THE PHYSIOGNOTYPE.
This is a newly-invented instrument, by the aid of which a person may have a plaster cast of his face taken without submitting to the usual unpleasant process.
It consists of an assemblage of very fine moveable wires, confined closely together within a broad hoop or band, after the manner of the bristles in a telescope hearth-brush, but not closed at the back, in order to allow to the wires a free passage. The wires slide in a metal plate, perforated all over with holes, very fine and close together. The apparatus is surrounded by an outer case which is filled with warm water, in order to prevent any unpleasant sensation on the contact of the instrument with the skin.
When it is desired to take a likeness, the instrument is applied to the face with a gentle and gradual pressure, the wires easily yield and slide back, conformably to the prominences of the countenance; they are then fixed tightly in their position, and thus form a mould which will yield a perfect and faithful cast of the face, in which even the most minute line will appear with the strictest accuracy.