Psychometry is the E.S.P. ability to sense the history of an object through the powers of the mind. For example, a person with psychometry might touch a gun and garner impressions of the emotions and thoughts of everyone who has ever held that gun, but only those emotions and thoughts which had occured WHILE the gun was being held. Legitimate scientific studies of psychometry have netted mixed results, not enough to prove or disprove it. However, psychometry remains a popular psionic power in SF.