† pathometern.
Obsolete. rare.
1. An indicator of the feelings of a society or period.
ΚΠ
1866 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 371 The publication of Goethe's Werther was followed by a morbid accumulation of sentimentality..which gave rise to a multitude of love-songs in the despairing, suicidal key of G minor; to such a degree is the music of any period a delicate pathometer.
2. An instrument intended to measure physical and emotional responses to music.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > [noun] > measurement of emotions > (hypothetical) instrument
pathometer1899
1899 Westm. Gaz. 12 Jan. 1/3 We believe that machines (which should naturally be called pathometers) for registering the physical effect of music on hearers..have been planned.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1866