How to spot Mr Right the 1920s way

London: A science magazine from the 1920s has recommended some bizarre methods on how to test a couple’s compatibility.

The hilarious article was recently discovered by blog Paleofuture in a 1924 edition of Science and Invention magazine. “How much would the average man or woman give to know beforehand if his or her prospective married life is to be success or failure? At present, marriage is a lottery. It seems impossible to predict beforehand how your prospective mate will turn out in the future,” the Daily Mail quoted the article as stating. “Through certain fundamentals, which can easily be ascertained, one can be reasonably certain as to one’s choice. There are certain basic tests which can be made today and which will give one a reasonable assurance of married happiness,” it read. The “basic tests” the magazine recommends are four unusual experiments called the body odour test, the physical attraction test, the nervous disorder test and the sympathy test. In the body odour test, one person should place themselves in a large capsule with a hose attached which their partner then smells them through. If the smells are not found “too objectionable”, then the match is deemed “safe”. Another of the “scientific ways” the writer Hugo Gernsbackto says can be used to determine if a marriage will succeed or fail is the “nervous disorder test”. This aims to find out whether at least one half of a couple can be calm under pressure. The test imagines a man shooting a gun into the air with the reactions of both individuals recorded. If both are too scared by the gun shot then the marriage should not take place. A further test tries to find out if a husband or wife is sympathetic to their partner when they are in pain. In the test, one half of the couple must watch their partner go through something mildly traumatic, such as giving blood. The witness has their breathing and heart rate measured and if these increase when they see their partner in discomfort, they are deemed to be a sufficiently sympathetic partner. Finally, the magazine says physical attraction is the most important factor in any marriage and this is ascertained by measuring the couple’s pulse and breathing when they embrace. If both heart rates increase when they hug or kiss, this is “scientific evidence” of attraction. The article says the tests are not only important for establishing a happy relationship but for finding out if a couple should have children together. “We take extreme care in breeding horses, dogs and cats, but when we come to ourselves we are extremely careless and do not use our heads, nor the means that science puts in our hands for scientific breeding,” the article added. ANI