XV. On the supposed “new force” of M. J. Thore

On February 15 last M. J. Thore communicated to a scientific society at Dax a short paper describing some results he had obtained on the rotation of a delicately suspended cylinder of ivory. So remarkable were these results that in a private letter to myself, accompanying a printed copy of his paper, M. Thore said “they seem to demonstrate the existence of a new force inherent in the human organism.” Figs. 1 and 2 are accurately copied from M. Thore’s diagram. The following description of the apparatus and the experiments tried with it are translated from the printed paper.