MIND READING BY MACHINERY

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1922, Page 8

MIND READING BY MACHINERY

TESTS FOR CHARACTER AND . TRUTHFULNESS. Mind-reading is rapidly becoming a scientific possibility (says Everyday Science) instead of a clever entertainer’s trick. Professor Waller has demonstrated that all strong emotions, such as grief and joy, pain and pleasure, fear and relief, can be recorder by a galvanometer attached to the wrist or forearm. Now a Frenchman. Dr. Maingot of Paris, claims that man’s character is revealed by the way he breathes, which, in turn, can be revealed to others by means of the X-rays. The subject is placed in front of a radioscopic screen which permits the movements of his diaphragm to be seen as he breathes, and since such movements are largely involuntary, the trained Observer, Dr. Maingot claims, can read the salient features of the subject’s character without fear of deception. For instance, the subject is told to breathe deeply. If the diaphragm obeys immediately the man is docile or welldisciplined, and if the deep restrictions continue for a long time at the same intensity he is persevering. If the response to the order does not follow 7 immediately it indicates that the man is either reflective and weighs the consequences of an act before performing it or is slow-witted. But much more than that can be seen in the radioscope. Slight movements of the diaphragm have their significance. Tenacity o* purpose, or its lack, Dr. Maingot says, is showed by the extent to which the diaphragm contracts at the end of the expiration; mental alertness and quickness of thought nearly always belong to the man who starts breathing out immediately after he has finished breathing in. In America, men are testing an apparatus which it is claimed will make successful lying impossible. The suspect under examination is tested by three separate instruments. A stethoscope listens to the beating of his heart; an electrical recorder, somewhat similar to Professor Waller’s, attached to his wrist, shows whether any of the questions disturb him or .make him afraid; and, finally, a time-recording instrument reveals exactly how’ long a pause passes between the end of each question and the beginning of each article. Only stout nqrves could carry a liar through undetected.