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THE 
 
 DIVINING- EOD: 
 
 VIRGULA DIVINA-BACULUS DIVINATORIUS 
 
 (WATER-WITCHING.) 
 
 By CHAELES LATIMER, 
 
 n 
 Civil Engineer. 
 
 "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are 
 dreamt of in your philosophy.' 1 — Shakespeat-e. 
 
 
 k.o.fe/ 
 
 
 WaS ' 
 
 CLEVELAND, O, 
 
 FAIRBANKS, BENEDICT & CO., PRINTERS, 
 1876. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by 
 
 CHARLES LATIMER, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
AN ESSAY READ BEFORE THE 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERS' CLUB OF THE NORTHWEST, 
 
 AT CHICAGO, FEB. 1, 1875. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 My Essay on the "Divining Rod," (vulgus, "Water- Witching,") 
 having proved interesting to a number of my friends, I have 
 concluded to give it to the public, with the hope that some 
 useful practical results may be derived from it. I have no 
 apology to make for presenting this subject in a serious light. 
 I regard it as one strictly in the domain of science, and, there- 
 fore, worthy of the consideration of scientific men. I have no 
 fear of ridicule, knowing for myself and "not for another," 
 that what is here presented is the truth; 
 
 To those who seek absolute truth, I need not recommend a 
 reading of these pages. To those who merely live by science, 
 drawing their sustenance from it as from the "convenient cow," 
 as Goethe says, I will simply say, imprison yourselves, gentle- 
 men, in your shell; the world will move quite as well without 
 you. 
 
 I add a number of notes from various sources to which I 
 had not access before writing my own experience. 
 
ABOUT "WATER-WITCHING; 
 
 (WHAT I KNOW.) 
 
 I have always observed that when any novelty 
 is presented for the consideration of man, which 
 is not readily proven by already well known sci- 
 entific laws, or which may not be demonstrated 
 by the knowledge and power of most persons, it 
 is found extremely difficult, if not impossible, to 
 gain the attention of the devotee of science. 
 Whether, indeed, it be from lack of interest, 
 from incredulity, or from the fear of ridicule, or 
 from any other cause, we look with distrust upon 
 anything which is not in harmony with our pre- 
 conceived ideas or theories, and we are apt to 
 raise the cry of humbug or superstition, and 
 reject, with a contemptuous assumption of supe- 
 riority as unbelievers, propositions which prop- 
 erly put to the test might prove of value to 
 mankind. 
 
 Happily for us a wise Providence has not 
 ordained that all minds shall plough in a single 
 furrow of the great field of knowledge. Some, 
 
8 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 therefore, believe nothing but what they see, and 
 frequently doubt the evidence of their own senses. 
 Others believe everything they see and nearly 
 everything they hear, and seize with too great 
 credulity upon every new thing presented to 
 them. There are others who disbelieve nothing 
 that is presented to them, however apocryphal, 
 without full and impartial investigation, aided 
 not by testimony alone, but by actual demonstra- 
 tion. Again, there are men who are afraid to 
 investigate, lest the world should call them 
 visionary ; these are always prepared to apolo- 
 gize for examining anything outside the mere 
 routine of their special science. But the most 
 frequent error of mankind is to doubt and ridi- 
 cule, without investigation, everything which is 
 not commonly received. To such I would cite 
 the pungent words of Solomon: "He that an- 
 swereth a matter before he heareth it, it is a folly 
 and a shame unto him." 
 
 I feel that I am speaking to those, who always 
 listen with interest to every proposition, and are 
 willing to examine it, until its demonstration is 
 clear and its hidden mysteries revealed, and never 
 pronounce anything a superstition or an impos- 
 ture, until from patient research they have a 
 right, through their own experimental knowl- 
 edge, to utter a verdict. But, lest there should 
 
THE DIVINING KOD. 9 
 
 be among us one of these doubting Thomases or 
 disbelieving cynics, I would appeal to him with 
 the history of the two Spanish students. These 
 two young gentlemen, while traveling from Pena- 
 flor to Salamanca, stopped at a spring to quench 
 their thirst, and whilst seated upon the ground 
 near the fountain observed something like a tomb- 
 stone, level with the water ; engraven on the stone 
 were these words: "Here lies interred the soul of 
 Pedro Garcia." The youngest of the students, a 
 thoughtless fellow, said, laughing loudly: "What 
 a joke. Here lies interred the soul ! Who ever 
 heard of a soul being buried ? who can tell me the 
 author of so ridiculous an epitaph?" The other, 
 a reflective, judicious youth, said to himself: 
 "There is some mystery here, and I intend to 
 solve it before I leave this spot." Letting his 
 companion depart, without losing a moment's 
 time he took out his knife, cut around the stone, 
 dug under it a little, and there found buried a 
 purse containing one hundred ducats, with these 
 words in Latin inscribed upon it: "I declare thee 
 my heir, whomsoe'er thou art, who hast had the 
 genius to understand the meaning of the inscrip- 
 tion ; but I charge thee to use this money better 
 than I used it." 
 
 Now to the point. The subject to which I am 
 about to call your attention — that of finding water 
 
10 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 by means of the "divining rod" — is one of those 
 which in modern times is classed among mere 
 superstitions, and as such unworthy of serious 
 consideration by sensible people. I think I have 
 it in my power to demonstrate to you, principally 
 from my own personal experiences— the relation 
 of which I beg you to accept as strictly accurate — 
 that this is an error on the part of the over- wise 
 skeptics of our progressive epoch. 
 
 Worcester's dictionary gives the following defi- 
 nition of the "divining rod: — "A forked branch, 
 usually of hazel, said to be useful to discern mines 
 and water." "Witch-hazel — a tall shrub of east- 
 ern North America, remarkable for blossoming 
 late in the autumn." 
 
 Another authority gives the following : ' 'Divin- 
 ing rod — A hazel twig cut in the form of a Y, by 
 the aid of which certain persons (meaning, of 
 course, sorcerers like myself,) called 'dowsers,' 
 pretend to be able to discover water or mineral 
 veins. The rod is held in a peculiar manner, and 
 the 'dowsers' walk backward and forward over 
 the ground to be tried. As soon as he crosses or 
 approaches a metallic vein or aqueous spring the 
 twig turns toward it with a slow, rotary motion. 
 This superstition has not yet died out, and ' dow- 
 sers ' are yet common in remote parts of England, 
 France and Germany." 
 
THE DIVINING EOD. 11 
 
 Now, one can easily see that this writer is one 
 of those who apologize for seeming to believe a 
 thing of the kind by calling it "a superstition not 
 yet died out." 
 
 Here is another definition : "Divining rod — 
 A forked branch, usually of hazel, by which it 
 has been pretended that minerals and water may 
 be discovered in the earth. The rod, if slowly 
 carried along in suspension, dipping and pointing 
 downwards, it is affirmed when brought over the 
 spot, where the concealed mine or spring is 
 situated." 
 
 "The form, the material and the mode of using 
 the divining rod of the modern miners and water 
 finders seem to be superstitions of comparative 
 recent introduction. Many persons with some 
 pretensions to science have been believers in the 
 powers ascribed to the "divining rod." 
 
 Here we have another case of the apologetic 
 historian. He dared not say that he believed it, 
 even though he had seen it. Why? Simply 
 because there was no scientific fact or theory upon 
 which he could base his belief— so he was afraid 
 even to say what he believed, lest people who read 
 his encyclopedia might say he was visionary. 
 
 I read somewhere, a long time ago, that this 
 superstition was also rife in the eleventh century. 
 Now, like the young students above cited, some 
 
12 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 one among you may exclaim, " Who will inform 
 me who can be the author of this ridiculous 
 superstition ? " I wish I could tell you ; I am 
 sorry I can not, but I should not wonder if he 
 lived before the days of Moses, the first " dowser" 
 on record. When oil was discovered in this 
 country many of us believed that there was at 
 last "something new under the sun.' We have 
 only to turn to the Scriptures to learn that Job 
 was in the oil and dairy business a few thousand 
 years before Oil City sprung up under our won- 
 dering eyes. Job has always been supposed to 
 refer to some great miracle when he says, in the 
 29th chapter of his book, "I washed my steps 
 with butter and the rock poured me out rivers of 
 oil ; the young men saw me and hid themselves." 
 Also, in Deuteronomy, we read, chapter 32, verse 
 13, ' ' And he made him to suck honey out of the 
 rock, and oil out of the flinty rock." Now, we 
 have these marvels repeating themselves daily ; 
 and I think it no very far-fetched idea to assume 
 that the " divining rod" was used in the discovery 
 of these precious deposits. I am myself acquain- 
 ted with a gentleman who has lately successfully 
 located two oil wells by this magic (so-called) 
 process. 
 
 In fact, who knows but that the first knowledge 
 of the "divining rod" was a revelation, and that 
 
THE DIVINING K0D. 13 
 
 Moses not only understood the art, but taught it 
 to the Children of Israel, from whence the sup- 
 posed superstition has spread. 
 
 When Moses found the water at Meribeh-Reph- 
 idim and Meribeh-Kadesh, in the wilderness of 
 Zin, he had received the Almighty's command: 
 "Go before the people and take with thee the 
 elders of Israel, and thy rod wherewith thou 
 smotest the river ; take it in thine hand and go. 
 Behold, I will stand before thee upon the rock in 
 Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and then 
 shall come water out of it, that the people may 
 drink ; and Moses did so in the sight of the elders 
 of Israel." 
 
 In the 20th chapter of Numbers we read of a 
 similar miracle occurring three years afterward — 
 " And Moses took the rod from before the Lord 
 as he commanded him, and said, Hear, now, ye 
 rebels, must we fetch water out of this rock. And 
 Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod smote 
 the rock twice, and the water came out abundantly 
 and the congregation drank and their beasts also." 
 
 Now in the 21st chapter of Numbers we find 
 these verses: "And from thence they went to 
 Beer, that is, the well whereof the Lord spake 
 unto Moses. Gather the people together and 
 I will give them water. Then sang Israel this 
 song — Spring up, O, well ! sing ye unto it. The 
 
14 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 princes digged the well, the nobles of the people 
 digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with 
 their staves." This shows that the lawgiver 
 pointed out the places for them to dig, and the 
 people made the wells. 
 
 There is nothing like faithful searching if you 
 wish to find ; so I advise you to look back also as 
 far as Confucius, and then come down to the old 
 monk, Roger Bacon, and it would not surprise 
 me if you should ascertain that those old wise- 
 heads had gone even farther than your humble 
 servant into the mysteries of the divining rod. 
 
 But I will not quote from these ancients ; I will 
 only look back a short hundred years. In Sir 
 David Brewster's Philosophy you will find that 
 he says that there is no doubt that the presence 
 of water can be detected by the divining rod, 
 although it can not be demonstrated by any 
 known science. It was this last paragraph which 
 I stumbled upon many years ago, that first brought 
 me to a practical knowledge of this phenomenon. 
 I read it, and being on a visit in Raymond, Miss., 
 
 I went to Judge , of that place, a scholar and 
 
 a man of good sense, whom I took for granted had 
 not failed to gather in, among his great stores of 
 learning, something about the topic which had 
 struck me so forcibly. I was not mistaken ; the 
 old gentleman told me that he had not only heard 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 15 
 
 a good deal about this matter, but possessed, him- 
 self, the power of finding water, offering to show 
 me how he proceeded. Soon after we went, aeom- 
 panied by my brother, Dr. L., to a spot where 
 there was a well known under- ground stream. 
 The Judge cut three forked branches from a peach 
 tree, each took one and we marched over the spot 
 indicated, holding our rods according to the 
 approved style of the " dowser" proper. At a 
 certain point the switches in the hands of the 
 Judge and myself went down simultaneously ; 
 the effect was very apparent ; but my brother, in 
 whose hands there was no movement, mercilessly 
 ridiculed the whole proceeding ; neither the Judge 
 nor I being at all disconcerted by his skeptical 
 derision of our scientific research. I could not 
 be shaken from faith in my actual, absolute ex- 
 perience, and was fully convinced that there was 
 a mysterious power, beyond my ken, that turned 
 the switch. I pondered over the matter, and 
 resolved that at some future day I would examine 
 more closely into it. 
 
