NationStates Jolt Archive

The cat piano was the work of a German scholar over 350 years ago.


Chill out, PETA. 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. Cruel? Definitely. Funny? My guess - they were laughing their heads off.

http://us.gizmodo.com/images/cat-piano.jpg

The cat piano confirms Darnton's discovery that most early modern Europeans found the torture of cats funny. It also illustrates Kircher's fascination with the relationship between the art of music and the natural production of animal sounds. But for us it is an instrument that has mercifully been forgotten


Relax animal lovers no cruel pics or anything. Just a funny Image. I just thought this was interesting.

Guess the question is...would you own/play the cat piano??? Damn I should have made a poll for this. Well shit.

Ah, so there IS depth to the whole cat torture thing on The Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Brilliant!

Ah, so there IS depth to the whole cat torture thing on The Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Brilliant!


there is always more to the Holy Grail film. That's why it's one of the best.

Whats preventing the cat from just jumping out of their cage?

Whats preventing the cat from just jumping out of their cage?


maybe they made it so the cat couldnt jump out, like tying the tails down or something.

maybe they made it so the cat couldnt jump out, like tying the tails down or something.

I just find it funny that the picture has the cat standing still. I take cares of stray, used to have my own cat, and let me tell ya, cats will not jus stand there and allow them to be poked with a stick or needle. They will find a way out. Ahh the fury of a mad cat.

Whats preventing the cat from just jumping out of their cage?

They nail their feet to the floor. Obvoiusly.

They nail their feet to the floor. Obvoiusly.

Good luck getting a cat to stay still for that. One word, claws. Sharp sharp claws.

Good luck getting a cat to stay still for that. One word, claws. Sharp sharp claws.


what if the kittens were sedated with alcohol???

what if the kittens were sedated with alcohol???

Yes.

Naturally, the kittens are rendered unconcious for the installation process. Chloroform can be used also.

what if the kittens were sedated with alcohol???

*starts off with a chuckle, then it progress to a loud laugh*

Have you ever owned a cat?

I'm sure that picture isn't totally accurate. My guess would be that the head sticks up through a yoke type opening that closes around the neck like a stock. That way the cat is trapped but the head is visible. That is how I would design it at least. (assuming I was into torturing kittens)

On the other hand you should check out my infant piano.

I'm sure that picture isn't totally accurate. My guess would be that the head sticks up through a yoke type opening that closes around the neck like a stock. That way the cat is trapped but the head is visible. That is how I would design it at least. (assuming I was into torturing kittens)

On the other hand you should check out my infant piano.

Not before you check out my ladies orgasam piano.

*starts off with a chuckle, then it progress to a loud laugh*

Have you ever owned a cat?


yes i still do and that previous statement wasnt serious. my cat is 15 and you still cant get that bastard to stay still.

yes i still do and that previous statement wasnt serious. my cat is 15 and you still cant get that bastard to stay still.

awww hehe. What breed is it? My cat made it to 15. I have a framed picture of her on my desk. It's a picture of her when she was 1 years old and I was holding her. Ahh 15 great years. I have a friend who just found a stray and took her in. I told her to cherish the time she has with that cat, because they go by wayy too fast.

There seems to be more keys than cats. Does anyone remember that Meow-Mix commerical?

There seems to be more keys than cats. Does anyone remember that Meow-Mix commerical?

Of course. But did you know that much like the cat piano that cat meows like that because there is a number 2 pencil that shoots out of the floor and up its ass. It is held in place by its addiction to Meow Mix. If it leaves the studio it won't get its next fix. Look closely and you can see the desperation of a broken cat in its eyes.



aaand with that I'm going to bed.

actually kinda glad I don't remember that one.

ouch.

I prefere the slave piano, or was it a harpsicord?

hm, A little ditty called 'The Torturers Apprentice' as composed and performed by th Sultan in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Large cage packed full of slaves and great big sticks activated by key presses to poke them. There were even catchy lyrics...

only problem being that you can't rely on humans to produce a consistent agonised shriek, and then theres all that moving about and then they go collapse on you. Honestly, state of slaves today...

cats might be the future...

aw, my cat just turned seventeen, still as fiesty as she ever was, but she smells a bit.

