Paul Joire (1856–1930) was a leading French parapsychologist, professor at the "Psycho-physiological Institute of France" and president of the "Societé Universelle d'Études Psychiques" ("Universal Society of Psychic Studies").

[1] Paul Joire researched and wrote extensively about hypnotism and its experimental and therapeutic uses in "Traité de l'hypnotisme expérimental et thérapeutique" (1908).

[4] He devised an instrument called a sthenometer (a type of "biometer"[5]) which, he claimed, could detect the "nervous force" emitted by the body, and about which he wrote several papers.

[6] The device consisted of a circular dial, marked off in degrees, in the centre of which was a delicate needle, balanced on a pivot and the whole covered by a glass case (see illustration).

It was found that when the extended fingers of a subject's hand were placed near the side of the device, a deflection of the needle was observed, attributable, according to Joire, to the "nervous force" emanating from the body.