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Biometer of Baraduc

An instrument to register vibrations and nervous force of human bodies. It consists of a needle suspended by a fine thread under a glass shade. If the hand is brought near the shade, the needle is deflected. The angle of deflection, according to the inventor, Hyppolite Baraduc, depended on various mental, physical, and moral conditions of the experimenter. He believed that the biometer indicated aspects of such conditions.

Similar instruments intended to indicate nervous or psychic force include the sthenometer developed by Paul Joire and the De Tromelin cylinder. These are lightly suspended or balanced indicators that have been tested extensively to preclude the possibility of movement caused by air currents or heat from the hand of the operator. Such movement is believed to be connected with the dowsing faculty or with psychokinesis.