The Cat Piano

The Cat Piano - Gizmodo

The cat piano was the work of a German scholar over 350 years ago. Athanasius Kircher designed the cat piano and documented it in the Musurgia Universalis in 1650. The piano was designed to raise the spirits of an Italian prince who was too stressed out. The musician would select cats whose voices were at different pitches then arrange them in the pens accordingly. The piano delivered sharp pokes into the tails of the cats.

What? Sorry, I seem to be suffering from a low sense of humor this evening. Still it is kinda funny. Especially if you consider what kind of "scholar" thought the sounds of screeching cats would cheer someone up. Gah.