Page 7 Advertisements Column 1

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16547, 23 September 1919, Page 7

The divining rod possesses some quasi-scientific interest, and on that account the Society of Natural Sciences, of Wagenhingen, Holland, organised experiments in order to test the efficacy of the instrument. The results which have been recently published do not bear out the claim of the diviners. Four divining experts took part in the tests. They were required to discover and trace the course of underground streams, and to determine also whether underground conduits were full, or dry. In 23 instances the rod reacted with existent conditions, but in 25 instances it did not. But there may be something in water divining, or detecting, to use a less fanciful word, if the instrument could only be perfected. The late Gustav Hamel in his work on “Flying” says that when flying above ground where there is water below the surface the aviator almost invariably finds the air disturbed. On that account he thought that- “the water diviner of the future might he a flying man and not a gentleman with a forked hazel wand.’’