THE DIVINING ROD-A SURVIVAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XL, Issue 3020, 29 May 1884, Page 3

THE DIVINING ROD-A SURVIVAL.

(Scotsman.)

Tha divining rod occupies a prominent loaition m ancient history. Moses, Aaron, ,nd Pharaoh's magicians used it ; the >rophet Hosea denounced it ; the Medes md Persians practised divination with it ; he Scythians detected their perjurers md the Frisians their murderers by it. Che Greeks, too, practised the art of •habdomancy, and the Roman augurs had heir lituus or divining rod, of which the >astoral staff of the Christian bishop is, m brm at loaßt, a survival. It will, however, urprise many to learn that m this .Oth century the divining rod is still m ise, and that its powers aro as Beriously nvoked m many parts of England at tho jresent day as they were m the Middle i.ges. The scope of its wonder-working jowers has, it is true, been greatly curtailed m these latter days. It is no onger omployed to detect guilt or to predict the future ; although it is less than a century since Aymer, the famous Jiviner of Dauphiny, tracked down a murderer by means of his rod. Its use is now confined to the domain of the material, and oven here it ia no longer considered, m this country at least, as any help to the finding buried treasure or mineral veins. In Frauce, however, it would seem to have not quite lost its prestige yet m this matter ; for it is only a year ago since the Government of that enlightened Republic entered into an agreement with a Madame Caillavah, permitting her to search for buried treaanre m the Cathedral of St. Denis by means of tho divining rod, on condition that all jewels and manuscripts, a» well as two-thirds of the cash found, should go to the State. Madamo found ten shopkeepers with sufficient faith m the magical powers of her wand — m this caso a rod with a small tube containing some secret composition at one end — fo advance her 100 francs each. Their faith has thus far not been rewarded, nothing, so far as wo can learn, laving been found by those digging under her guidance. In this country the divining rod ia confined m its application to the discovery of underground springs. Throughout the south-western counties of England, especially m Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset, also m Lincolnshire, the dowsing rod, as it is usually called, is extensively used m fixing the sites of wells. It was lately stated that m certain districts m Cornwall no one would think of sinking a well without the guidance of tho rod. An account of one or two typical instances that have lately been made publio of the use of this relic of past ages for water-finding' will best explain the modus opcrandi of these modern magicians. A gentleman had purchased a plot of land on a hill-slope at Newport, Monmouthshire, on which to erect o residence Having chosen a site, thf architeot fixed upon the most convenioni spot for a well. Sinking operations wort forthwith proceeded with, but no watei was fonnd. In this difficulty one of thi masons, a Cornish man, suggested a triti of the divining-rod, to which he had beei accustomed m his native place ; and th owner, although inoredulous, allowed i to be tried. The workman who hai made tho suggestion stated that his eon,

