Joseph Rodes Buchanan - Manual of Psychometry

Long out of print, this is a seminal book on the subject, by the very person who coined the term 'Psychometry'

e wrote:

Psychometry (from Greek: "spirit, soul"; + metron, "measure" ),[2] also known as token-object reading,[3] or psychoscopy,[4] is a form of extra-sensory perception characterized by the claimed ability to make relevant associations from an object of unknown history by making physical contact with that object.[5] Psychics assert that an object may have an energy field that transfers knowledge regarding that object's history.[6]

Psychometry is commonly offered at psychic fairs as a type of psychic reading.[7] At New Age events psychometry has claimed to help visitors "meet the dearly departed" (a form of spiritualism).[8] Although a subject of controversy,[9] psychics who use psychometry have been used by law enforcement as psychic detectives[10] "as a last resort [and] as an investigative tool with caution"[11] for providing clues not directly admissible in the court of law such as a criminal's character, or the location of dead bodies.[10][12] Many police departments around the world have released official statements saying that they do not regard psychics as credible or useful on cases.[13][14][15][16]

Joseph Rodes Buchanan coined the word "psychometry" (measuring the soul) in 1842.[17] Buchanan developed the theory that all things give off an emanation.[18]

The Past is entombed in the Present! The world is its own enduring monument; and that which is true of its physical, is likewise true of its mental career. The discoveries of Psychometry will enable us to explore the history of man, as those of geology enable us to explore the history of the earth. There are mental fossils for psychologists as well as mineral fossils for the geologists; and I believe that hereafter the psychologist and the geologist will go hand in hand — the one portraying the earth, its animals and its vegetation, while the other portrays the human beings who have roamed over its surface in the shadows, and the darkness of primeval barbarism! Aye, the mental telescope is now discovered which may pierce the depths of the past and bring us in full view of the grand and tragic passages of ancient history![19]

Buchanan asserted that his particular psychism would supersede empiric science. He wrote a comprehensive treatise, Manual of Psychometry : the Dawn of a New Civilization (1885), detailing how the direct knowledge of Psychometry would be applied to and affect the many various branches of science. It also would elevate the various schools of philosophy and arts thereby affecting wide social change and ultimately an enlightenment of humanity:[20]

The thermometer measures caloric (thermo temperature). The barometer measures the weight (baro, weight) of the atmosphere; the electrometer measures electric conditions; the psychometer measures the soul (psyche). In the case of Psychometry, however, the measuring assumes a new character, as the object measured and the measuring instrument are the same psychic element, and its measuring power is not limited to the psychic as it was developed in the first experiments, but has appeared by successive investigation to manifest a wider and wider area of power, until it became apparent that this psychic capacity was really the measure of all things in the Universe.[21]

Buchanan continued to promote Psychometry throughout his life and his followers believed that it would revolutionize science in a comprehensive way as "the dawn of a new civilization."[22] Other spiritualism-based "scientists" built upon Buchanan's theories such as Stephen Pearl Andrews who stated that Psychometry helped lay the foundations for his own new science of Universology.[23] As a lecturer Andrews asserted that such inquiries "demonstrated that the sympathy between the mind and body is an exact science".[24]

In the later nineteenth century demonstrations of psychometry became a popular part of stage acts and séances; with participants providing a personal object for "reading" by a medium or psychic.[25]

References
1. ^ a b Spence, Lewis Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, Part 2, Kessinger Publishing, LLC (February 1, 2003), p.754. ISBN 0766128172
2. ^ Joseph Rodes Buchanan, Manual of Psychometry : the Dawn of a New Civilization Boston, Frank H. Hodges (4th edition), 1893 p.3. ISBN 1150077247
3. ^ Psychometry - Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Parapsychological Association (2006-12-17)
4. ^ Tischner, Rudolf, Telepathy and Clairvoyance Great Britain, Steven Austin & Sons, Ltd. 1924, p.70. ISBN 1846641357
5. ^ Beloff, John (1997) [1993]. Parapsychology: A Concise History (reprint ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 97. ISBN 9780312173760.
6. ^ Noreen Renier, A Mind for Murder: The Real-Life Files of a Psychic Investigator, Hampton Roads Pub Co; Revised edition (May 9, 2008) p.13 ISBN 1571745734
7. ^ Marcelle S. Fischler LONG ISLAND JOURNAL; Where $20 Will Buy A Peek at the Future nytimes.com, December 15, 2002.
8. ^ Katherine E. Finkelstein Northport Journal; The Very Determined Meet the Dearly Departed nytimes.com, August 25, 1999.
9. ^ Robert Kessler, Tom Schachtman, Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI, St. Martin's Paperbacks (March 15, 1993) pp.271-272. ISBN 0312950446
10. ^ a b Kessler, Schachtman, p.270.
11. ^ John Douglas, Mark Olshaker, Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, Pocket Books; 11th THUS edition (August 1, 1996), p.137 ISBN 0671528904
12. ^ Renier, p.62
13. ^ Ayers Sweat, Jane; Mark W Durm (Winter 1993). "Psychics: Do Police Departments Really Use Them?". Skeptical Inquirer. http://www.skeptically.org/spiritualism/id10.html. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
14. ^ "Police reject psychic advice". Bay Of Plenty Times (NZ newspaper). http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=367.... Retrieved 2007-05-21.
15. ^ Barnes, Hannah (2009-11-23). "Can psychics help to solve crime??". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8369369.stm. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
16. ^ Silence, Eddie (2006-03-29). "Do the police use psychics?". UK Skeptics. http://www.ukskeptics.com/article.php?dir=articles&article=police_and_ps.... Retrieved 2007-05-25.
17. ^ Mark A. Lause (University of Cincinnati): Joseph Rodes Buchanan (Internet Archive)
18. ^ Psychometry at paralumun.com
19. ^ Buchanan, 1893, p.73
20. ^ Buchanan, 1893, pp.4-5
21. ^ Buchanan 1893, pp.3-4
22. ^ Buchanan's Journal of Man., Vol. I. August, 1887. No. 7.
23. ^ Stephen Pearl Andrews, The Basic Outline of Universology. NY, Dion Thomas, 1872, p.560
24. ^ A discourse on Seven Sciences.; Cerebral Physiology, Cerebral Psychology, Sarcognomy, Psychometry, Pneumatology, Pathology, and Cerebral Pathology. nytimes.com, March 17, 1878
25. ^ Beloff, p.29, "After that would come tests provided by members of the audience involving 'billet reading', 'token object reading' leading up, finally, to a test of travelling clairvoyance where the person's private home would constitute the target area."