One day in 1885, Margaret noticed something astonishing — as she sang into the eidophone modulating her pitch, the seeds she had placed atop the membrane “resolved themselves into a perfect geometrical figure.” Experimenting with her voice, she discovered that particular tones produced particular geometries — shapes that “alter in pattern or in position with each change of pitch… and increase in complexity of pattern as the pitch rises.”

She sang entire songs into the eidophone, capturing the imprint of each note.

A new visual language for sound came abloom — forms partway between Feynman diagrams and Haeckel’s radiolaria.