Wooden conducting hand at Ripon Cathedral

This improbable contraption provides (or provided) a means of conducting a choir from the organ console. According to the cathedral "it was added to the case in 1695, when a rebuild of the organ then meant that the organist had to move to a new seat from where he could not conduct the choir himself." At that time (I think) the organ had only manuals, no pedals, and the hand was operated with a foot pedal; then the organ was moved and pedals added, the mechanism was converted to a lever by the side of the organ console. It's hard to see what practical use that would be; if an organist needed to conduct without coming down to the choir stalls, they could do so from the little gallery in the organ loft. If you have any more (reliable) information, feel free to add it in the comments.