 This, to me, decisive epoch finally came after a 
 great number of trials, always with satisfactory 
 results as to the bare fact that water could be 
 traced or discovered. That the switch did turn 
 in my hand readily was undoubtedly true — the 
 agency which moved it was the mystery. 
 
16 THE DIVINING EOD, 
 
 I knew that electricity had broad shoulders, 
 and had always carried the weight of every unex- 
 plained phenomenon. I said this switch turns by 
 electric force. Having evolved my theory, I set 
 out to sustain it, by experiment. Upon inquiry, I 
 found that not only could water be discovered, 
 but it was asserted that minerals as readily an- 
 swered to the call of the magic rod ; and, indeed, 
 that even their depth beneath the earth' s surface 
 might be computed. 
 
 Granting this to be true, I concluded that I had 
 not only a philosophical but a mathematical prob- 
 lem to solve. I, however, never met any one 
 having any information on this latter point, nor 
 in my readings did I find any allusion to the 
 possibility of ascertaining the depth below the 
 surface of any concealed stream or mineral. On 
 the contrary, I found the general impression to be 
 that the whole thing was a superstition of ignorant 
 minds. The doubters frequently met me, and with 
 some show of reason, with this personal argument : 
 "I cannot believe this thing, because the switch 
 does not turn in my hand." It is quite true that 
 every hand does not have the power of giving the 
 motion to the switch ; but this does not disprove 
 the fact of its turning. I have heard that the evi- 
 dence of one man who heard a bell is worth that 
 of a dozen who did not hear it. The testimony is, 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 17 
 
 therefore, to my mind, clearly in favor of the 
 "dowsers." All men are not the same conduct- 
 ors of electricity. I have known persons who 
 could light the gas by running across the floor, 
 rubbing their feet upon the carpet, and pointing a 
 finger at the jet. I never saw this done, but I 
 have no doubt that there are many who can do 
 it, and also many who cannot. 
 
 ISTow, although the switch may not turn in the 
 hands of all, this is no proof that the current pro- 
 ducing the movement does not pass through the 
 persons just the same — the effect is only less per- 
 ceptible in some, than in others. 
 
 I had made a very large number of experiments, 
 from time to time, before I had an opportunity to 
 make one which satisfied me that I was on the 
 right track. I had in these experiments exploded 
 the -superstition of the "witch-hazel," and learned 
 that peach, apple, willow, dog-wood, beech, ma- 
 ple, iron, steel, copper — in fact, that even an old 
 barrel hoop possessed all of its virtues, and so 
 concluded that after all this relic of the necro- 
 mancer's art of former days was a very simple 
 matter, if we could but find the clue to it. A few 
 years ago it happened that I wanted to get water 
 at a place called Coloma, upon the Chicago, Michi- 
 gan & Lake Shore Railroad, of which I was then 
 
18 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 chief engineer. I concluded to test my electric 
 theory here. I found that it was necessary to dig 
 a well upon the depot grounds — the point was to 
 see if I could find water where I needed a tank. 
 I took a switch and found water near the desired 
 spot; then, with my theory in view, I made a 
 second experiment. I bought four ink bottles, 
 adjusted them to a pair of wooden sandals, which 
 I fastened to my feet. Thus insulated, I walked 
 over the ground, my switch in hand, but, as I 
 had anticipated, there was no movement — the 
 diviner's rod was powerless. I therefore assume 
 that I am right in ascribing the phenomenon to 
 electricity. I continued my experiments, having 
 yet the mathematical point unsettled. Upon 
 walking over the ground again and again, I 
 found that the switch commenced always to turn 
 at the same places, equally (or nearly) distant 
 from a centre, and kept gradually turning until 
 it pointed directly downward. To assure myself, 
 I repeated this experiment many times, and ar- 
 rived at the conclusion that the switch commenced 
 to turn at an angle of forty -five degrees from the 
 edge of the water, and that the distance from my 
 hand to the water would be measured by the dis- 
 tance from the point where the switch commenced 
 to turn to the point of absolute turn-down, and so 
 
THE DIVINING EOD. 19 
 
 it seems to be. The following diagram will show 
 more clearly my meaning : 
 
 A B B A 
 
 w 
 
 A B, B A is the surface of the earth ; W, a 
 stream or pool of water below the surface. Walk- 
 ing along toward A B the switch begins to move 
 at A, and turns down at B ; the angles B A C and 
 B C A being equal, the distance from A to B is 
 equal to B C. Measure the distance, therefore, 
 from the point of commencement of turning to the 
 point of turn-down, and you have the depth from 
 your hand to the water. I have verified this 
 over many water-courses, upon bridges, etc., and 
 I am satisfied it is correct, at least for the latitude 
 in which my experiments were made. Upon this 
 basis I made my first estimate of the depth of the 
 water at Coloma, and gave it as from twenty-five 
 to thirty feet. I employed an experienced well 
 borer and had a two and one-half inch pipe driven 
 into the ground at the exact point my switch indi- 
 cated, and found water at twenty-seven feet exactly. 
 I had the pipe driven down forty feet, and found 
 that I had thirteen feet of water in it. I then had 
 a windmill erected and a large tank. Up to the 
 
20 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 time of my leaving the road, the engines were sup- 
 plied with the water, which, besides, proved to be 
 of excellent quality for drinking. 
 
 My well borer, who was a doubting Thomas, 
 said he believed that he could get water at the 
 same depth anywhere. Fortunately for my theory, 
 a neighboring store-keeper tried the doubter and 
 failed to get water under fifty-nine feet. 
 
 Subsequent to the satisfactory experiment at 
 Coloma it happened that on one occasion, when I 
 was traveling west on the Hannibal & St. Joseph 
 Railroad, that I was introduced to a gentleman 
 engaged in building a road, who related to me that 
 during its construction the engineers had made 
 use of drive wells as they moved rapidly along. 
 As the water question was always one of interest 
 to me, our conversation drifted, naturally, to 
 " water- witching." The gentleman said that all 
 of his knowledge on this subject had been ob- 
 tained from his brother — a young man employed 
 by Horace Greeley on his farm at Chappaqua. 
 Mr. Greeley had sent for him from hearing of him 
 as extremely intelligent and thrifty as a farm 
 hand. It happened while the young man was at 
 Chappaqua that a well was needed, and the ques- 
 tion of " water- witching " came up. The young 
 man said that his belief was, that if one man could 
 find water, so could another — whereupon he took a 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 21 
 
 forked switch and, walking ab out, found that the 
 magic wand turned down over a rock. He had a 
 blast of powder put in at the point, the smoke of 
 which hardly cleared away, revealed a spr ing of 
 water. Here is simply a repetition of the smiting 
 of the rock. In my own experience I have a simi- 
 lar instance : I was assist ant superintendent at 
 
 Highlands, on the Vandalia line. Mr. , then 
 
 chief engineer, had, previous to my arrival, 
 caused a well of ten feet diameter and forty feet 
 depth to be dug and w ailed up with brick, but 
 the supply of water was so small that it could be 
 pumped out in a few minutes. A hole had then 
 been drilled sixteen feet to the rock, which was 
 conglomerate, of very great hardness, with no 
 better results. The well was therefore abandoned. 
 
 If I had seen Mr. , I should have advised 
 
 penetrating the rock, but I did not meet him, and 
 did not wish to interfere with the work. 
 
 Mr. Koepfle, the owner of the land upon which 
 the well was located, arrived just at that time from 
 Switzerland, and I soon became acquainted with 
 him. He came into my office one day and said : 
 "Mr. Latimer, do you not think there is water 
 under that ground % " I replied, "Yes, I thought 
 so." " Did you ever hear of ' water-witching V" 
 he then asked. I said "Yes." "Can you tell 
 where water is ? " Upon my affirmative answer he 
 
22 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 requested me to go down and try a switch. I did 
 so and found that it turned down in a number of 
 places about the well. Mr. Koepfle came to me 
 again to say that there was a " dowser' ' in the 
 neighborhood and to ask me what I thought 
 of his employing him. I advised him to try the 
 skill of this man by all means. I was not present 
 at the trial, but a short time afterward Mr. K. 
 came to me in great excitement to tell me that the 
 man said there was a subterranean lake at that 
 very point. Among other things, he told me that 
 the wand in this case was a bit of whalebone — an 
 
 item I treasured for future consideration. Mr. 
 
 had already commenced another well in a marsh 
 about half a mile west of the first. Mr. Koepfle 
 asked my advice as to what he should do. I re- 
 plied, "I cannot take any action in the matter 
 officially, but if you will take it upon yourself to 
 bore through that rock and pay the expense of it, 
 I think that no objection can be made to it, and I 
 believe that you will get plenty of water — in which 
 case, I am sure you will n&t lose your money." 
 " But where can I get a man ?" urged Mr. Koepfle. 
 
 "Try Mr. 's man. I think Mr. will be 
 
 glad to get rid of the expense," I said. Mr. K. 
 came soon after with the man and agreed, by my 
 advice, to give him $7.50 per day for his own 
 work and that of his man with the drills. In Hve 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 23 
 
 days the rock was smitten through with a three- 
 inch drill, and the water immediately rushed up 
 to a point above the natural surface of the ground, 
 only held by the railroad bank — which sur- 
 rounded the well — and there remained. I am not 
 
 aware that Mr. ever knew that his excellent 
 
 well water was provided for him by the magic 
 power of a morsel of whalebone and a peach twig. 
 Upon one occasion, at a farm of one of my con- 
 nections, the water gave out in the well, (seven- 
 teen feet deep,) which had for years supplied a 
 a large number of cattle. In the first place I 
 ordered the well to be cleaned out, for it was very 
 dirty; but there was no improvement. It was 
 then decided to dig another. I found a place 
 about ten feet north of the old well, where I 
 judged there was a small stream, and repeatedly 
 estimated the depth to it by my rule', and came to 
 the conclusion that it was between ten and twelve 
 feet. I was rather'astonished at this, for the water, 
 it may be observed, was seventeen feet deep in 
 the old well. However the well was begun. I 
 asked the digger at what depth water ought to be 
 found ; he said at seventeen feet ; but I made this 
 a test case, and said, "You will find water here 
 between ten and twelve feet, but if I should have 
 to say precisely, I should say at ten feet." Water 
 
24 THE DIVINING K0D. 
 
 was found at exactly ten feet, and stood at that 
 point after the well was finished. 
 
 A peculiar test occurred at Toulon, Illinois. 
 I was talking on the subject with a friend, a 
 lawyer of that place, one dark night at about 
 nine o'clock. He asked, "Can you tell how 
 deep it is to the water in the well in this 
 hotel y&v&V I answered at once, "Yes," 
 but said, "it is rather dark, and I know 
 nothing about the yard or the position of the 
 well." However I went out and started at the 
 kitchen door, only asking upon which side of the 
 house I should seek. I traced the stream from 
 the kitchen door, passing back and forth rapidly 
 until I found the well about forty feet from the 
 kitchen and near the barn. When I came to the 
 well I said, "This stream passes five feet from 
 the well and does not go directly into it." I then 
 made some examination with the rod, and pro- 
 nounced the depth to the water to be fourteen 
 feet, which was found by measurement to be cor- 
 rect. I will add, that I was never before in the 
 hotel yard, did not know where the well was 
 located, and the night was exceedingly dark. 
 The next morning, while paying my bill, the 
 landlord said, "You probably do not know how 
 close was your calculation last night. I had that 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 25 
 
 well dug myself, and we went down forty feet 
 without finding water. Before giving it up the 
 digger had himself lowered into the well, listen- 
 ing as he went to hear the sound of some stream. 
 At fourteen feet he heard water, and boring in 
 laterally five feet, where you said the stream 
 was, he found a plentiful supply, filling the well 
 with twenty- three feet of water." 
 