boy eleven years old, possessed the power m a remarkable degree. Being sent for and told what wa3 wanted of him, the lad ivenfc to neighboring hedge and cut a rod of blackthorn or hazel about 2 feet m length and as thick as a telegraph wire. Placing the ends of the rod between the thumb and forefinger of each hand, he bent it slightly ; and holding it thus before him, at a short distance from the ground, he started off. After perambulating the ground for some time he stopped, and to the surprise of the onlookers the rod was seen to bo m motion, although the fingers and thumbs seemed perfectly motionless. Tho wand then began to revolvo at a gradually increasing rate, until the lad was at last obliged to let it go, when it darted some distance off. "There," said tho father, " you may dig with confidence for water," and there they dug ; and at a depth of 48 foet they struck a strong spring of pur.; water, which supplies the mausion to this day. Speaking at Grantham m 1870, Sir W. Welby Gregory, 11. P., gave the following; account of his experience of Mr John Mullins, fumed throughout Liucolonshire as the water discoverer : — " I had. occasion to seek for an additional supply of water for my house and garden, and I was induced, from several accounts that 1 had hoard of his performances, to send for a man out of Wiltshire, who discovers running water by the aid of a twig — or, as it used to be called m ancient days, a divining rod. The man came, apparently a very stmplo, straightforward sort if fellow, who did not profess to know tho reason why, but simply the fact that, when he crossed running water, the twig turned upwards m his huiid ; and he indicated two spots where he said I should find water at a very moderate depth. I knew that his powers had been tested m every possible way ; he had been blindfolded, tricks had been played upon him with pipes and drains, and he had always stood the test. So Idetermined to sink the wells m accordance with his recommendations, and I may say at once that m both cases I have found a most satisfactory supply of water within the promised depth." The fame acquired by Mullins m this capacity is sufficiently attested by an advertisement quoted lately m Notes and Queries, m which a water engineer of Grantham states that " lie has arranged with Mr J. Mullins, tho water discoverer, for his services." De Quincey, speaking of the use of the dowsing-rod m Somersetshire for this purpose, says : — "I have myself not only seen the process tried with success, but have witnessed the enormous trouble, delay, and expense accruing to those of tho opposite faction who refused to benefit by this art." Any kind of wood, apparently, may be used for the rod, although hazel and blackthorn are the most common. It need not e.ven be wood at all, as whalebone and metals have been employed by successful practitioners. The most common form is that of a forked branch m the shape of a letter Y. Neither material nor form, however, appears to be of much consequence, diviners generally regarding the rod merely as the indicator which reveals m visible results the inward sensations of the operator. Tho use of tho divining rod is not confined to tho Old World, being probably m greater request at the present day m the United States of America than anywhere else. Dr Raymond, late United States Mining Commissioner, having had the alleged virtues of tho divining rod frequently brought under his notice m his official capacity, recently discussed the subject before the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Its virtues m America are supposed to extend to the discovery not only of spring wells, but of oil wells, and of mineral veins and hidden treasuro generally. Many of tho oil wells of Pennsylvania have been bored at points indicated by the "oil smellers," as these particular diviners are called. Payment by result is the rulo with these Yankee rhabdomancerß; the oil-smeller receiving nothing if the well proves unsuccessful, and 50 dollars if oil ia struck. A few months ago, Dr Raymond encountered m Southern Colorado a party of capitalists who were accompanied by such an expert, and whose purpose was to discover a mmo by his aid and to buy tho property thus made valuable. Also, according to a paragraph m an Arizona newspaper, a party wore lately scouring the hills m that region for over a week m company with an expert of Colorado, who had beon employed to ascertain, " with his well-known divining rod," the localities of mineral wealth. It is further reported that tho Central Pacific and Southern Pacific Railway Companies havo employed the divining rod successfully m tho discovery of water, and havo located by this means their artesian wells m tho desert. In Now England also, as m Cornwall nnd Devon, wells are frequently located by the aid oE tho dowsing That the divining rod, ns applied to the discovery of buried metals and underground oil wells, is a fraud, Dr Raymond has little doubt ; nothing of practical value having over been discovered by its aid m the mining districts of the West. To test this point, the most distinguished expert on the Pacific slope was invited to inspect a laboratory containing a largo amount of gold. After viewing tho placo he was again brought m blindfold, and asked to point out tho metal with bis rod. This he utterly failed to do, although frequently his instrument was within an inch of thousands of dollars. Any success m the aeai-ch for underground mineral wealth, where the rod is used, may be safely attributed to the 'skill of the operators as prospectors — for thore is a practical science of discovering mineral deposits — not to their use of the divining rod. They probably, however, find it to thoir profit to attributo their success, when thoy have any, to tho more mysterious agont. With regard to tho discovery of springs, and even of oro deposits, as being most frequently the channels of springs, Dr Raymond considers the evidenco m favor of the divining rod to bo much stronger and moro abundant. A Bkilful and oxperionced prospector for mineral deposits comes to know with conßidorablo exactness what sort of surface features betoken underground wealth. Ho may not have taken conscious note of these, yet their rocurrenco nffocts his judgments, andonablee him to come " swiftly, surely, and without conscious reasoning to impressions and dooisinns. " A decision of this kind, says Dr Raymond, " would probably m a man of suitable nervous organization affect the muscles already constrninud bj holding a divining rod, and the minut< muscular movement or inward sensation might bo involuntary." Whoro th< diviner is thus merely giving expressioi to his prospecting knowledge m attempt ing to "spot" ore deposits, tho muscn lar movement, it seoms to us, is muol more likely to bo voluntary. In tho dis covory of springs, however, by " workiiij tho twig, as it is familiarly oallud ii England, the success apparently ovei of inexperienced porsons is sue as to warrant the inquiry whether apart from unconsoiouß skill, ther may not bo a " purely physioal effec produced by a subterranean sprin upon a person wnlking over it." Man animals are known to ucent wator froi great distances, and this is usual! attributed to thoir sonsitivonoss to ten peraturo and moisture. Tho oaso wit whioh somo people catch cold as con pared with others from dampness, espec ally m the soloa of tho feet, is also familiar fact. Founding upon suoh case and referring to the statement of a fatnoi

Italian hydroscopist, that tho sensation of the diviner is one of heat and cold, Dr Raymond is inclined to think that " a slight, unconscious chill may be the physical result to certain sensitive persons of walking over a spring of water, or a belt of rock or soil kept by running water cooler than the adjacent rock or soil, or a spot of surface made by the same cause damper than the surrounding surface." If the above be the residuum of science at the bottom of the art of well discovering by divination, the rod, unless for purposes of show, would seem to be superfluous. In spite of Dr Raymond's ingenious attempt to give to modern rhabdomancy a scientific basis, it is to be feared that most people will agree with Cicero— himself at one time an augur — who did not see how two augurs meeting m the street could look each other m the fnco without laughing.