5. Psychograph
The Psychograph was a quackery medical device created by Henry C. Lavery in the early 20th century. It was designed to be a phrenology device that could measure parts of the skull.The idea behind phrenology was that different parts of the brain served as different organs. It was thought that the different areas of the brain had different mental faculties. So, the bigger the area in the brain, the bigger the skull would be in that area. The Psychograph measured those areas.
In 1905, Lavery patented the first Psychograph and formed the Psychograph Company that was around from 1929 until 1937. The machine measured 32 different points on the skull and used the measurements to determine a person’s mental attributes on a five-point scale ranging from “deficient” to “very superior.”
By the late 1930s, the public grew weary of the validity of the device and the Psychograph eventually died out.