Walter John Kilner

In its conviction that the human energy field is an indicator of health and mood, Kilner's study resembles the later work of Harold Saxton Burr.

However, while Burr relied upon voltmeter readings, Kilner, working before the advent of semiconductor technology, attempted to invent devices by which the naked eye might be trained to observe "auric" activity which, he hypothesised, was probably ultraviolet radiation, stating that the phenomena he saw were not affected by electromagnets.

[2] Glass slides or "Kilner Screens"[3] treated with alcoholic solutions of variously coloured dyes were held to train the eyes to perceive electromagnetic radiation outside the normal spectrum of visible light,[4] namely N-rays.

Treatment of the screens notably involved dicyanin, a toxic coal tar dye originally used in infrared sensitization of photographic plates.

Kilner's work was well-timed for the heyday of Theosophy and his findings were incorporated into Arthur E. Powell's book The Etheric Double.

[8] Powell rightly made clear that Kilner had expressly differentiated between his own work and the clairvoyance and eastern systems of spiritualism.

[10]Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell has described Kilner's research as pseudoscience, noting that he "uncritically accepted the validity of non-existent N-rays and clairvoyant powers.