The sonomètre is a tuning device invented circa 1694 by Étienne Loulié to facilitate the tuning of stringed instruments. Sébastien de Brossard considered this device to be, "one of the finest inventions," of the seventeenth century. On July 4, 1699, Étienne Loulié had the honor of presenting two inventions before the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris. The records of the Academy (Procès verbaux) for that day read: