THE CORNISH MINER'S "DIVINING "ROD.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1621, 15 October 1873, Page 3

THE CORNISH MINER'S "DIVINING "ROD.

An old-f ashibned method of discovering the proper place, to sink for water has '.fceen 'used ' with such success in Tictpria where one ', ip dividual,, a Cprni&hman, gained such a reputation for his skill therein that for ( a long tune his services were constantly in requisition. It may have been;good luck, but as.acuriotis experiment'in the search for either hidden springs or metallic veins it is worth trying by the patient. A write* y in ai'Southern • contemporary; qnbting from brie of Messrs Chambers'? works; # pays :— "There is' a very extraordinary belief —jwhetter a superstition or : a scientific fact is riot yet really known— among the miners of Cornwall ' and Devon, respecting the divining rod. It is believed that many persons are gifted with a power of detecting the presence of veins of metal underground ; the number of such sensitive persons being about one i-to every forty. " *.' .' ; . . Recetit circumstances have tended to give a new interest to the divining rod. (Reference here is made to the discoveries of Faraday, Plucker, Reichenbach, Cdlqu-, houn, Dr Mayo, the 'Cpmte.de Tristan and 1 "Edward Seebold). Then Messrs Chambers' continue:— 'Dr Mayo regards. the wliole; matter as far more worthy of steady in-! quiry than of mere ridicule. . . . .' 1 Whether there are any such currents in metallic veins or in running streams^ and whether, if there be such; these currents anect any 1 light object held in the^haudsj of .: sensitive and delicate persons, are: questions rather of science than super-: 'station 1 j ibey cannot be sheived by mere, poqh-ppphmg. . : ... ; , . .\ . * J .i Wajitifpr'furtheriexperimente, and when-! ever jand' wherever they arise, scrutinise! .themTjciosely,, but give them fair play.'j Jfowifor jthe .modus 'qperandi,iand that is ias simple as it ■ is mysterious,' and diners' •in: my -experience in nothing/ from the' -method referred to by Messrs Chambers.{ I l ' have f blind the followirig the iriostj convenient way of testing theprinciple :— • Take a common Walking ; stick, andi r.educe^the length of it to some six or 'eig^ !mche9. t Let two persons (and! can only be found out^ •by^piiiaiiDttißnt), ■< facing each : other, hold! it.i'itt.aiihorizontal position, griasping .: it! easily,.' yet ifirmly, ; . placing' the hands Alwrnately; In a few minutes the rod Anil* exhibit a new property; of ' at veryi 'decided character, oscillating arid darting! l abbut^ now attracted and now repelled, and impelled hither arid 'thither in ways so varied as not to J be understood with- 1 out bieing seen, this new pbwer being! dependent, perhaps, upon the joint in-! flufence of the sensitive organisms of the operators arid their surroundings, or upon ! other . conditions .not yet within the pale ; of .ascerjained science. If I. had merely' '. read or heard about such a thing, I should in every probability have treated it with- > • out further inquiry as an absurdity, but, as explained in my last letter, I have subjected it to the most rigorous test in the presence; 'of hiany witnesses, and found it tb jtfe btie pih'er grave fact yrhich must be ' T»prigh;t up the scientific woria 1 of - pur/^y for ; ,^trust that its . *^^pn..'\unqei^pnncl;'.'.'yifiU/b > c tested t and tested .thoroughly, for it may be ( iraught; fWifchi results of -incalculable im- j pprfiance, in a direction where 'More : ■Light/ than we ;possess is loudly 'called s .fpr. l^',: !."■.! ''<< r '.'■'■ ■ ' ' : ' '.•■<'• y i- v-'-i.: ',-■: :i: " ■ 8