Science Art: Ossicula Organi Auditus Diversorium Animalium (Aural-Organ Bones of Diverse Animals), by Athanasius Kircher

from Musurgia Universalis: http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/nov2002.html
from Musurgia Universalis: http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/nov2002.html

from Musurgia Universalis: http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/nov2002.html

A close-up of the tiny ear-bones of a few kinds of animals, including human beings.

This is a detail of a page from Musurgia Universalis, which was the book of the month at the Glasgow University Library Special Collections Department for November 2002. A few centuries earlier, in 1650, it was a groundbreaking work by the Jesuit polymath, Father Athanasius Kircher.

He liked music, and was very, very curious about how listening happened.