A MIND-READING MACHINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 72, 24 March 1923, Page 26

A MIND-READING MACHINE.

THE NURSE'S SECRET. NAME RINGS A BELL. It is now possible to make an electrical record of even the lightest emotion, says a London paper. As our thoughts flicker through our minds, unexpressed even by the movement of a muscle, they are duly recorded by this new wizard among scientific instruments. Yet, strange as it may seem, the instrument and its mysterious powers are alike very simple. Their discoverer, the late 'Professor Waller, looked on them as curiosities rather than as serious contributions to science. What he was really interested in was the principle which they make manifest. This is that electric currents pass in the skin during every change or emotional state. An emotion, however transitory, sots flowing a stream of energy which "tingles" to our fingertips. " In his laboratory he set about devising means of recording it, rttfid soon had accomplished what he aimed at. The present instrument is so delicate that minute alterations in electrical resistance, as it is called, affect it instantly. It can be made, at such times, either to ring a bell or write on a drum. Waller perfected his instrument during the war, and, with characteristic coolness, chose an air raid "for his first test of it. While the guns were booming round him he was absorbed in the spectacle of their efTect on his "subject,"' whose emotional states were faithfully depicted on the recording drum. A little later he showed it to some doctors at a hospital. One of the nurses, to whom its powers were explained, expressed scepticism. Waller connected her with the instrument and then began repeating Christian names of men: •'Hugh, Robert, Thomas. Jack. • ■ ■ " When this last name was mentioned the bell attached to the cunning machine began to buzz furiously. The unhappy nurse jumped up and fled. Her secret was not safe from science. The instrument him since been used for experiments on the effect of noise, and it has been found that every disturbir.g sound arouses emotions and gives rise to the expenditure of nervous energy. Thus the modern city with its noise presents a serious problem.