Joseph Rodes Buchanan (1814 in Frankfort, Kentucky - 1899) was an American physician and professor of physiology at the Eclectic Medical Institute in Covington, Kentucky. Buchanan proposed the terms Psychometry and Sarcognomy. Buchanan came to prominence in the 1840s when mesmerism and spiritualism were popularized. He is given credit for coining the term "Psychometry" (soul-measuring) as the name of his own "science" whereby knowledge is acquired...