Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-05-15

| peared altogether. or were only par
TALLY exhibited. DIR. Mayo lost sight
of Seebold for four years when being
again at Weilbaoh, he inquired after
him, and found that the power, what
ever it may have been seemed to have
entirely left him. When tried by 9TH
er persons, the results were ftful and
contradictory, the end of the rod some
times going upwards, when, according
to the theory it should have gone down
wards.
Now comes the question: Is the di-
vining rod a verity2 and, if not, what
are we to think of all these recorded
phenomena? Are they frauds, like
some exhibitions that are not many
months old, among ourselves? If they
be honest, but mistaken, how does the
mistake arise? If they are honest and
correct likewise, what real agency is
is concerned in the matter2 That they
are all frauds is a supposition which
cannot be admitted for a moment
That they are all true, is a supposition
which the past and present teachings
of science render very improbable
| It is in the middle region of conjecture
that the solution will probably be
| found. Some of the experimenters
and their friends have offered a sur
mise that there my be few persons,
representing fraction more or less of
the whole population, who are electri-
cal, or have more electricity in them
than the rest of US. This may prob
sbly be so; but then it is strange that
a hazel-rod, and of a particular shape
too, should be the necessary means of
developing or manifesting this power.
More than fifty years ago, CheVreul,
/ the eminent French chemist and nat
ural philosopher, devised a small pen
dulum, consisting of an iron ring sus-
pended by hempen thread, to test an
alleged power posed by a Partisan la
dy, of detecting hidden metals and
springs of water by the spontaneous
| oscillation of the pendulum. What
he saw induced him to extend his re-
searches further. He addressed let
ter to Blot, still more eminent French
savant, expressive of an opinion that
there Is a mental process concerned in
these phenomena, which needs to be
taken into account. About forty years
afterwards, circumstances led him to
take up the inquiry at greater length
and IN a more systematic manner
The Academic des Sciences, in 1852,
requested Nm. CheVreul, Boussingault,
and Babinet to report on a volume by
NJ. Riondet on the subject of the diVin-
ing-rod and the attention of CheVreul
was about the same time attracted by
public displays of table-turning and
spirit-rapping, with which Paris was
just then almost intoxicated. He
thought of his old pendulum he
thought of the divining-rod of the
dowsers and he worked out details of
theory which might possibly furnish
clew to large number of marvellous
recitals, spiritual and non SPIRITUAL
His theory is this: He believes that
there is condition of mind which may
be called srpectaRt attention and that this
has a very peculiar effect upon the
nerves and muscles. When we attend
to any outward object, and expect a
particular movement to take place in
it, there is likely to be movement go
ing on in ourselves of which we are not
conscious and if our fingers touch the
object contemplated, we are apt to pro-
duce the very phenomenon itself with
out being aware of it. The declaration
OF the experimenter may be quite hon
est +; the divining-rod may really move;
he may really produce the movement;
and yet may, in all good faith, assever-
ate that his will was not concerned in
the matter,-thst, in homely parlanee,
he 'didn't 90 to do it." The expert
menter, wishing that the experiment
may succeed, insensibly resolves the
wish into an expectation. This feeling
or state of mind, expectation, has an
involuntary effect upon some Of the
nerves, and the nerves on the muscles.
The fingers, holding the article or sub
stance with which the experiment is to
be made, relax or modify their hold to
such degree as to produce the very
movement wished for. The hazel-rod,
for instance, descends from its horizon
tai position, and points towards the
round, because the experimeater de
sires and expects that it will do so, al
though he Is not conscious of any pur-
posed determination to produce tina.
result. Chevreul's theory allows room
for the belief that the experimenter is /
not only free from deceit, but from any |
knowledge of the mode in which his 1
expectancy acts upon him. There is a !
growing belief among psychologists, and /
those who study the wonderful infu-
ence of mind upon body and body up /
on mind, that this kind of expectant /
attention, or by whatever other name
we may call it, is very much concerned
in the production of semi-miraculous
and semi,mystical phenomena. The.
Bible and key experiment, the ring
pendulum, the diYining-rod, may pos
sibly all be more or less dependent on
it, as well as some of those facts which
belong to so-called spiritualism.
Chevreul subjected many of the old e
citals to the test thus supplied. When
0livet began to entertain
fears concerning Che divining-
rod, and when she adopted the course re-
to her by Able Lebrun, she
walked along a path beneath which num-
Der pieces of metal were purposely placed,
and then over q concealed springof water.
The rod dIdnOt move. The aboe had his
own mode of explaining this: but Che
vreul attributes it to a wish producing ex-
prSLduk dLlciltAOus nAACAf III lLS lLIuy pEO-
duced an involuntary frmness in the in
gers that held the rod. Again, in case of
Martin, who stated that she
thought the rod ought to manifest itself
when over sacred relics, if it did not
when over less important things; her I'm
gers impereeptibly obey her thoughts
Many sensitive persons have declared that
hey feel when they are standing over hid
len springs of water. 1t may be so but {
here remains problem whether or not
hey had any antecedent belief that water ]
existed there
A writer in Notes and Queries states.
hat if you hold hazel-rod in the usual ,
position Zone branch of the fork in each
hand, and the stem projecting horizon ,
ally outwards, and, grasping it firmly, !
urn your hands slowly and steadily round
nwards, that is to say, the right hand from 9
he right to the left, and the left hand !.
rom left to right, the end of the rod will
gradually descend till it points directly
lownwsrds. He does not, however, state !,
hat the diviners make this movement vol {
lntarily or otherwise. The exact form of c
cd seems to be somewhat as follows: A .
lazel-twig is cut few inches below the
,oint where a forking of two branches be-
,ins; each prong Of the fork is cut to d
bout a foot in length, and the stump or O