An instrument developed by 19th-century French psychical researcher Hyppolite Baraduc to measure paranormal psychokinetic forces coming from the human body. Baraduc’s biometer consisted of a needle suspended by a thread. When a subject’s hand was brought near the apparatus, the needle’s movement supposedly indicated a variety of personal conditions physical, mental, and even moral. The biometer was criticized for not dealing with possible movement due to air currents or the heat of the human body. Later varieties of similar instruments have tended to be enclosed in glass for that very purpose.