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The Toxic Book of Faces

Sidedoor

CHAPTER

The History of the Physiognetrace

Wendy Balian says the Physiognetrace was first popularized in the United States at the Peel Museum in Philadelphia. Visitors could pay one cent to make a silhouette tracing of their own face. You would place your head against a small concave support, and with a piece of brass attached to a mechanical arm, you'd trace your own profile. As you moved the piece of brass along your face, the mechanical arm would translate that exact movement to a pen which traced your profile onto a folded piece of paper.

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