There are many amazing but obscure characters in history. One of them is the German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680). Wikipedia has a nice writeup on this guy.  Kircher was one of these intellectually insatiable fellows whose curiosity knew few boundaries.  While chemistry or alchemy was not a mania of his, he did publish works on geology, Egyptology, and music theory. Among many other acomplishments, he was an early proponent of hygienic practices to prevent the spread of infectious disease.

Curiously, Kirchner set forth what must have been an improved version of the Katzenklavier, or a Cat Piano.  This lamentable instrument was described as early as 1549.  Thankfully, he doesn’t appear to have actually built a working model. The cat piano was an apparatus wherein an “octave of cats” were selected by the timbre of their meow. They were thus arranged in a mechanical contrivance that would hammer or pull their tails to elicit a painful, though harmonious, yowl when the “artist” pressed a key. 

Kids, don’t try this at home.  It is an oddment that should remain in the remote past.  Though I am a cat fancier and the thing is obviously cruel, I can’t help but snicker a little at the thought of it. It is just so … Monty Python.