 Another experience. One day at Wyoming, 
 111., a friend said to me, "I must introduce you 
 to our ' water- witch,' " who proved to be a gentle- 
 man named , a banker of the place. After 
 
 some conversation with him, we agreed to try 
 an experiment together and compare experiences 
 generally. I asked first, "What do you use?" 
 "Willow, hazel or peach — perhaps any green 
 twig would do as well ; but I only employ those 
 three." "What would you say to an old barrel 
 hoop ? " I asked. "Oh, that would not do at all ; 
 there must be sap in the wood." We each took 
 our rod and went forth, I holding mine in my 
 hands, whilst my companion held one end of his 
 in his teeth, the other in both hands. I asked 
 what he meant by that mode of holding the 
 switch. He replied, "That is my way ; there is 
 no chance for presumption or pretence in it ; 
 some persons can make the switch turn and be 
 deceived." I observed that our switches moved 
 
26 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 at the same moment, mine turning down, his 
 side wise ; but in every case we agreed, and thus 
 traced a number'of streams. I tried his plan, but 
 it would not^ answer, while his switcji mov%d held 
 in either way. In discussing the matter, I asked 
 his theory, which he declined to give, but which 
 I divined by a question he asked, viz : "Did you 
 ever see a switch turn for stagnant water?" I 
 said, "Yes." "Well," he responded, "I never 
 did, and the rod will not turn over stagnant 
 water for me." "Now," said I, "I understand 
 your theory ; it is that the friction of running 
 waters underground produces an electric current 
 which causes the switch to turn." He admitted 
 that I was right. "Now," I said, "I propose to 
 explode two of your notions at once. In the first 
 place, let us get an old barrel hoop." I found 
 one, which we divided. I then went with him 
 across the railroad track, which at that place 
 runs north and south. The rod .turned down 
 for both of us at once ; in this case he used the 
 rod in his hand. "Now, you see," I said, "that 
 the rail represents stagnant water, and you find 
 that a dry twig or stick is as good as a green one." 
 I then obtained a piece of copper wire from the 
 telegraph office and gave him. He walked across 
 the track with it in his mouth and hands, and 
 in every case the rod turned to the south for 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 27 
 
 him. In finding water the rod always turned 
 for him in the direction the stream ran. I found 
 he knew nothing about estimating the depth be- 
 neath the surface He remarked that he had 
 fancied that he knew much of the subject, but 
 that a man must "live and learn." I went with 
 him to his bank, where w T e threw down a rod of 
 iron on the floor, and with our switches found the 
 movement to be the same at every trial. Again, 
 we placed a silver coin on the floor, with the same 
 result — trying several times with his hand on my 
 arm. I told him that I meant to invent an instru- 
 ment for finding water and estimating its depth. 
 A few months ago I received a letter from him, 
 asking after my proposed invention. This gentle- 
 man gave me a curious confirmation of my ex- 
 periment at Coloma. He related that a few days 
 previous a friend had been out with him to try if 
 the switch would turn in his hand. It did readily ; 
 but after dinner he found, upon a second trial, 
 that there was no movement. This mystery was 
 soon explained by the discovery that our neophyte 
 was standing in his India-rubber shoes. 
 
 Another important test I made at the Naval 
 Academy, at Annapolis, a few years ago. I went 
 there to look at Sir David Thompson's Electro- 
 meter, to ascertain if it could give me a clue to 
 something which might guide me in the invention 
 
28 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 of the instrument in question. I could discover 
 nothing from it, or from the most delicate galvan- 
 ometer. One of the professors, however, asked 
 me to give them a test. I called for a piece of iron 
 wire, walked a few feet, put my foot down and said 
 "There is something immediately under here." 
 The board was taken up and disclosed the gas- 
 pipe. I asked if they were satisfied. "You are a 
 man of quick perceptions and might have noticed 
 the direction of the pipe," was the answer. "Are 
 you willing to be blindfolded ? " I consented and 
 succeeded repeatedly in locating the pipe, and 
 what is more, in indicating other points of attrac- 
 tion to the rod, where all said that my experiment 
 had failed, but which proved as full a confirma- 
 tion of my theory as the lead pipe. These points 
 were those where the iron columns supporting the 
 building touched the ceiling underneath. 
 
 Upon one occasion, I visited Professor Henry, 
 of the Smithsonian Institute, and presented the 
 subject to him. The professor took notes in a 
 book, and asked for a test. I gave him several by 
 locating the gas and water pipes. We then sat 
 down and the professor remarked : ' ' This is all 
 personal influence." Of course, the question is 
 none the less important or curious on this account, 
 and I was a little nettled at the summary disposal 
 of the matter. I therefore replied : * s Professor 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 29 
 
 Henry, you scientific men are always behindhand 
 in discoveries, because you will not investigate, 
 and it is left to those not well versed in the laws 
 of science to ferret out mysteries and lay them 
 bare. I present you two things, Professor — first, 
 I find, by insulating myself that there is no motion 
 of the rod, which proves electricity ; second, I 
 show that the motion begins at a certain point — an 
 angle of forty-five degrees from the concealed 
 water or metal — and the rod turns down directly 
 over it ; thus physical science and mathematics dis- 
 prove your theory." I will say that my remarks 
 moved the professor, who then showed a very de- 
 cided interest and asked me to come and spend 
 the following morning with him. Unfortunately, 
 my departure from the city deprived me of the 
 proposed interview. I have had many other ex- 
 periences, but the relation of them would demand 
 more time than it is expedient to give to them at 
 present. I would add that I have observed in my 
 experiments that the smallest underground stream 
 affects the rod in my hand in the same degree as 
 the cataract of Niagara itself, and that the presence 
 of a stove, a bar of iron, or any other metal — a 
 water or gas pipe, causes it to turn with the same 
 movement as a large mineral deposit ; but it is my 
 belief that there is a hidden mode of distinguish- 
 ing between them all, outside of all questions of 
 
30 THE DIVINING KOD. 
 
 personal influence. We know that in what we call 
 the dark age of the world, all unexplained phe- 
 nomena were referred to personal witchcraft. We, 
 as yet, know little of the many phenomena of elec- 
 tricity, and in the midst of our own intelligent pop- 
 ulation we find, that, to very many, the working of 
 the electric telegraph itself is ascribed to superhu- 
 man agency. Only a few days ago an intelligent tel- 
 egraph operator and his wife, at Horican, thought 
 the spirits were communicating with him through 
 the wires because they heard the air "Home, 
 Sweet Home" in their vibrations — not knowing 
 that he was receiving a musical message from the 
 newly invented telephone, played at Chicago, 
 many miles distant. 
 
 I have desired to show that the use of the 
 "divining rod" is at least as old as the Mosaic 
 dispensation ; that the knowledge or tradition of 
 its use has been understood, to some extent, by 
 certain "wise" men in all ages, and that in the 
 present age — one of inquiry and research — many 
 have a knowledge of it and make use of it to their 
 own advantage ; that there is no superstition in 
 the matter, but that it is governed by fixed laws ; 
 that it requires only intelligent research and ear- 
 nest investigation to understand them thoroughly, 
 and, finally, to arrive at results of the greatest 
 practical benefit to mankind. 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 3L 
 
 When we understand that the earth is a great 
 electric ball, giving and receiving electricity with 
 the nature of the conductors which transport or 
 absorb the various currents, we may arrive at 
 more comprehensive and correct theories about 
 natural phenomena. 
 
 I picked up, a few days since, a periodical 
 containing an admirable article on the Electric 
 Telegraph, describing most vividly the motion of 
 the currents, and I make use of the words of the 
 writer to illustrate how it is possible to bring this 
 subject to a scientific test : 
 
 "The observer, whom we have supposed capa- 
 ble of seeing electricity, would find that the whole 
 surface of the earth, the atmosphere and probably 
 the fathomless space beyond, were teeming with 
 manifestations of the electric force. Every chem- 
 ical process and every blow in nature or in art 
 evolves it. The great process of vegetation and the 
 reciprocal process of animal life all over the globe 
 are accompanied by it. As incessantly as the 
 sun's rays pass around the earth, warming every 
 part in alternation with the cooling influences of 
 night, great currents or fluctuations of magnetic 
 tension, which never cease their play, circulate 
 about the globe, and other apparently irregular 
 currents come and go according to laws not yet 
 understood ; while the aurora borealis, flaming 
 
32 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 in the sky, indicates the measureless extent of 
 this wonderful power, the existence of which the 
 world has but begun to discover. Our observer 
 would see that these great earth currents infinitely 
 transcend the little artificial currents which men 
 produce in their insulated wires, and that they 
 constantly interfere with the latter, attracting or 
 driving them from their work, and making them 
 play truant, greatly to the vexation of the ope- 
 rators and sometimes to the entire confusion of 
 business. If a thunder-storm passed, across the 
 country, he would see all the wires sparkling 
 with unusual excitement. When the rain fell and 
 water, which is a conductor, trickled along the 
 wires and stood in drops upon the insulators, he 
 would see the elecricity of the line deserting its 
 path and stealing off slyly, in greater or less quan- 
 tities, over the wet surface of the insulators or by 
 the wet straws or kite strings which sometimes 
 hang across the line. Now and then he might 
 see the free electricity of the storm overleap the 
 barriers and take possession for the moment of 
 some unguarded circuit, frightening operators 
 from their posts. Such an observer would realize 
 what it is difficult adequately to conceive, that 
 electricity is, as has been said, the hidden force 
 in nature, and still remains, as far as man is 
 concerned, almost dormant. A high scientific 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 33 
 
 authority has remarked, in speaking of metals, 
 that the abundance of any object in nature, bears 
 a proportion to its adaptation to the service of 
 man. If this be true in general, we may expect 
 electricity will become, one day, a familiar thing." 
 I conclude with a word from the wise and godly 
 man I have before cited : "Oh that mine enemy 
 would write a book," cried Job. Of course, he 
 meant a book setting forth some new-fangled idea 
 which he knew would bring upon its author the 
 whole army of cavilers. This my little book 
 or essay may bring upon me the same legions, 
 grown mightier with the centuries which have 
 elapsed since Job's day. To them, I can only 
 reply, "Truth is mighty and will prevail." 
 
 From Dr. Asftburner in Reicnenbach's Dynamics of Magnetism. 
 
