Psychical researchers have often claimed that there is a psychic
force exerted by human vision, and some psychics are believed
to have influenced objects at a distance by gazing at
them. Various instruments have been devised to demonstrate
this claimed psychic force, exerted by willpower, by proximity
of the hands, or by vision (see biometer of Baraduc; De Tromelin
cylinder; sthenometer). One of the most interesting instruments
of this kind was developed by British physician
Charles Russ, described by him in an article in the British medical
journal the Lancet (July 3, 1931) as ‘‘an instrument which is
set in motion by vision.’’