
	This is true, but it's not quite the whole story.  There were 
	actually some people who were more careful in their methodology
	who also replicated the 'phantom leaf effect.'

    One of the most influential critics of Kirlian Electrophotography
    is a Theosophist (and threfore presumably willing to entertain the
    hypothesis of scientific evidence for a human aura, electromagnetic
    or otherwise), professor of electrical engineering at London's
    City University, and a past president of the Society for Psychic Research 
    named A. J. Ellison.

    After years of studying the method and the claims, Ellison
    came to the conclusion that the photographic images are what we
    calls 'Lichtenberg Figures,' an effect of intermittent ionization of
    the air around the object.  It's a bit more complicated than
    'not wiping off the plates,' but it comes down to the same thing
    in the end, Kirlian electrophotography has much more limited
    value (if any) than was previously widely thought.  Electrical and
    magnetic fields generated by the body are much too small to be
    of much use diagnostically without very elaborate equipment and
    usually also tracer chemicals.

					kind regards,