 However vulgar and absurd, because, perhaps, 
 not severely exact to habitually erroneous think- 
 ers themselves, may appear much of the knowl- 
 edge floating among boors and peasants, a very 
 remarkable proof of the importance of some of it 
 is seen in a singular, though rude anticipation of a 
 part of the most brilliant of Professor Faraday' s 
 discoveries on magnetism and diamagnetism by 
 means of an instrument, the name of which has 
 
34 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 been sufficient to excite the contempt of some so- 
 styled savans of repute. If knowledge be not in 
 the range of the thoughts of certain severe cogita- 
 tors, it is then forsooth, no knowledge at all. The 
 unmerciful contempt which has been cast on the 
 divining rod — virgula divina or baguette dimna- 
 toire — by certain cultivators of science may be 
 estimated by a reference to the earlier editions of a 
 translation by Dr. Hutton, of Montucla' s improve- 
 ment of Ozanam's Mathematical Recreations, a 
 book full of most interesting matter. — In the last 
 edition of that work, however, Dr. Hutton proved 
 himself to be, what he always was, a sincere lover 
 of truth. Led into error at an earlier period, he 
 was open to inquiry, and became, subsequently, 
 convinced of facts, the existence of which he had 
 at one time doubted. My friend, Mr. Charles 
 Hutton Gregory, lent me a copy of the Speculum 
 Anni for the year, 1828, in which he pointed out 
 some passages relating to this matter which I 
 cannot avoid extracting here, and premising a few 
 observations on the instrument called the divin- 
 ing rod, virgula divina, baculus divinatorius, 
 baguette divinatoire. This has been supposed to 
 be a branch of a tree or shrub, necessarily of a 
 forked or. letter V shape, by the assistance of 
 which, certain gifted persons were enabled to 
 discover mines, springs of water underground, 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 35 
 
 hidden treasures, and to practice other occult 
 doings. This, with regard to shape, is just as 
 vulgar an error as that which supposes that a stick 
 of any kind of wood, held in the hand, serves as 
 well as the hazel or white thorn, for the produc- 
 tion of the phenomena. In the counties of 
 Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, the facts on this 
 subject are well known, and the practice of 
 "dowsing," as it is called, has been cultivated time 
 out of mind. In France, the men of scientific 
 pursuit have for the most part ridiculed the use of 
 the baguette, notwithstanding abundant evidence 
 in various parts of the country being extant of 
 the success which has attended the practice of the 
 sourciers. The Baron Yon Reichenbach has 
 established facts regarding the emanation of 
 lights from graves which are quite as remarkable 
 as the proofs of emanations taking place from 
 metals or from running water. Now that the 
 Baron' s researches and the concurrent testimony 
 of the cultivators of mesmeric science have estab- 
 lished that certain individuals are more susceptible 
 of magnetic impressions than others, it will not be 
 pronounced impossible that subterraneous running 
 water may influence some persons and not others. 
 In different classes the sensitive powers are known 
 to vary greatly as they do indeed among those of 
 the same species. "But," it has been asked, 
 
36 THE DIVINING KOD. 
 
 " granting that emanations from subterraneous 
 waters may powerfully effect certain persons, 
 what connection is there between this impression 
 and the motion or rotation of the hazel rod which 
 is held in the person's hand or laid over his 
 fingers % ' ' What ! is it fact that the hazel rod or 
 white thorn moves or rotates in the hands of a 
 person of a certain impressionability, when that 
 person passes over any ground underneath his 
 footsteps on which there happens to be a metallic 
 lode or a subterraneous stream of water which we 
 call a spring ? I have been informed by highly 
 respectable persons, who have in the West of 
 England, witnessed the facts, that under these 
 circumstances a hazel or a white thorn rod does 
 rotate and does move and occasionally dips with 
 so energetic a force that on one occasion the bark 
 of a fresh hazel rod was stripped from the stick 
 and left in the grasp of the operator's hand. 
 
 The following extracts will further illustrate the 
 subject : "Although the effects or motion of the 
 divining rod, when in the proximity of springs, has 
 been and is to this day considered by most phi- 
 losophers a mere illusion, yet I think the follow- 
 ing brief observations relating to the subject, and 
 which was communicated to Dr. Hutton by a lady 
 of rank, with the account of her subsequent 
 experiments performed before him, his family and 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 37 
 
 a number of friends, (as given in the Doctor's 
 translation of Montncla's edition of Ozanam's 
 Recreations), must convince the most incredulous 
 that in the hands of some persons in certain situa- 
 tions the baguette is forcibly acted on by some 
 unknown, invisible cause. Notwithstanding the 
 incredulity expressed by Montucla relative to the 
 indication of springs by the baguette or divining 
 rod, there appears to exist such evidences of the 
 reality of that motion as it seems next to be 
 impossible to be questioned. This evidence was 
 brought about in the following manner. Soon 
 after the publication of the former edition of the 
 Recreations, the editor received by the post the 
 following well written pseudonymous letter on the 
 subject of this problem. The letter in question is 
 dated Feb. 10, 1805, and, as with the whole corres- 
 pondence it would be too long for our limits, I 
 shall select such parts only as are immediately 
 essential to a right understanding of the subject. 
 "The lady observes, 'In the year 1772, (I was 
 then nineteen), I passed six months at Aix, in 
 Provence. I there heard the popular story of one 
 of the fountains in that city having been discov- 
 ered by a boy who always expressed an aversion 
 for passing one particular spot, crying out each 
 time there was water. This was held by myself 
 
38 THE DIVINING KOD. 
 
 and by the family I was with, in utter contempt. 
 In the course of the spring the family went to 
 pass a week at the Chateau d'Ansonis, situated a 
 few miles to the north of the Durance, a tract of 
 country very mountainous and where water was 
 ill supplied. We found the Marquis d'Ansonis 
 busied in erecting what may be termed a minia- 
 ture aqueduct to convey a spring the distance of 
 half a league, or nearly as much, to his chateau, 
 which spring he asserted had been found out by a 
 peasant, who made the discovery of water his occu- 
 pation in that country, and maintained himself by 
 it, and was known by the appellation of U Homme 
 a la Baguette. This account was received with 
 unbelief almost amounting to derision. The Mar- 
 quis, piqued with being discredited, sent for the 
 man and requested we would witness the experi- 
 ment. A large party of French and English ac- 
 cordingly attended . The man was quite a peasant 
 2 n manners and appearan ce : he produced some 
 twigs cut from a hazel, of different sizes and 
 strength, only they were forked branches, and 
 hazel was preferred as forking more equally than 
 most other trees, but it was not requisite that the 
 angle should be of any particular number of de- 
 grees. He held the ends of the twigs between each 
 forefinger and thumb, with the vertex pointing 
 
THE DIVINING BOD. 39 
 
 downwards. Standing where there was no water, 
 the baguette remained motionless. Walking grad- 
 ually to the spot where the spring was under 
 ground, the twig was sensibly affected ; and, as 
 he approached the spot, began to turn round ; 
 that is, the vertex raised itself and turned towards 
 his body, and continued to turn till the point was 
 vertical ; it then descended outwards, and con- 
 tinued to turn, describing a circle as long as he 
 remained standing over the spring, or till one or 
 both the branches were broken by the twisting, 
 the ends being firmly grasped by the fingers and 
 thumbs, and the hands kept stationary, .so that 
 the rotary motion must, of course, twist them. 
 After seeing him do this repeatedly, the whole 
 party tried the baguette in succession, but without 
 effect. I chanced to be the last. ISTo sooner did 
 I hold the twig as directed than it began to move as 
 with him, which startled me so much, that I dropt 
 it and felt considerably agitated. I was, however, 
 induced to resume the experiment, and the ef- 
 fect was perfect. I was then told it was no very 
 unusual thing, many having that faculty — which, 
 from what has since come to my knowledge, I 
 have reason to believe is true. On my return to 
 England I forbore to let this faculty (or whatever 
 you may term it) be known, fearing to become the 
 topic of conversation or discussion. But two 
 
40 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 years afterwards, being on a visit to a nobleman' s 
 house, Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, and his lady- 
 lamenting that she was disappointed of building a 
 dairy house on a spot she particularly wished, 
 because there was no water to be found — a supply 
 she looked on as essential — under promise of 
 secresy I told her I would endeavor to find a 
 spring. I accordingly procured some hazel twigs, 
 and in the presence of herself and husband, 
 walked over the ground proposed, till the twig 
 turned with consider able force . A stake was im- 
 mediately driven into the ground to mark the 
 spot, which was not very distant from where they 
 had before sunk. They then took me to another 
 and distant building in the park, and desired me 
 to try there. I found the baguette turn very 
 strong, so that it soon twisted and broke. The 
 gentleman persisted that there was no water there, 
 unless at a great depth, the foundation being very 
 deep (a considerable stone cellar) and that no 
 water appeared when they dug for it. I could 
 only reply that I knew no more than from the 
 baguette turning, and that I had too little ex- 
 perience of its powers or certainty, to answer for 
 the truth of its indications. He then acknowl- 
 edged that when that building was erected they 
 were obliged to drive piles for the whole founda- 
 tion, as they met with nothing but a quick- 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 41 
 
 sand. This induced him to dig in the spot I first 
 directed. They met with a very fluent spring ; 
 the dairy was built and it is at this time supplied 
 by it. I could give a long detail of other trials I 
 have made, all of which have been convincing of 
 the truth, but they would be tedious. For some 
 years past, I have been indifferent about its be- 
 coming known, and have consequently been fre- 
 quently requested to show the experiment, which 
 has often been done to persons of high estimation 
 for understanding and knowledge, and I believe 
 they have all been convinced. Three people I 
 have met with who have, on trying, found them- 
 selves possessed of the same faculty. I shall add 
 only one more particular incident. Having once 
 shown it to a party, we returned into the house to 
 a "room on the ground floor. I was again asked 
 how I held the twig. Taking one in my hand, I 
 found it turned immediately ; on which an old 
 lady, mother to the gentleman of the house, said 
 that room was formed out of an old cloister, in 
 which cloister was a well, simply boarded over 
 when they made the room. 
 
 '. c 'L'Homme a la Baguette, from experience, 
 could with tolerable accuracy, tell the depth at 
 which the springs were, and their volume, from the 
 force with which the baguette turned ; I can only 
 give a rough guess. In strong frost, I think its 
 
42 THE DIVINING KOD, 
 
 powers not so great. On a bridge or in a boat, I 
 think it has no effect — the water must be under 
 ground to affect the baguette, and running through 
 wooden pipes acts the same as a spring. I can 
 neither make the baguette turn where there is no 
 water, nor prevent it from turning where there is 
 any, and I am perfectly ignorant of the cause why 
 it turns. The only sensation I am conscious of, 
 is, an emotion similar to that felt on being startled 
 by sudden noise, or surprise of any kind. 
 
 "'I generally use a baguette about six inches 
 from the vertex to the ends of the twigs where 
 they are cut off. 
 
 "'I shall most probably be in London next 
 winter, and will (if you wish it) afford you an 
 opportunity of making your own observations on 
 this curious fact. ' 
 
 "The lady arrived in London, wrote to Dr. 
 Hutton to inform him that she proposed being in 
 Woolwich on Friday, the 30th inst,, (May, 1806,) 
 at eleven in the forenoon. 'Accordingly,' says 
 Dr. H., 'at the time. appointed, the lady, with all 
 her family, arrived at my house at Woolwich 
 Common, where, after preparing the rods, etc., 
 they walked out to the grounds, accompanied by 
 the individuals of my own family and some 
 
 friends ; when Lady showed the experiment 
 
 several times in different places, holding the rods, 
 
THE DIVINING KOD. 43 
 
 etc., in the manner as described in her Ladyship's 
 first letter above given. In the* places where I 
 had good reason to know that no water was to 
 be found, the rod was always quiescent ; but in 
 other places, where I knew there was water below 
 the surface, the rods turned slowly and regularly, 
 in the manner above described, till the twigs 
 twisted themselves off below the fingers, which 
 were considerably indented by so forcibly holding 
 the rods between them. 
 
 11 'All the company present stood close around 
 the lady, with all eyes intently fixed on her hands 
 and the rods, to watch if any particular motion 
 might be made by the fingers, but in vain ; noth- 
 ing of the kind was perceived, and all the com- 
 pany could observe no cause or reason why the 
 rods should move in the manner they were seen 
 to do. After the experiments were ended, every 
 one of the company tried the rods in the same 
 manner as they saw the lady had done, but with- 
 out the least motion from any of them. And, in 
 my family, among ourselves, we have since then 
 several times tried if we could possibly cause the 
 rod to turn by means of any trick, or twisting of 
 the fingers held in the manner the lady did ; but 
 in vain ; we had no power to accomplish it.' 
 
 "The annexed figure represents the form and 
 position of the rod, about six inches in length, 
 
44 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 cut off just below the joint or junction of the two 
 twigs. 
 
 " There can be no impropriety in stating now 
 that the lady in question was the Honorable Lady 
 Milbanke, wife of Sir Kalph Milbanke, Bart., 
 (afterward Noel,) and mother of the present Dow- 
 ager Lady Byron, wife and widow of the great 
 poet. A very interesting analagous statement 
 relating to the same person will be found in the 
 Quarterly Review for March, 1820, No. XLIV, 
 volume 22. 
 
