdissonance, in a way that harmonious unity results again.

Presents conclusive evidence for the existence of God with aid of numbers and logic.

But as soon as Kircher tries to give meaning to the realm of sounds, the theory of the affectsbecomes central, tied closely to theological arguments.The ultimate purpose of music was seen as the production of a joyous emotion.

Museo KircherianumFull of optical and acoustic devices

Concept of technology that Kircher presented here was characteristic of natural magic - technologystood for the spectrum of artificial constructions where “the operative force or agent was notobvious to the eye.”

1.1 1.2

1.1 One exhibit was a gallery of metal heads, where they would start to speak whenever anyone passed by

1.2 Design for a surveillance system of courtyards and public spaces where every word can be overheard

Kircher wrote a book that contained many designs and descriptions of devices for eavesdropping,which when used the other way around, could amplify sound and stage miraculous events. He hadlong conduits that linked rooms that were far apart. He called these conduits ‘channels’.

Kircher assumed that sound travelled in straight lines like light. He assumed that sound would bereflected like light on mirrors, when it hits a smooth solid surface it is amplified by reflection.

Major WorksHis two major works on hearing and seeing were written as a reaction to certain critics who

accused him of being merely speculative with his work on Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Musurgia universali was devoted to arithmetic, and Ars magna lucis et umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow) was devoted to geometry

Music was applied arithmetic and optics was applied geometry.

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Magical Image Machines Laterna Magica, the original device for projecting bright images in dark rooms.It wasn’t a new concept, but when competitors started creating their own versions of this, Kircher viewed it as an exploitation of his invention.

Example: transformed an arrangement of mirrors, described as “positioning of a mirror such that anobserver may view the image of an object but not his own reflection”

Combinatorial Boxes for Personal Use Kircher created the cassetta matematica (mathematical box) - small boxes of wood or cartonscontaining specific organizing systems that use thin, sliding slats.

Had a similar idea for composing music, and used the box as a way of explaining that with the helpof a sequential method, anyone could become a composer.

Kircher wanted to re-coin universal linguistic ideas in a cryptographic table. He developed asystem that consisted of single letters and numbers. Using mathematical combinatories heassigned numbers to letters.

- To encrypt, select a slat, and instead of noting down numbers, substitute it with numbersand incorporate that into the text of a letter.- Translated ideas and concepts of predecessors into simple manageable language thateveryone could understand, hence, demystifying the art of combination and secret ciphers.

“The world that [Kircher] creates in his prodigious oeuvre is highly ordered and beautiful. It is full of harmony, effects, illusions; it is calculated, dreamy, and fantastic: an ideal media world.”