Cover of Arithmologia, sive De Abditis Numerorum Mysteriis by Athanasius Kircher (c. 1665)

A feline of prodigious mathematical learning may have tutored the ancients in arithmetic. The Volvelles of Llull may have been employed to animate the workings of a creature whose integument is of hollowed stone, whose lungs are of goathide, whose ribcage is of copper wire, whose diaphragm is a bellows of caoutchouc. The amulets of fallen lands may have many uses and many employments. The beaked man, the anguiped, the crowned serpent that has lately fed: They may have much to impart to us, should we but put them near to our hearts. Who is to say otherwise?

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Athanasius Kircher. Arithmologia sive de Abditis Numerorum Mysteriis. 1665. 

Athanasius Kircher, Arithmologia, c.1665. [x]