 "Lately, in France, the Count de - Tristan has 
 published a work on the subject, and a most inter- 
 esting volume, containing two memoirs, has been 
 written by M. Thouvenel, a physician of reputa- 
 tion in France, who was commissioned in the year 
 1781, by the king, to analyze and report upon the 
 mineral and medicinal waters of the kingdom. 
 The author undertakes a patient and laborious 
 investigation, in the spirit of a philosopher, and 
 regards his inquiries as leading to a new thread 
 
THE DIVINING EOD. 45 
 
 in the tangled skein of physics, which, like any 
 fact of science, may lead to the discovery of a 
 thousand others ; a fact which may have escaped 
 the vigilant sagacity of observers, or which may 
 have been totally abandoned to the blind credulity 
 of worthy soft-headed persons, or, in short, since 
 the reign of a kind of false philosophy, the off- 
 spring of scientific pride, may have been delivered 
 over to the presumption of men of false wisdom. 
 Thouvenel found a man named Bleton, whose 
 business was that of a sourcier, or discoverer of 
 springs by means of the divining rod, and upon 
 this man he made more than six hundred observ- 
 ations, many of them in the presence of above one 
 hundred and' fifty persons, mostly of important 
 stations, and very creditable from their high char- 
 acter, who testify to the truth of the observed 
 phenomena. Among others, was M. Jadelet, 
 professor of physic at Nancy, a man eminent for 
 his abilities, who was not only a witness of these 
 experiments, but was actually concerned in the 
 greatest part of them. As in the case of Lady 
 Milbanke, with Bleton an internal feeling was 
 coincident with the movement of the rod. When- 
 ever this man was in a place where there existed 
 subterraneous waters, he was immediately sensible 
 of a lively impression, referable to the diaphragm, 
 which he called his ^'commotion" This was 
 
46 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 followed by a sense of oppression in the upper 
 part of the chest ; at the same time he felt a shock, 
 with general tremor and chilliness, staggering of 
 the legs, stiffness of the wrists, with twitchings, a 
 concentrated pnlse, which gradually diminished. 
 All these symptoms were more or less strong, 
 according to the volume and depth of the water, 
 and they were more sensibly felt when Bleton 
 went in a direction against the subterranean 
 current than when he followed its course. Stag- 
 nant water under ground did not affect him ; nor 
 did open sheets of water, ponds, lakes or rivers 
 affect him. The nervous system of this man must 
 have been susceptible, since he was more sensibly 
 affected by change of weather and variations in 
 the atmosphere than other persons ; otherwise he 
 appeared healthy. A severe acute disorder had 
 absolutely at one time deprived him of the faculty 
 of perceiving water, and his sensibility in this 
 respect did not return until three months after hrs 
 recovery ; so that if he were sensitive, he could 
 not be classed among the sick sensitive. 
 
 "But however remarkable these constitutional 
 peculiarities may have been, there was in Ble- 
 ton' s case a more than usual distinctness in the 
 behavior of the divining rod. Unlike many sour- 
 ciers, he did not grasp it closely; he did not 
 warm it in his hands ; he did not prefer a young, 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 47 
 
 hard branch, forked, newly plucked and full of 
 sap. His custom was to place horizontally on his 
 forefinger and thumb a rod of any kind of wood 
 (except elder), fresh or dry, not forked, only a 
 little curved or bent. A very straight rod failed 
 to turn on its axis, but a bent rod turned on its 
 axis with more or less rapidity, according to the 
 quantity of the water and the force of the current. 
 Thouvenel counted from thirty-five to eighty revo- 
 lutions in a minute,. and always noted an exact 
 proportion between the rotation of the rod and the 
 convulsive motions of Bleton. If these memoirs 
 be critically examined, it will be found that the 
 author experimented with full care to avoid every 
 source of fallacy. The natural motions of the rod 
 on Bleton' s fingers were backward, but as soon 
 as he withdrew from the spring over which he 
 stood, in any direction whatever, the rod, which 
 instantly ceased to tarn, was subject to a new 
 law, for at a determinate distance from the spring 
 an action of rotation in a direction contrary to the 
 former one took place. This was invariable, and 
 upon measuring the distance of the spot where 
 this retrograde phenomenon took place, from the 
 spring, the depth could generally be found. 
 
 U I pass over an account of numerous experi- 
 ments made by this intelligent and careful observer, 
 
48 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 pointing out the analogies of the known phenom- 
 ena of electricity and magnetism, by modifications 
 resulting to the sensibility of Bleton, and the rota- 
 tion of the rod by various ingenious electrical and 
 magnetic trials suggested by the inventive sagac- 
 ity of Thouvenel, in order to arrive at the curious 
 anticipations of some of Professor Faraday's dis- 
 coveries, by means of the sensibility of Bleton and 
 the invariable laws which regulated the rotation 
 of the divining rod, when the experiments were 
 made over places where various substances had 
 been concealed. under ground. It was found that 
 whether the trials were made in this manner, or 
 over masses of coal, subterraneous currents of 
 water or metallic veins, the divining rod indi- 
 cated a determined sphere of electric activity, 
 and was, in fact, an electrometrical rod. 'Of 
 all the phenomena relating to the distinction of 
 fossil bodies,' says Thouvenel, 'acting by their 
 electrical emanations, doubtless the most surpris- 
 ing is this : upon the mines of iron, of whatever 
 kind they may be, the rods supported by the 
 fingers of Bleton turned constantly on their axes 
 from behind forward, as upon the mines of coal ; 
 while upon other metallic mines, as upon other 
 metals extracted from their mines, the rotary 
 movement took place in the contrary direction. 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 49 
 
 that is to say, from before backward. This cir- 
 cular movement, which never varies while Bleton 
 is in a perpendicular position over mines or upon 
 metals, presents revolutions as rapid and as regu- 
 lar as the revolutions in the contrary direction 
 upon the mines of iron and coal.' 
 
 "The constitutional effects of spasms and con- 
 vulsive twitchings took place more or less in all 
 the veins, but copper emanations excited very 
 strong and disagreeable spasmodic symptoms, 
 accompanied by pains about the heart, by flatu- 
 lent movements in the bowels, and by abundant 
 eructations of air. On lead, there seemed to be 
 less unpleasant consequences, but stronger again 
 on the mines of antimony. Having previously 
 determined that for Bleton, on all the metals 
 except iron, there existed a sphere of electric 
 activity which propagated itself toward the west, 
 a great number of experiments were made, which 
 always had the same results. At the depth of 
 two, three or four feet under ground were buried 
 gold, silver, copper, tin, lead and iron. The weight 
 of each was only from five to eight pounds. In 
 other similar pits, pyrites of all kinds, sulphur, 
 coal, resin, wax and lard were buried. All these 
 different deposits were made at distances from 
 each other in gardens or in open country, and 
 they were so well covered over and concealed, that 
 
50 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 nothing could be perceived but private marks, to 
 be known only by certain assistants. Over the 
 resin, wax and lard, Bleton experienced nothing. 
 Over the coal, there was a decided effect, the con- 
 vulsive tremor of muscle was manifest, and the 
 rod rotated from behind forward. Over the iron, 
 the same indications, but more energetic. A fee- 
 ble impression from the sulphur, but sufficient to 
 establish a difference between it and the two pre- 
 ceding ; and the rod over the sulphur turned from 
 before backward. Pyrites produced the same 
 rotation as sulphur, and a slight tendency of the 
 electric sphere toward the west. Gold and cop- 
 per especially exhibited strongly this singular 
 tendency of the active electric emanations. Over 
 silver, tin and lead, also, it was more remarkable. 
 It extends itself more or less from the focus of the 
 metals according to their depth and their mass. 
 For example, in describing a circle having a 
 radius ^of three or four feet from this focus, Ble- 
 ton felt absolutely no action except on 'the line of 
 the west. It was the same when, in proceeding 
 from the vertical point of the focus, he success- 
 ively traversed all the radii of the circle, or even 
 if he went from all the points of the circumference 
 to proceed to the center. In these two inverse pro- 
 ceedings it was always only on the radii going west- 
 ward, |that his person and the rods were affected 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 51 
 
 by movements more or less intense, according to 
 the kinds of metal. 
 
 "It must, however, be admitted that the action 
 of these metals presenting only the differences of 
 greater or less in degree, either in the nervous and 
 muscular impressions of the body or in the 
 circular revolutions of the rods constantly moved 
 from before backward, these differences do not 
 yield a certain means of distinguishing the five 
 metals one from the other. The object Thouvenel 
 had in view was nevertheless fulfilled, for he had 
 established the extent and the determination of a 
 sphere of electric activity towards the west in 
 certain metals and on sulphur which does not 
 exist in the same manner, on iron, on coal, or on 
 streams of water. 
 
 "To give a summary then of the relations of 
 these phenomena to those established by Profes- 
 sor Faraday, it may be said that over iron mines, 
 the divining rod assumes a movement of rotation 
 diametrically opposite to that which it exhibits 
 over all other mines. When iron and other 
 metals are extracted from their ores and deposited 
 under ground, the phenomenon occurs with the 
 same distinction, that is to say, with the iron it 
 rotates towards the north. With all other metals 
 submitted to trial, its action is from east to west. 
 The influence of the red metals seems to be more 
 
52 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 energetic than that of the white. But with regard 
 to this divining rod, let one condition be re- 
 marked — the relation of the organic substance to 
 another organic and living power of matter, to a 
 human being in a certain susceptible state of 
 nervous. system. Thouvenel describes the symp- 
 toms which affected Bleton when he was in the 
 sphere of metallic action, and the rod becomes the 
 secondary part of a philosophical instrument 
 composed of an impressionable human being and 
 a piece of stick. 
 
 " A highly respectable girl, the lady's maid of a 
 very clever and intelligent friend of mine residing 
 in Hertfordshire, offers, when she is mesmerized, 
 a great many deeply interesting phenomena. 
 She is as guileless and as good a being as can be 
 met with, and is much beloved by her excellent 
 and amiable mistress who has repeatedly 
 addressed me in her case. If a piece of hazel 
 stick or white thorn be presented to Harriet, she 
 grasps it and sleeps mesmerically in less than a 
 minute. The sleep is at first very intense and 
 deep, and then the stick is held so firmly that the 
 spasmodic state of the muscles renders it very dif- 
 ficult for even a powerful bystander to turn it in 
 her hand. Harriet P's impressionability was put 
 to a very useful purpose. Her mistress heard 
 that she had a practice of ' dowsing ' for water, and 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 58 
 
 writes thus to a friendj July, 1845 : ' We made a 
 curious experiment here, some days since, with 
 
 Harriet P . We have very bad water here 
 
 and have long been unable to find a good spring. 
 Mr. G. has in vain dug and dug for one. I pro- 
 posed the divining rod ; "for," said I, "Dr. Ash- 
 burner would not think it a foolish experiment." 
 Harriet P. was willing, so we went forth to a field 
 the most likely one for a spring — Mr. and Mrs. 
 G., myself, and two friends staying here. We 
 put Harriet to sleep with the hazel stick. She 
 grasped it so tightly we were obliged to use the 
 gold chain. She then held it only in one hand, 
 and immediately began to walk, taking her own 
 way. She went very carefully for about twenty 
 yards, then suddenly stopped as if she had been 
 shot, JN"ot a word was uttered by any one. We 
 all looked on, and were not a little surprised to 
 see the rod slowly turn round until her hand was 
 almost twisted backwards. It looked as if it 
 must pain her ; still no one spoke. Suddenly she 
 exclaimed, "There! there! don't you see the 
 stick turn % The water is here, under my hand. 
 I see, oh, I see ; let me look ; don't speak to me ; I 
 like to look. ' ' ' ' How deep is the water % ' ' said Mrs. 
 G., speaking to Harriet's fingers. "Oh, about 
 three feet ; I can't quite tell, but it is here." In a 
 moment, to our astonishment, she sank down on 
 
