There were a few excellent displays at the Science Museum, but the ones that warmed my skeptical heart the most involved some of the wacky things people have believed, and/or cynically employed to try to fleece people of their hard-earned money. Jodi took some pictures. Check these out!
A phrenology chair straight out of a mad science movie!
More fun below the fold!
The placard for the phrenology chair
Some hilarious 'As Seen On TV' eye-exercising devices, that can ostensibly repair your vision outright
The Electric Metabograph pictured below, was claimed to be a panacea for all manner of illnesses. And it would look fantastic in a den.
All MY medical chicanery would be wood-grain, let me tell you!
The placard only had 'diseases' numbers 117 through 190.
Note the circled cures. Also note the starred entry, for if you doubt this device's validity.
There was also an informational “Science Buzz” poster at one point about vaccines, which made me very happy.
7 comments
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Rich Wilson
July 1, 2010 at 3:14 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sadly, no eMeter.
jthibeault
July 1, 2010 at 10:22 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sadly, no. That’s patented technology, after all. Never mind that it’s basically just a wheatstone bridge.
Mike Haubrich, FCD
July 1, 2010 at 10:31 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Happy Canada Day, Jason, and I am glad you got to spend some time at one of my favorite places yesterday. I have a cousin who is a JW and I took him to the museum. He loved most of it, except for the parts that explicitly displayed the evidence for evolution. He said “Why should I care about some peoples’ opinion about what happened?”
It was funny, because he grew up in an atheist and science-friendly family. Just tossed it aside for his religion.
See you soon, if we can drag you away from the parties!
Rich Wilson
July 1, 2010 at 12:55 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I went to HS in a VERY small town in BC (Kaslo). Our biology teacher was a JW. He conveniently skipped evolution. Unfortunately, this was the year before province wide standardized tests were brought back.
sinned34
July 2, 2010 at 1:32 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Kaslo? I married a girl from Castlegar, whose father (and sister, plus her husband) is a Jehovah’s Witness. My wife isn’t a practicing witness, but she thinks they “have the truth”. If I want entertainment when we’re having a family visit, I just have to bring up the subject of evolution! Then when I get bored, I’ll beset the OEC witnesses against their YEC evangelical christian cousin, so long as he’s around.
At any rate, those are some pretty cool pics, Jason! I apologize for the pathetic attempt at thread hijacking!
Rich Wilson
July 2, 2010 at 9:11 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
A friend and I would bait said teacherby picking sides before hand and arguing one side of the crayon evolution debate
Rich Wilson
July 2, 2010 at 9:16 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
sorry, trying to learn swype on my droid. As I was saying… We’d pick a side and debate in class to get him involved a and see what crazy shit we could get him to say.what can I say we we’re teenagers :-)