Kitty Roulette anyone???

aw, my cat just turned seventeen, still as fiesty as she ever was, but she smells a bit.

I think your cat is dead.

Some cats are just naturally very smelly... kinda like men. There are some that escape the curse of the smellingness.

As for sedating cats... Arnica is always good. You know, the stuff you put on bruises. Apparently it sedates cats. Mix a little in some scrummy food and there you go. Though they tend to be very suspicous and won't touch it for a few hours.

Of the numerous times we've moved house, getting the cat into the pet box was the least favourite... and it couldn't be a cardboard box either. Those would get ripped to shreds in seconds.

She was a damn good hunter though. The mice were gone within the week, and then we started to notice a sharp decline in the number of birds visiting our garden. And of course none of the Tom's ever dared visit our garden. In the summer we'd find her batting flies out of the air. She was a killer.
...
:(

Some cats are just naturally very smelly... kinda like men. There are some that escape the curse of the smellingness.

As for sedating cats... Arnica is always good. You know, the stuff you put on bruises. Apparently it sedates cats. Mix a little in some scrummy food and there you go. Though they tend to be very suspicous and won't touch it for a few hours.

Of the numerous times we've moved house, getting the cat into the pet box was the least favourite... and it couldn't be a cardboard box either. Those would get ripped to shreds in seconds.

She was a damn good hunter though. The mice were gone within the week, and then we started to notice a sharp decline in the number of birds visiting our garden. And of course none of the Tom's ever dared visit our garden. In the summer we'd find her batting flies out of the air. She was a killer.
...
:(

I really don't think the number of first-time visits was decreasing.

Relax animal lovers no cruel pics or anything. Just a funny Image. I just thought this was interesting.

Guess the question is...would you own/play the cat piano??? Damn I should have made a poll for this. Well shit.
They really hated cats back then. Thought they were from Satan (primarily because they could see in the dark and apparently 'see' things that weren't there), so you could whatever you liked with them.
Cats had their own revenge in a way. The massive cull led to a rat population explosion, which led to the Black Death.


Anyway, I'd have thought a dog piano would be better. Cats have too many vocalisations - 40 something if I remember correctly, whereas dogs only have a few. So it'd make it easier to control the noises.

Anyway, I'd have thought a dog piano would be better. Cats have too many vocalisations - 40 something if I remember correctly, whereas dogs only have a few. So it'd make it easier to control the noises.
I can actualy picture Garfield doing that to Odie.*blue danube waltz* Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip:D

lol That's awesome.

I love cats, sometimes, but the thought of beethoven in the pitch of cat...:p

So very wrong, yet so very hilarious. :D

Ah, so there IS depth to the whole cat torture thing on The Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Brilliant!
http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/g_d.jpg

BEWARE MY FOOT.

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/violent/sterb233.gif

awww hehe. What breed is it? My cat made it to 15. I have a framed picture of her on my desk. It's a picture of her when she was 1 years old and I was holding her. Ahh 15 great years. I have a friend who just found a stray and took her in. I told her to cherish the time she has with that cat, because they go by wayy too fast.


that is so true about time flyin by, I can still remember Casey as a kitten doing flying melendas into the christmas tree and tearin down the light bulbs, great times.

Want some messed up history on the treatment of cats. Read "The Great Cat Massacre" by Robert Darnton.

A workers revolt where they kill and torture dozens of their masters cats to get back at him.

My family has five cats.

I can imagine my mother turning into one of those crazy cat ladies...

Yes.
Naturally, the kittens are rendered unconcious for the installation process. Chloroform can be used also.
Here kitty, kitty...does this rag smell like chloroform to you? :D

Here kitty, kitty...does this rag smell like chloroform to you? :D


:eek: :p Good now that you're all relaxed, sing for me! We're going platinum!