54 THE DIVININa ROD. 
 
 the grass, and took the stick again in her hands. 
 We made a strange group around her, as we were 
 all much astonished to see what we had come 
 there to see. She seemed so like a witch. We 
 marked the place, and, after a few minutes, we 
 awoke her. In the evening she was again mes- 
 merized to sleep, and we asked her what she saw 
 at the spring. "Why, I saw water, water every- 
 where." "Then," said I, "how do you know 
 where the spring is? " "Oh, because it goes trin- 
 kle, trinkle, I know it is there." " Why did you 
 sit down?" "Why, because I was so giddy ; it 
 seemed as if all was water but the little piece of 
 ground I stood upon. I saw so much water, all 
 fresh, no sea. I tried to see the sea but could not ; 
 I could not at all." Mr. G. caused a large hole 
 to be dug, and just at the depth of three feet the 
 water was found. A brick well has been con- 
 structed, and there is a good supply of excellent 
 water. No one could doubt the action of the rod, 
 it turned so evidently of itself in her hand. Of 
 course, when awake, Harriet knew nothing of the 
 circumstance.' " 
 
 So many and so various are the testimonies and 
 the facts relating to the divining rod, that it would 
 be tedious to recite the hundreds of respectable 
 documents offered by those authors who have 
 written on the subject. A work by Tardy de 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 55 
 
 "Montravel, printed in 1781, entitled "Memoire 
 Physique et Medicinale sur la Baguette Divina- 
 toire, 1 ' abounds in testimonies of the truth of the 
 same class of facts. One of the most curious 
 works on this subject, is a little book entitled 
 " Occult Physics, or treatise on the Divining Wand 
 and on its utility in the discovery of springs of 
 water, mines, concealed treasures, thieves, and 
 escaped murderers, with principles which explain 
 the most obscure phenomena of Nature," by L. 
 L. de Vallemont, Ph. D. This work, embellished 
 with plates, illustrating the different kinds of 
 divining rods with the various modes of holding 
 them for use, appeared at the latter part of the 
 seventeenth century, and passed through several 
 editions in France and Holland. It is remarkable 
 for much curious literary and historical learning, 
 and for able statements of the arguments which 
 were used in the controversies rife at that period, 
 on the realities of the facts under consideration. 
 It contains a curious catalogue of a great number 
 of mines discovered in France, by means of the 
 divining rod, made out by a German mineralogist 
 employed for the purpose by the Cardinal de 
 Richelieu. 
 
56 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 IFrom Cyclopedia Americana.'] 
 
 Divining Rod. — A rod made with certain 
 superstitious ceremonies, either single and curv- 
 ed, or with two branches like a fork, of wood, 
 brass or other metal. 
 
 The rod is held in a particular way, and if it 
 bends towards one side, those who use the rod 
 believe it to be an indication that there is treasure 
 under the spot. 
 
 Some publications respecting a man who, in 
 quite recent times pretended to be able to discover 
 water and metals under the ground by his feel- 
 ings, attracted much attention. 
 
 Campetti, an Italian, born at Gargnano, on 
 Lake Garda, has attracted much attention in our 
 time by pretending to be capable of ascertaining 
 by his feelings the places where metals and water 
 exist under ground. 
 
 Many experiments seem to confirm his state- 
 ments. The King of Bavaria sent for him in 1806, 
 and he came to Munich, where the experiments 
 were renewed. 
 
 These experiments were chiefly made with 
 pendulums of sulphurous pyrites, which are said 
 to vibrate if brought near to metals. 
 
 BJiabdomancy is the power considered by some 
 as existing in particular individuals, partly natu- 
 ral and partly acquired, of discovering things hid 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 57 
 
 in the earth, especially metals, ores, and bodies 
 of water, by a change in their perceptions, and 
 likewise the art of aiding the discovery of these 
 substances by the use of certain instruments ; for 
 example, the divining rod. 
 
 That rhabdomancy, generally speaking, is little 
 more than self-delusion, or intentional deception, 
 is now the opinion of most natural philosophers 
 and physiologists. Still it has some champions. 
 From the most remote periods, indications are 
 found of the art of discovering veins of ore and 
 water concealed in the bowels of the earth, by a 
 direct perception of their existence. 
 
 The divining rod is held in the hand so that the 
 curvature is inclined outward. If the person who 
 holds the rod possesses the powers of rhabdo- 
 mancy, and touches the metalic or any other 
 magnetic substance, or comes near them, a slow, 
 rotatory motion of the rod ensues in different 
 directions, according to particular circumstances ; 
 and, as in the other cases, no motion takes place 
 without a direct or indirect contact with a living 
 person. In the South of France and Switzerland 
 this art is frequently made use of under the name 
 of metalloscope (when discovering or feeling for 
 metals,) and of hydroscope (when discovering or 
 feeling for water). 
 
58 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 [From Chamber's Cyclopedia.] 
 
 The Divining Rod — often called the Virgula 
 Divina, the Baculus Divinatorius, the Caduceus, 
 or Wand of Mercury, the Rod of Aaron, etc. — 
 is a forked branch, usually of hazel, sometimes 
 of iron, or even brass or copper, by which it has 
 been pretended that minerals and water have 
 been discovered beneath the surface of the earth. 
 
 The rod when suspended by the two prongs, 
 sometimes between the balls of the thumbs, will 
 distinctly indicate by a decided inclination, it is 
 alleged, the spot over which the concealed mine 
 or spring is situated. 
 
 Many men, even of some pretensions to scientific 
 knowledge, have been believers in the occult 
 power ascribed to the magic wand. 
 
 Agricola, Sperlingius, and Kirchmayer, all be- 
 lieved in its supernatural influence. So did 
 Richelet, the author of the Dictionary. The 
 learned Morhoff remained in suspense, while 
 Thouvenot and Pryce, in the latter part of the 
 eighteenth century, gave ample records of its 
 power. 
 
 In a work published by Dr. Herbert Mayo, in 
 1847 and 1851, entitled, "On the Truth Contained 
 in Popular Superstitions," he gave some curious 
 illustrations of the art, supposed to be possessed 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 59 
 
 by one in forty of the Cornish miners. At Weil- 
 bach, in Nassau, he likewise met with one Lee- 
 bold, who, he says, possessed the power, but 
 afterwards lost it. 
 
 Arthur Phippen, in 1853, published a pamphlet 
 containing an account of two professional diviners, 
 or "dowsers." One of them, named Adams, gave 
 remarkable indications of being able to detect 
 water underground. He not only was able to 
 discover the particular spot where the water might 
 be found, he could even perceive a whole line of 
 water running underground. 
 
 [From Hartwig'8 Subterranean World.] 
 
 As far back as the eleventh century, the divin- 
 ing rod came into practice and found full credence 
 in a superstitious age. A forked branch of hazel 
 tree, cut during a peculiar phase of the moon, 
 was the means employed in Germany for the dis- 
 covery of buried treasures, of veins of metals, of 
 deposits of salt, or of subterranean sources. 
 
 But the miraculous rod did not indiscrimi- 
 nately show its power in every hand. It was 
 necessary to have been born in certain 'months, 
 and soft and warm, or-— according to modern ex- 
 pression, magnetic fingers were indispensible for 
 handling it with effect. 
 
60 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 The diviner possessing these qualifications 
 took hold of the rod by its branches so that the 
 stem into which they united was directed up- 
 wards. 
 
 On approaching the spot where the sought for 
 treasure lay concealed, the magical rod slowly 
 turned towards it, until finally the stem had fully 
 changed its position, pointed vertically down- 
 wards. 
 
 To increase the solemnity of the scene, the 
 wily conjurers generally traced magical circles, 
 that were not to be passed, burnt strong smelling 
 herbs and spices, and uttered powerful charms, 
 to disarm the enmity of the evil spirits that were 
 supposed to guard the hidden treasures. 
 
 [From American Cyclopedia.] 
 
 Divining Rod. — The increase of knowledge has 
 not yet expelled even from the educated portions 
 of the United States all faith in the magic virtues 
 of this instrument. 
 
 There is a mystery in the hidden flow of sub- 
 terranean courses of water, and in the occurrence 
 of deposits of valuable ores, which encourage a 
 resort to mysterious methods for discovering 
 them. 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 61 
 
 If the wise can point to no snre clue to them, 
 the ignorant pretender does not fail to find one, 
 which to many is all the more acceptable for 
 its extravagant pretensions and inexplicable 
 nature. It is stated by a writer in the " American 
 Journal of Science," (Yol. 11, 1826,) that the 
 divining rod has been in frequent use since the 
 eleventh century. 
 
 A work was published in France, in 1871, de- 
 tailing six hundred experiments made to ascertain 
 the facts attributed to it, "by which is unfolded," 
 according to this work, "their resemblance to the 
 admirable and uniform laws of electricity and 
 magnetism." 
 
 These sciences still continue to be appealed to 
 in order to support in some vague way phenomena 
 which defy other means of explication. 
 
 As commonly used, the divining rod is a 
 forked, slender stick of witch hazel ; elastic twigs, 
 however, of any sort, or even two sticks of whale- 
 bone fastened together at one end, do not appear 
 to be rejected in the want of the hazel tree. 
 
 One branch of the twig is taken in each hand 
 between the thumb and forefinger, the two ends 
 pointing down. Holding the stick in this position, 
 the palms towards the face, the gifted operator 
 passes over the surface of the ground ; and when- 
 ever the upper point of the stick bends over and 
 
62 THE DIVINING EOD. 
 
 points downward, there lie affirms the spring or 
 metallic vein will be found. 
 
 Some even pretend to designate the distance 
 below the surface according to the force of the 
 movement, or according to the diameter of the 
 circle over which the action is perceived, one rule 
 being that the depth is half the diameter of this 
 circle ; whence, the deeper the object is, below 
 the surface, the further is its influence exerted. 
 It is observable that a rod so held will of necessity 
 turn as the hands are closed more tightly upon it, 
 though this has at first the appearance of serving 
 to resist its motion. From the character of many 
 who use the rod and believe in it, it is also plain 
 that this force is exerted without any intention or 
 consciousness on their part, and that they are 
 themselves honestly deceived by the movement. 
 
 On putting the experiment to the test by 
 digging, if water is found it proves the genuine- 
 ness of the operation ; if it is not found, some- 
 thing else is, to which the effect is attributed, or 
 the water which attracted the rod is sure to be 
 met with if the digging is only continued deep 
 enough. Some ingenuity is therefore necessary 
 to expose the deception. 
 
 The writer above referred to succeeded in show- 
 ing the absurdity of the operation by taking the 
 " diviners" over the same ground twice, the 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. bS 
 
 second time blindfolded, and each time marking 
 the points designated by the rod. This, how- 
 ever, is a test to which they are not often willing 
 to subject their art. 
 
 Some operators do not require a forked twig. 
 There was, in 1857, and may be still, within less 
 than one hundred miles from New York, a man 
 who believed himself gifted in the use of the 
 divining rod, and was occasionally sent for to go 
 great distances, to determine the position of ob- 
 jects of value sunk in the lakes, of ores and of 
 wells of water. He carried several little cylinders 
 of tin, but what they contained was a secret. One 
 had an attraction for iron, another for copper, a 
 third for water, etc. He had in his hand a little 
 rattan cane, which he used as not likely to excite 
 the observation of those he met. 
 
 Taking one of the cylinders out of his pocket 
 he slipped the rattan into a socket in its end, and 
 holding in his hands the other end of the stick, 
 he set the contrivance bobbing up and down and 
 around. That it was attracted and drawn towards 
 any body of ore in the vicinity he was evidently 
 convinced. 
 
64 THE DIVINING BOD. 
 
 [From Notes and Queries.'] 
 
 Divining Rod. — Divination by the rod or wand 
 is mentioned in the prophecy of Ezekiel. Hosea, 
 too, reproaches the Jews as being infected with 
 the like superstition : " My people ask counsel at 
 their stocks and their staff declareth unto them." 
 Chap, iv, 12. Not only the Chaldeans used rods 
 for divination, but almost every nation which has 
 pretended to that science, has practiced the same 
 method. Herodotus mentions it as a custom of 
 the Alani, and Tacitus of the old Germans. See 
 Cambridge's "Scribleriad," book V, note on 
 line 21. 
 
