WHAT IS CRYPTESTHESIA

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 1 (Supplement)

WHAT IS CRYPTESTHESIA

IS the dowser a fake! For centuries this uncanny art has been the subject of burning controversy, but it is certain that more and more people are losing incredulity concerning it and taking divining as an unusual and fascinating fact. Dowsing was once confined to the discovery of hidden springs and streams of water. Now it is claimed that oil, gold, silver, radium and other minerals can be found with the aid of the diviner. Professional diviners are often in demand, and thc-y have success too remarkable to be explained away by coincidence, foreknowledge or calculation. Inexplicable though it is, 'there is science of a natural order in the old art of dowsing. Attempts have been made to explain it. This is one of the more interesting theories. We all know how a radio receiver works, and why. Emanations or waves are given off by sounds broadcast; caught by an aerial, they are translated once ' again into their original form by the receiving set. It is a well-known theory that all substances give off similar emanations to wireless waves. The diviner, more sensitive or better adapted than his fellow man, is the receiving station, and his frail rod the aerial. To be able to divine is not uncommon—many people discover by accident that they possess the ability. Perhaps you too may be a diviner! In some the power is strong, others are subject to failure. The hazel twig, while the most common, is not the only apparatus used. A slim metal rod is a favourite, and dowsing with a pendulum is not unknown. There are interesting personal variations, such as whalebone, watch springs, steel knitting needles, and cuttings of every kind of tree. But the result, except in the case of the pendulum, is always the same. The diviner walks up and down over the specified area, waiting for the sudden leap of his rod. You may blindfold him so that it would be impossible for him to pick out a patch where he already knows a spring exists, yet invariably his twig will bend a#d quiver at the right spot. Sometimes experiments have been tried—the diviner holding one arm of the Y only. This does not work. A complete circuit must be formed. On the other hand, if a nondiviner takes the other arm, joining free hands with the diviner, the rod will react as usual. Pendulum divining is often used in a search for minerals, though it is rarely as satisfactory as with the rod. An ordinary plumb bob is used, sometimes held in the fingers and other times suspended from a wooden frame. When it hovers over a vein of the required mineral it is supposed to swing violently. Many claims of pendulum diviners are ridiculous—some assert that they can discover water merely by passing their pendulum back and forth over a map or sketch. This sounds amusing. and generally is. But for some uncanny and inexplicable reason

The Dowser And His Hod

Have you ever watched a water diviner? He holds his slender Y-shaped twig of ash of hazel in rather an awkward fashion, one hand on each arm of the Y and the stem pointing forwards and downwards. Patiently and systematically he covers the field or other place where Water is sought, and it seems rather an aimless proceeding, until suddenly you notice his slender rod leap to life. It trembles and struggles in his Ijands, twisting up and over until sometimes the barf? strips off or the two arms of the Y split apart. ' »

there is an occasional exception; for instance, the woman diviner wlio, when challenged to "dowse" a map of mountainous and foreign country unknown to her, sent back a detailed survey of mineral findings. When checked up with a previous Government survey, her findings were discovered to be astonishingly correct. Divining has always been extensively used in the mining industry, particularly in Germany and Cornwall. We must remember that five hundred years ago scientific surveys, were unknown —the diviner was accepted in a matter-of-fact manner then. He was a benefactor. But he could be explained no better than he is to-day. Science has give® an unwieldy name to his faculty—cryptesthesia. This term is also applied to those strangely sensitive people who can sense the presence of water or oil without the aid of any instrument. This faculty is so rare that it is usually looked upon as a legend, but there have been two or three authentic cases. Radium also has been known to affect' quite unsuspecting people. Whether some affinity to the mineral is present in their bodies or they are indeed highly sensitive "radio stations 9 ' is open to doubt. Diviners themselves do not take their gift either lightly or painstakingly. Nothing is more matter-of-fact than the experienced dowser as he patiently explores for water with his fragile hazel wand. Some, of course, are patently fakes; it is their publicised failures that make people scoff at the art as a whole. Others, quite honest and earnest, also make mistakes. This might perhaps be explained by presuming that the gift is not present to the same degree in everyone. Generally, dowsing is as open to conjecture as it was five centuries ago. Do you believe in divining? It is easy to say no, but so many unbelievers have discovered to their amazement that they themselves are sensitive to the presence of underground water. Try it yourself. Any slim cutting of Y-shape will do— willow is excellent—providing you hold it firmly enough to prevent it moving from your own efforts or twisting out of your when, and if, it starts into sudden life. It is an amusing and fascinating exneriment.