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Tossit (Pr.)

Professor Tossit is an Obscure scientist. We know little about him, except that he is apparently the inventor of the Trombinoscope. See Tissot.

Notes from Olivier Tissot

Regarding Professor Tossit
Translated by Sylvain St-Pierre
Information found on the Les Cités Obscures et nous forum, August 8th, 2000.

While digging in my archives I indeed found a small pamphlet titled: “L'irrésistible biographie myhtique et approximative du Pr. Tossit, scientifique dépassé.” [The Irresistible Mytical and Approximate Biography of Pr. Tossit, Obsolete Scientist] (by Lahcéram Neicul and many friends), that offers a few interesting details on the live of this curious character. I quote here only one of the passages of relevance to us (the rest is, I must say, worthless and not flatering for this person's image):

“We know little about Pr. Tossit, except that he was only a Docteur. He apparently took over the title of Professor under inappropriate and obscure circumstances. His traces can be found at several key points of the Continent, and his name is sometimes associated with that of famous persons such as Pr. Nered, G. Questant or even S. de St Roch. Nevertheless he does not seem to have left any lasting impression with historians, for whom he is only a ”pseudo-scientist“ whose thesis are both contreversial and usurped.

It should be said that one of his most spectacular mystifications remains ”hisTrombinoscope. A most strange invention indeed. Wappendorf might have its instigator, given that the process (basically a genial idea) is in final analysis most impractical and very bizarre. The principle is a simultaneous projection, in ”fixoramic“ mode, of several portraits of the members of an institution. The obvious goal was of course to allow the members to recognize each others. The major problem, revealed when the device was put to the test, was rather surprising: the photograph(s) obviously did not have Ardan's talent, and turned all those nice face in a true mug gallery. The distorsion was such that some did not even recognize themselves! Dr. Tossit, who witnessed a trial run of the projector, immediatly dubbed it with the rather strange name of “Trombinoscope” 1). A term that he shouted loudly in the middle of the show and ended up in the front page of L'Echo des Cités:

“Scandal at the inauguration: Why, it's a regular Trombinoscope! exclaims Pr. Tossit!”.

Here is certainly one of the highlights of the failed career of the obscure Dr. Tossit, whose glory was a short as the flight of the Girodyn and who shall be remembered only because of a word that he uttered in moment of pure madness.”

1)
An expression difficult to render. Trombine, in French, is borderline slang and means more or less “mug”.