 In the manuscript "Discourse on Witchcraft," 
 1705, written by Mr. John Bell, page 41, I find 
 the following account from Theophylact on the 
 subject of rabdomanteia or rod-divination : * ' They 
 set up two staffs, and, having whispered some 
 verses and incantations, the staffs fell by the ope- 
 ration of dsemons. Then they considered which 
 way each of them fell — forward or backward, to 
 the right or left hand — and agreeably gave re- 
 sponses, having made use of the fall of their staffs 
 for their signs," 
 
 Dr. Henry, in his "History of Great Britain," 
 tells us (II, 550), that after the Anglo-Saxons and 
 Danes embraced the Christian religion, the clergy 
 were commanded by the canons to preach very 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 65 
 
 frequently against diviners, sorcerers, auguries, 
 omens, charms, incantations, and all the filth of 
 the wicked and dotages of the Gentiles." 
 
 The following is from " Epigrams, etc.," pub- 
 lished London, 1651— Virgula Divina : 
 
 1 ' Some sorcerers do boast they have a rod, 
 
 Gathered with vowes and sacrifice, 
 And (borne about) will strangely nod 
 
 To hidden treasure where it lies ; 
 Mankind is (sure) that rod divine, 
 For to the wealthiest (ever) they incline." 
 
 The earliest use made of the divining rod by the 
 miners was for the discovery of the lode. So late 
 as three years ago (1850), the process has been 
 tried. The method of proceedure was to cut the 
 twig of an hazel or apple-tree of twelve months' 
 growth, into a forked shape, and to hold this by 
 both hands in a peculiar way, walking across the 
 land until the twig bent, which was taken as an 
 indication of the locality of the lode. The person 
 who generally practises this divination boasts 
 himself to be the seventh son of a seventh son. 
 The twig of hazel bends in his hands to the con- 
 viction of the miners that ore is present ; but then 
 the peculiar manner in which the twig is held, 
 bringing muscular action to bear upon it, accounts 
 for its gradual deflection, and the circumstance of 
 the strata walked over always containing ore gives 
 a further credit to the process of divination. 
 
66 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 The vulgar notion still prevalent in the north of 
 England of the hazel's tendency to a vein of lead 
 ore, seam or stratum of coal, etc., seems to be a 
 vestige of this rod divination. 
 
 The mrgula divlna or baculus divinatorius 
 is a forked branch in the form of a Y, cut off an 
 hazel stick, by means whereof people have pre- 
 tended to discover mines, springs, etc., under- 
 ground. The method of using it is this : the per- 
 son who bears it, walking yery slowly over the 
 places where he suspects mines or springs may 
 be, the effluvia exhaling from the metals, or 
 vapor from the water impregnating the wood, 
 makes it dip or decline, which is the sign of a dis- 
 covery. 
 
 In the Living Library or Historicall Medita- 
 tions we read: "No man can tell why forked 
 sticks of hazill (rather than sticks of other trees 
 growing upon the very same places) are fit to 
 shew the places where the veins of gold and silver 
 are." See Lilly's History of his Life and Times, 
 for a curious experiment (which he confesses, 
 however, to have failed), to discover hidden treas- 
 ure by the hazel rod. 
 
 In the Gentleman 1 s Magazine, for February, 
 1752, xxii, 77, we read: "M. Linnaeus, when he 
 was upon his voyage to Scania, hearing his secre- 
 tary highly extol the virtues of his divining rod, 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 67 
 
 was willing to convince himself of its insufficiency, 
 and for that purpose concealed a purse of one 
 hundred ducats under a ranunculus which grew 
 by itself in a meadow and bid the secretary find 
 it if he could. The wand discovered nothing, 
 and M. Linnaeus' s mark was soon trampled down 
 by the company who were present ; so that when 
 M. Linnaeus went to finish the experiment by 
 fetching the gold himself, he was utterly at a loss 
 where to seek it. The man with the wand assisted 
 him and pronounced that it could not lie the way 
 they were going, but quite the contrary; so he 
 pursued the direction of his wand and actually 
 dug out the gold. M. Linnaeus adds, that such 
 another experiment would make a proselyte of 
 him." We read in the same book for November, 
 1751, xxi, 507: "So early as Agricola, the divin- 
 ing rod was in much request, and has obtained 
 great credit for its discovery where to dig for 
 metals and springs of water ; for some years past 
 its reputation has been on the decline, but lately 
 it has been revived by an ingenious gentleman who, 
 from numerous experiments, hath good reason to 
 believe its effects to be more than imagination. 
 He says that hazel and willow rods, he has by 
 experience found, will actually answer, with all 
 persons in a good state of health, if they are used 
 with moderation and at some distance of time, and 
 
68 THE DIVINING BOD. 
 
 after meals, when the operator is in good spirits. 
 The hazel, willow and elm are all attracted by 
 springs of water. Some persons have the virtue 
 intermittently ; the rod in their hands will attract 
 •one half hour and repel the next. The rod is 
 attracted by all metals, coals, amber and lime- 
 stone, but with different degrees of strength. The 
 best rods are those from the hazel or nut tree, as 
 they are pliant and tough and cut in the winter 
 months. A shoot that terminates equally forked 
 is to be met with — two single ones of a length and 
 size may be tied together by a thread and will 
 answer as well as the other." 
 
 In the supplement to the Athenian Oracle, p. 
 234, we read that "the experiment of a hazel's 
 tendency 'to a vein' of lead ore is limited to St. 
 John Baptist' s Eve, and that with an hazel of that 
 same year's growth." 
 
 There is a treatise in French entitled, La Phis- 
 ique Occulte ou Traite de la Baguette Divina- 
 toire, et de son utilite pour la decouverte des 
 sources d'Eau, des Minieres, de Tresors caches, des 
 Voleurs et des Meurtriers fugitifs : par M. L. L. 
 de Vallemont pretre et docteur en theologie ; 12 
 mo., Amsterdam, 1693. 464 pages. 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 69 
 
 [From Brand's Popular Antiquities. ,] 
 
 At the end of Henry Alan' s edition of Cicero' s 
 treatise De Divinatione, and De Fate, 1839, will 
 be fonnd Catalogns auctorum de divinatione ac 
 fato, de oraculis, de somniis, de astrologia, de 
 dsemonibus, de magia id genus aliis." 
 
 With the divining rod seems connected a lusus 
 natures of ash tree bough resembling the litui of 
 the Roman augurs and the Christian pastoral 
 staff which still obtains a place, if not on this 
 account I know not why, in the catalogue of popu- 
 lar superstitions. Seven or eight years ago, I 
 remember to have seen one of these, which I 
 thought extremely beautiful and curious, in the 
 house of an old woman at Beeralston, in Devon- 
 shire, of whom I would most gladly have pur- 
 chased it ; but she declined parting with it on any 
 account, thinking it would be unlucky to do so. 
 Mr. G-ostling, in the Antiquarian Repertory, ii, 
 164, has some observations on this subject. He 
 thinks the lituus or staff, with the crook at one 
 end, which the augurs of old carried as badges of 
 their profession and instruments in the supersti- 
 tious exercise of it, was not made of metal but of 
 the substance above mentioned. Whether, says 
 he, to call it a work of art or nature may be 
 doubted : some were probably of the former kind ; 
 
70 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 others, Hogarth, in his Analysis of Beauty, calls 
 lusus naturce found in plants of different sorts, 
 and in one of the plates of that work gives a speci- 
 men of a very elegant one, a branch of ash. I 
 should rather, continues he, style it a distemper 
 or distortion of nature ; for it seems the effect of a 
 wound by some insect which, piercing to the heart 
 of the plant with its proboscis, poisons that, while 
 the bark remains uninjured and proceeds in its 
 growth, but formed into various stripes, flatness 
 and curves for the want of the support which 
 nature designed it. The beauty, some of these 
 arrive at, might well consecrate them to the mys- 
 terious fopperies of heathenism, and their rarity 
 occasions imitations of them by art. The pastoral 
 staff of the Church of Rome seems to have been 
 formed from the vegetable litui, though the general 
 idea is that it is an imitation of the shepherd's 
 crook. The engravings given in the Antiquarian 
 Repertory are of carved branches of the ash. 
 
 [From Modern Magic, by M. Sliele de Vere, published 1873.] 
 
 The relations in which some men stand to 
 nature are sometimes so close as to enable them 
 to make discoveries which' are impossible to 
 others. 
 
 This is, for instance, the case with persons who 
 
THE DIVINING K0D. 71 
 
 feel the presence of waters or of metals. The 
 former have, from time immemorial, generally 
 nsed a wand, the so-called divining rod, which, 
 according to Pliny, was already known to the 
 ancient Etruscans as a means for the discovery of 
 hidden springs. 
 
 An Italian author, Amoretti, who has given 
 special attention to this subject, states that at 
 least every fifth man is susceptible to the influence 
 of water and metals, but this is evidently an over- 
 estimate. 
 
 In recent times many persons have been known 
 to possess this gift of discovering hidden springs 
 or subterranean masses of water, and these have 
 but rarely employed an instrument. 
 
 Catharine Beutler, of Thurgovia, in Switzer- 
 land, and Anna Maria Brugger, of the same place, 
 were both so seriously affected by the presence of 
 water that they fell into violent nervous excite- 
 ment when they happened to cross places beneath 
 which, large quantities were concealed, and be- 
 came perfectly exhausted. 
 
 In France, a class of men, called sourciers, 
 have for ages possessed this instinctive power of 
 perceiving the presence of water, and others, like 
 the famous Abbe Paramelle, have cultivated the 
 natural gift till they were finally enabled, by a 
 mere cursory examination of a landscape, to 
 
72 THE DIVINING EOD. 
 
 ascertain whether large masses of water were 
 hidden anywhere, and to indicate the precise 
 spots where they might be fonnd. 
 
 Why water and metals should almost always 
 go hand in hand in connection with this peculiar 
 gift, is not quite clear ; but the staff of Hermes, 
 having probably the form of the divining rod was 
 always represented as giving the command over 
 the treasures of the earth, and the Orphic Hymn 
 (v. 527,) calls it — hence, the golden rod, producing 
 wealth and happiness. 
 
 On the other hand, the Aquae Yirga, the nymph 
 of springs, had also a divining rod in her hand, 
 and Numa, inspired by a water-nymph, estab- 
 lished the worship of waters in connection of that 
 of the dead. For here, also, riches and death seem 
 to have entered into a strange alliance. 
 
 Del Rio, in his Disquisitiones Magicce, men- 
 tions thus the Rahuri of Spain — the lynx-eyed, as 
 he translates the name — who were able, on Wed- 
 nesdays and Saturdays, to discover all the veins of 
 metals or of water beneath the surface, all hidden 
 treasures and corpses in their coffins. 
 
 There is at least one instance recorded, where 
 a person possessed the power to see even more 
 than the Rahuris. This was a Portuguese lady, 
 Pedegache, who first attracted attention by being 
 able to discover subterranean springs and their 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 73 
 
 connections, a gift which brought her great honors 
 after she had informed the king of all the various 
 supplies of water which were hidden near a 
 palace which he was about to build. Shafts were 
 sunk according to her directions, and not only 
 water was found but also various soils and stones 
 which she had foretold would have to be pierced. 
 
 She also seems to have cultivated her talent, 
 for we hear of her next being able to discover 
 treasures, even valuable antique statues in the 
 interior of houses, and finally she reached such a 
 degree of intuition that she saw the inner parts of 
 the human body, and pointed out their diseases 
 and defects. 
 
 The divining rod, originally a twig of willow or 
 hazel, is often made of metal, and the impression 
 prevails that in such cases an electric current 
 arising from the subterranean water or metals 
 enters the diviner's body by the feet, passes 
 through him, and finally affects the two branches 
 of the rod, which represent opposite poles. It is 
 certain that when the electric current is inter- 
 rupted, the power of the divining rod is sus- 
 pended. 
 
