Instruments and the imagination

Thomas Hankins and Robert Silverman investigate an array of instruments from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century that seem at rst to be marginal to science--magnetic clocks that were said to operate by the movements of sun ower seeds, magic lanterns, ocular harpsichords (machines that played di erent colored lights in harmonious mixtures), Aeolian harps (a form of wind chime), and other instruments of "natural magic" designed to produce wondrous e ects. By looking at these and the rst recording instruments, the stereoscope, and speaking machines, the authors show that "scienti c instruments" rst made their appearance as devices used to evoke wonder in the beholder, as in works of magic and the theater.