THE WATER-DIVINER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1761, 28 May 1913, Page 9

THE WATER-DIVINER.

HIS MYSTERIOUS POWERS.

BRITISH INVESTIGATION,

The appointment of a committee of scientific men to make a systematic investigation of tho claims of the waterdiviner is a reminder,, as the London "Morning Post"'remarks, that, whatever realms of knowledge science mny have conquered, there are still left fields of exploration which it haa hardly touched. The water-diviner, as a matter of fact, has been under a cloud. He is, in the opinion of many scientific men, a survival from the Dark Ages, when witches rode on broomsticks across the skv, when wise, men cast horoscopes from tiie stars and planets, and when 'tlio search for the philosopher's stone was actively pursued. But ono of the mose remarkable features of recent years, adds the "Morning Post," is the attention paid to once abandoned and discredited subjects. We have had a learned bibliophile, competent to control the.finest library in London, who hardly disguised Ills belief in astrology, certain ly not in private; wo have more than a suggestion that 'the elements are only the diversified form of one universal substance; and we aro assured by scientific men, whose authority in other matters of knowledge is unquestioned, that the gulf between the present world and the next has teen bridged.

Used for Tracking Heretics. In this recrudescence of old beliefs, the water-diviner, or "dowser," as ho is familiarly calied on the countryside, is coming into his own, and scattered up and down tho land aro estates where he has proved his powers over the orthodox scientist by finding supplies of. water where their existence had Geen previously denied. Tiie divining-rod, in fact, is no longer a dead stick fit only for tho museum, but a vigorous young sapling which seems likely to grow into a sturdy tree. This curious instrument has figured in various _ ages, and mention was made of the forked rod, or virgula divinn. in an ancient Latin folio—Sebastian Munster's "Cosmography"—published as early ns 1500. Tho rod was then used tor the disyovery of metallic ores, and as such it was freely employed by tho miners of Saxony and the Hartz Mountains. Tlio "Merchant Venturers," who were entrusted with the exploitation of Cornish mines in the days of Elizabeth, went to Saxony to learn the best methods of discovering metallic ore, and brought a "diviner" back in their train. For more than' two centuries afterwards, according to one authority, nearly all the Cornish mines were located by tho rod, and it is said to lie freely employed to this day. But this did not exhaust its powers. In the South of France, in the Seventeenth Century, it was used for tracking criminals and heretics, but its abuse in this respect led to a decree of the Inquisition in 1701 forbidding its employment for purposes of justice.

A Case from Derbyshire. As mining declined in ( Cornwall tho use pi tile rod for discovering lodes aisi? declined, but-the "diviner" found other scope for his activity in locating supplies, of water.- _ Since then he has confined himself mainly to this business, and it is as a water-finder that ho challenges the orthodox man of science to-dny. Sir William Fletcher Barrett declares that at the present time land-owners and well-, sinkers in the South-West of England, whfii in difficulty where to sink a well, almost invariably employ a dowser, usuallyl an uneducated nian, who has discovered that lie possesses the "gift." In other parts of England lie has also been employed, and current history, as revealed in the newspapers, contains the record of many cases where the water-diviner arm-' ed with his t\j'ig—of holly, hazel, willow, or beech—or even with a watch springhas been more than a match for a rival equipped with the best scientific instruments. It was recently reported that when tho River Dove became contaminated, and it was necessary to find a fresh supply of water for tho district, a waterwas called in. Ho located various springs yielding from 300 to ICOO gallons per day, and then declared that at a depth of between 200 ft. and. 300 ft. a supply of 4COO gallons per day would bo found. The boreholo was accordingly Bunk, on Boston Common, and after three days' continuous pumping it was found to yield 14,000 gallons of pure .water from the sandstono rock at a depth of '215 ft.

Horsham and Waterford Discoveries. Sir William Barrett gives some even moro Temarkuble instances of the waterdiviner's power. Tho lato Sir Henry Harben, he says, failed to discover water on his estato near Horsham, although, acting on scientific advice, ho sunk three wells at depths respectively of 90 feet, 55 feet, and 100 feet, and ran adits in different directions from the bottom of the last boring. Finally in despair he called in the services of a dowser, who was ignorant of the lie of the estate, and was denied any local information.' After tho man baa been searching for some time the hazel twig m his hand turned violently, and he asserted that water ( would bo found at a depth of twenty feet and at another spot close by. Weils were immediately dug, and a supply of ' excellent water was found at a depth of 15 feet bolow tho surface and at a spot which scient;iio experts had previously passed over. The explanation in this case is that the wells wero lored through a small cap. of sandstone rock on the Horsham clay, tlio existence of which was entirely unsuspected. Sir William Barrett (who, we may add, conducted an injury into this subject on behalf of tho Society for Psychical Research) also quotes tho remarkable experience of a finn of bacon manufacturers at Waterford. They had made various borings without success, and nt last constructed a borc-hole 1012 feet in all from the surface at a cost of ,£IOOO, but this also was a failure. When expert advisers had declared that the quest was hopeless, tho firm decided to call in a water-diviner, and the man who had proved his competence on the Horsham estate went over to Waterford. He was told nothing of what had been done, but the area over which he was to work— 300 feet by 700 feet—was indicated, and then he was left to his own divices. Without a word he walked over the ground, and at tho distance of a few feet from tho deepest boring the hazel twig twisted violently and broke in his hands. At this spot, snid the diviner, water would' be found at a depth of 80 or 90 feet below the surface. Boring was begun, and at less than 90 feet depth a supply of water was obtained. During the last twentyfour years the firm have obtained' from 8000 to 5000 gallons per hour from this woll, the supply coming from a fissure in the hard, underlying rock which was lmlden from knowledge by forty feet of boulder clay.

The Dowser's Supernormal Faculty. What is this wonderful, almost miraculous power? If the diviner's record is no better. than that of the ordinary woll6inker, his claims would fall to tho ground, but such is not the fact. Out of 152 cases investigated in recent veal's, no fewer than 140 were successful, and only 12 were failures. The objection may bo urged that tho discovery of each caso was due either to a knowledge of local geological conditions or to a shrewd eye to the lie of the land as indicating whoro water is likely to bo found, but the evidence does not warrant either contention. The virtue of discovery does not lie in the hazel twig, for, as has been stated, watcli springs are sometime*: used with success, and an eminent architect, has borne testimony to the fact' that a peacock's feather will reveal the presence of running wafer underground, whether it be a natural spring or conveyed in pipes. Tho dowser himself says "ftlcclricity," and thinks.he has explained all, whereas te has explained naught, for electricity ha« been shown to have nothing to do with the case. Wo are thrown buck, therefore, on a psychical explanation, and after the work of Myer* and other investigators into the nature of the subliminal self and the world be.voml our sen-cs who shall say that such explanation may not be the right one? The dowser would seem to possess a supernormal perceptive faculty, which enables him to achieve suceven when pitted against skilful observers armed with full knowledge of local geology. Sir William Barrett, as the result of his investigations, states that "finally, and with reluctance. 1 was driven to the conclusion thai cerlain persons really possessed an instinct or faculty new to science, of which the muscular'spasm, that causes the twisting of tho forked rod, is the outward and visible sign."