74 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 [From Notes and Queries.'] 
 
 Perhaps, like many of your correspondents, I 
 had imagined that the supposed properties of the 
 divining rod had been a discovery recently made, 
 either by the great American artist, Mr. Barnum, 
 or by one of Dii Minores of this country. To 
 my mortification, however, I find that it is u as old 
 as the hills," or at least contemporaneous with 
 the Sortes Virgilianae, et id genus omne. I have 
 before me the works of Mr. Abraham Cowley, in 
 two vols. 12 mo., London, 1681, and in one of his 
 Pindarique Odes, addressed to Mr. Hobs, I find 
 the following lines : 
 
 To walk in ruines like vain ghosts, we love, 
 And with fond divining wands, 
 We search among the dead 
 For treasures buried. 
 
 And to these lines is added the following note : 
 
 "Virgula Divina, or divining wand, is a two- 
 forked branch of a hazel tree which is used for 
 the finding out either of veins or hidden treasures 
 of gold or silver, and being carried about bends 
 downwards (or rather is said to do so,) when it 
 comes to the place where they lye." 
 
 " In the first edition of his Mathematical 
 Recreations, Dr. Hutton laughed at the divining 
 rod. In the interval between that and the second 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 75 
 
 edition a lady made him change his note, by rising 
 one before him, at Woolwich. Hutton had the 
 conrage to publish the account of the experiment 
 in his second edition, after the account he had 
 previously given. By a letter from Hutton to 
 Bruce, printed in the memoir of the former which 
 the latter wrote, it appears that the lady was 
 Lady Milbanke." 
 
 "A Cornish lady informs me that the Cornish 
 miners to this day use the divining rod." 
 
 However the pretended effect of the divining 
 rod may be attributed to knavery and credulity 
 by philosophers who will not take the trouble of 
 witnessing and investigating the operation, any 
 one who will pay a visit to the Mendip Hills, in 
 Somersetshire, and the country around their base, 
 may have abundant proof of the efficacy of it. 
 Its success has been very strikingly proved along 
 the range of the Pennard Hills, also, to the south 
 of the Mendip. The faculty of discovering water 
 by means of the divining rod is not possessed by 
 every one, for indeed there are but few who pos- 
 sess it in any considerable degree, or in whose 
 hands the motion of the rod, when passing over 
 an underground stream, is very decided, and they 
 who have it are quite unconscious of their capa- 
 bility until made aware of it by experiment. 
 
76 THE DIVIDING ROD. 
 
 I saw the operation of the rod, or rather of a 
 fork formed by the shoots of the last year, held 
 in the hands of the experimenter by the extremi- 
 ties, with the angle projecting before him. When 
 he came over the spot beneath which the water 
 flowed, the rod, which had before been perfectly 
 still, writhed about with considerable force, so 
 that the holder could not keep it in its former 
 position, and he appealed to the bystanders to 
 notice that he had made no motion to produce 
 this effect, and used every effort to prevent it. 
 The operation was several times repeated with the 
 same result, and each 'time under the close in- 
 spection of shrewd and doubting, if not incredu- 
 lous^observers. Forks of any kind of green wood 
 served equally well, but those of dead wood had 
 no effect. The experimenter had discovered 
 water, in several instances, in the same parish 
 (Pennard), but was perfectly unaware of his capa- 
 bility till he was requested by his landlord to try. 
 The operator had the reputation of a perfectly 
 honest man, whose word might be safely trusted, 
 and who was incapable of attempting to deceive 
 any one — as indeed appeared by his open and in- 
 genuous manner and conversation on this occasion. 
 He was a farmer, and respected by all his neigh- 
 bors. So general is the conviction of the efficacy 
 
THE DIVINING KOD. 77 
 
 of the divining rod in discovering both water and 
 the ores of calameni or zinc all over the Mendip, 
 that the people are quite astonished when any 
 doubt is expressed about it. The late Dr. Hutton 
 wrote against the pretension, as one of many in- 
 stances of deception founded upon gross igno- 
 rance and credulity, when a lady of quality, who 
 herself possessed the faculty, called upon him and 
 gave him experimental proof, in the neighborhood 
 of Woolwich, that water was discoverable by that 
 means. This, Dr. Hutton afterwards publicly 
 acknowledged. 
 
 After delivering my essay before the Civil En- 
 gineers' Club of the Northwest, the following 
 letter was forwarded to me by the secretary : 
 
 Brownsville, Tenn. 
 Gentlemen: — I notice that at a meeting of your 
 honorable Club, Mr. Latimer read an essay upon the 
 subject of the "Divining Rod," and seemed to be at a 
 loss to know how to tell whether the rod's movements 
 pointed to or indicated any particular substance under 
 the earth. I am now seventy-three years of age, and 
 have been studying and experimenting with it since 
 twenty years of age. I am not satisfied what causes the 
 motion of it in my hands, but by experimenting, I can 
 tell to a certainty whether I am over any substance, 
 
78 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 either water or mineral, or whether it is sulphur, salt or 
 auy other kind of water. 
 
 I am glad that investigation iu this is being made by 
 scientific men, and hope some day it may profit man. 
 For any information you may want, adddress me at 
 Brownsville, Tennessee. 
 
 Very respectfully, Harry Sangster. 
 
 Upon receipt of this letter from Mr. Sangster, 
 I wrote to him asking him to explain to me upon 
 what principle he could discover the difference 
 between metals and water, and between one kind 
 of water and another. To this I have received 
 the following answer, just in time to add it to this 
 publication : 
 
 Brownsville, May 10, 1876. 
 C. Latimer, Esq., Cleveland, Ohio : 
 
 Dear Sir: — Your favor of the 5th inst. is before me; 
 also that of the loth ult. You must excuse me for not 
 answering the latter sooner, owing to ill health and 
 other causes. I am glad to furnish you all the informa- 
 tion in my power relative to the matter in question, 
 because I would like to see it developed — as I believe it 
 will be eventually — into a tangible, practical and useful 
 science. The prejudice now prevailing against it will, 
 in my opinion, ere long be dispelled. It is impossible 
 for me, in the space of a letter, to give a full statement 
 of my views, theory and experience on the subject of 
 finding the locality of metals, minerals and water under 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 79 
 
 the surface of the ground; but will endeavor to answer 
 the iuquiry of your first letter as concisely and explicitly 
 as possible. 
 
 I understand fully the method of calculating the depth 
 of water beneath the surface. What you wish to know 
 is, after the substance is shown to exist beneath a certain 
 point, whether it be mineral, metal or water, and the 
 kind, character and description of each. As you are 
 aware of the fact, the simple "forked rod" will indicate 
 the presence of either of these. Now, to tell which of 
 these it is, and the character of the same ; if it be water, 
 the kind of water. This is my method of testing the 
 same, whether it be water, mineral or metal : It is on 
 the principle of affinity — the attraction that like sub- 
 stances have for each other. After the rod indicates the 
 particular spot, I take a sponge and saturate it with 
 ordinary drinking water, either from spring or well, and 
 put it on the top of the rod, and test it with this. If the 
 substance beneath be water, and the same kind of that 
 in the sponge, it will turn much stronger, and the 
 demonstation be more active and powerful. But, if the 
 rod should not turn at all, it will be some other sub- 
 stance, either mineral or metal. To test the kind of 
 water, after I am satisfied that it is water — to discover, 
 for instance, whether it be sulphur water, I dip my sponge 
 in that kind of water, and test as above. If the move- 
 ment of the rod be active and strong when this is done, 
 the water below will be that species of water. If salt 
 water, dip the sponge in that kind of water, and the 
 
80 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 result will be similar ; arid so on through the whole 
 catalogue of waters. 
 
 In regard to the metals. The tests are made in a similar 
 manner. After I discover by proper tests that it is a 
 metal, which are as follows : If it be metal or mineral, 
 after the sponge is saturated with water, the rod will not 
 act at all. I then put a piece of metal on the top of the 
 rod ; first, a small bit of iron. If there is no movement 
 of the rod at the spot already indicated, it is safe to 
 conclude that the substance is not of that nature; so I 
 continue the experiment with different kinds of metal — 
 lead, silver, copper, tin, gold, etc., until I find some one of 
 these that will cause the rod to turn and operate in a 
 manner sufficiently strong and satisfactory. The same 
 method pertains to the minerals. Of course, a great 
 deal of the practical operations of these various tests, 
 will depend upon one's discretion and judgment at the ' 
 time they are made, which it is impossible to put upon 
 paper. This is but a general outline of the system. 
 
 If I can be of any further assistance to you in the 
 investigation of this subject, do not fail to let me know 
 of it. Would be pleased to hear from you at any and 
 all times. Be sure and send me your pamphlet. 
 
 Yours, respectfully, Harry Sangster. 
 
 Immediately after receiving this letter, I made 
 some experiments as follows : I took a green, 
 forked twig, and found that over iron water-pipe, 
 gas-pipe, and over a cistern of water, it turned 
 
THE DIVINING ROD. 81 
 
 down vigorously. I then took a wet rag and fast- 
 ened it on top of the twig or rod. As Mr. Sangster 
 testifies, I found it powerless over the iron water- 
 pipe and over the gas- pipe, but it turned rapidly 
 over the cistern. I put a key on the end of the rod 
 over the wet rag ; then the rod turned over both 
 iron pipes promptly. Again, I took off the rag 
 and put the key on the rod, and walking to the 
 cistern, found that there was no movement. I 
 took off the key and the rod turned instantly. I 
 have no doubt but that he is correct as regards 
 other metals. 
 
82 THE DIVINING ROD. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 If any one, after the perusal of these pages, is 
 disposed to doubt the efficacy of the divining 
 rod, he will find it at least difficult to explain the 
 coincidences between my experiences and those 
 of the various persons presented in the foregoing 
 pages — all confirming most fully conclusions 
 reached by me, after many experiments made 
 when quite alone. And, he must be even more 
 eccentric than IT Homme a la Baguette, who does 
 not find in the subject a treasure hidden, well 
 worthy of his research. 
 
 It will be noticed that I can lay claim to no 
 originality, or rather to no knowledge beyond 
 that of the greater number of the parties men- 
 tioned, in regard to the fact of the discovery of 
 minerals or waters ; but, I find myself in advance 
 in two essentials. First, I absolutely proved, by 
 insulating myself on glass or India rubber san- 
 dals, that the electric emanations were cut off. 
 Secondly, that these emanations universally radi- 
 ate at an angle of forty -five degrees from the hor- 
 izontal, and thus the calculation of the depth 
 
THE DIVINING E0D. 83 
 
 below the surface, is simply the solution of a 
 mathematical problem. 
 
 In this theory of the invariable law of electric 
 emanations, I have received the strongest confirm- 
 ation in the perusal of Baron Von Reichenbach's 
 Dynamics of Magnetism. By numerous and 
 varied experiments, Heichenbach proved that 
 •from metals, and especially from magnets, there 
 is a constant emanation of electric flame upward, 
 at an angle of forty-five degrees with the horizon. 
 For a more serious study of the subject, I refer 
 the reader to the work itself, which is fall of 
 curious and well authenticated experiences. 
 
 Finally, I would paraphrase the words of my 
 friend, the renowned Pedro Garcia: "To thee, 
 whomsoever thou art, who mayst have the genius 
 to investigate and the courage to face wise fools, 
 I predict a valuable discovery, which will benefit 
 the human race." 
 
 THE END. 
 
THE 
 
 DIVINING EOD 
 
 VIRGULA DIVINA— BACULUS DIVINATORIUS 
 (WATER-WITCHING.) 
 
 By CHARLES LATIMER, 
 
 Civil Engineer. 
 
 "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are 
 dreamt of in your philosophy."— Shakespeare. 
 
 CLEVELAND, O, 
 
 FAIRBANKS, BENEDICT & CO., PRINTERS, 
 1876. 
 
"Hear, now, ye rebels; must 
 we fetch water out of this rock." 
 

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