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and not in another's." But his friend was not
to be put off with so stale an argument. "Dut
thou mayest believe it whether thou canst com
prehend it or not, for / have proved it ard know
it to be true; and il thou wilt get good phlios
opher one who has been proved, and dig where
he tells thee, if thou dost not find water VIII
pay thee all thy expenses" His friend was So
urgent, and wthal so liberal, he could do no less
in courtesy than try it. He did so, and the op-
orator fixed upon site near the corner OF ms
house, on the side towards the barn, from which
the barn-yard could be easily supplied, and fix-
ed upon twenty feet the depth to dig lie
paid the man his dollar and told him, Il have
called for thee and / viii pay thy charges; but
1 do not believe word thou sayest for here aud
there, within a few feet of the place thou hast
fixed upon, have dug ninety feet and found no
such spring as thou tellest OF; bat if 10 ~.
as thou sayest, l will give thee fifty dollars
The result was, he dug, found water as told, paid
the man his fifty dollars, got him to select sew
eral other sites on the farm for wells for stock,
and published his discovery for the benefit cf his
fellow-men who might be in like ignorance and
prejudice, and as much to their own damage as
his was to him.
Some thirty years since, a tract upon this sub
iect from the pen Of the celebrated Adam Clark
fell into the hands, from which, as well rs | can
recolect, gathered the following facts: The
Doctor, as a Wesleyan Methodist preacher, was
stationed in the Guernsey islands, in the Brit
ish channel, the inhabitants of which were orig
inaly French but now under the British rule.
He soon discovered that good water was almost
a paramount object. CiSterns had been resort
ed to- but their supply depended upon the amount
of rain, of which, in some seasons, there was a
scarcity, and consequent distress among the in
habitants followed.
Now, if there was a place on earth or in the
sea where this science was needed, 1t was here;
and if it was humbuggery, this, above most pla-
ces, was the place to palm it off, and the ankle
ty of the people to obtain a supply Of good wa
ter would induce them to forego a few failures
before they would give up the pursuit. The
Doctor found things in this situation, and among
the members of his flock man who pretended
to, or rather did, tell people where to dig for and
obtain good water. But this was too much for
the Doctor; he could or would believe in no
such humbuggery, and he cited the member to
trial for attempting to humbug, or impose upon,
the people, which he would not allow.
Upon the trial, the accused proved by sever
al respectable witnesses that he had told them
where to DIG; that they had d0ne SO, and found
water as he had predicted. Still the Doctor was
not Dul lndl lHCIe uil1HL Dc SO4NC HIS
take or accident, if there was no imposition;
and the accused should select q spot to dig in
his presence, that he might test the matter in
person. This was done, and the water found.
But lest this might have been an accident, he
would have tried it over 1t was triod and again
proved true. The Doctor ceuld hold out no
longer, and lay claim to the character of a rea-
sonable man. The fact that such thidgs were
done by offers, was established beyond j. fz-a-s
sibilty of doubt, and rs a true philosopher he
set about the inquiry as to the reason for such
phenomenon. But not discovering any law of
nature therefor, he concluded that it must be q
special Gift of God to some. for the benefit of
the human race.
These events occurred over ffty-say sixty
years ago, when philosophy was less advanced
Than at present. They happened, also, near the
French coast, and among people of the same
language, and in communication with France;
and possibly this profession went from Guern-
sey to France; where, being established as a
fact, the accute philosophy of France was
brought to bear upon it, as to the reason Of, and
for it, which resulted in the discovery of the
agency of the electric fluid in the matter; and
the whole is resolved into an established law OF
nature, though but recently discovered and un-
derStOod.
A gentleman in the North, "has been exam
ining the subject for many years, and has tried
a great variety OF experiments, which show that
all the phenomena of the rod are governed by
the laws of electricity. He tested the rod by
the electric machine. When the rod is brought
near the positive pole, it is repelled. a silk
handkerchief placed between the rod and the
water, or the conductor breaks the connexion,
and there is no electric attraction made upon
1 Il L
instantly drawn down. All his experiments re-
suited in this explanation of the phenomena
The Rev. Mr.. Avery, of Holden, some wears
since, made similar experiments, and came to
the same conclusions. The subject has been
investigated, and with the same re-
suits In almost every place there are those in
whose hands the rod will operate, and men of
high intellectual moral worth, and far above de-
ception or trick are found among them.
The law which governs in this matter is thus
explained:
/. That wonderful fnid called electricity is
distributed throughout the whole earth, but some
bodies generate or imbbe more of it than 9TH
ers. Those that contain more than their natu-
raj proportion are said to be positively, and those
which contain less to be negatively charged,
2 One of the established laws of elerstss11eere,
is founded in the fact that two bodies, both pos
areLy or both negatively charged, invariably re-
pei each other; while if one is positively, and
the other negatively charged, they uniformly
attract each other.
3. 1t is we'll known that the best subterrane-
an conductors are beds of ore or native metals,
and veins of water. 1t is their nature to ex-
tract the latent fluid from surrounding objects
and absorb it themselves; hence where these ex-
list, there will be the most electricity.
4. In general, the human body is also good
but there are some exceptions. Some
men usually generate or imbibe the negative
and positive in such equal quantities as to main
tain an equilibrium in their systems: the rod
in the hands of such will not be sensibly affect
ed; others are surcharged, and have more than
their share, and produce positive electricity
Such it is said, if they have black hair, will, if
rubbed in cold weather, emit sparks.
5. An individual containing very small a.
mount of electricity, Or who is highly negative
y charged, land only such can operate if he
akes the rod in his hands and passes over /
surface beneath which there is stream of wa
er, or stratum of ore, by the unchanging laws
Of nature, the rod must be affected; and, conse-
luently, sensation will be produced in him
who holds it. The person making the expert
nent highly negatively cLarged-that is, has
out little of the fluid in him: the water beneath
lis feet has absorbed the electricity of the ada
cent bodies in the earth: the elastic twig in his
hands forms part of the connection between
he positive and negative poles. and two bodies