The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-02-04
The water witoh.wand.

the proceedings of q meeting OF the Civil
Engineers Club of the Northwest, on |
which occasion Mr.. Charles Latlmer
read q paper on water Wttching,"
speaking of the discovery OF water and
minerals by means of the dfvining rods
He referred at some length to the man I
ner and times in which the so.called
soreerers were supposed to have Used
the magic wand for the purpose OF dis |
covering water in lonely eut-Of-the-Way |
places. He gives large number Of In
stances in which the wand in his hand
accomplished the same results, both as
to water and minerals, which forced him
to believe, at first, n1ucn against his will,
that there was truth in the statements re- |
garding the successes accom- lished in
o1den times by the witch-hazef. One 1f--
stance was particularly noticeable. A
few years ago well on his farm became
filled up with trash, and refused to fur
nish the quantity of water necessary TO-
quench the thirst of his cattle. He had
llt cleaned out, but II did not have the,
desired result, and he accordingly
|iordered another we'll dug, just ten
rect north of the old enc. Before
commencing the building OF 1t he tried
the hazel, and found that plenty OF water
was to be had at ten feet below the sur"
face, instead OF seventeen, as in the old
one. He asked the opinion of the person
who was to construct ii regarding the
tdepth at which water would be found,
I and he said seventeen feet. Thespeaker
said he would stake his reputation on
the assertiont that water would be reached
by removing ten feet Of the soil, whicn
proved to be the case.
The speaker explained that In his
hands a twig from any live tree or dry
piece Of hoop or piece Of wire accom-
l okr,A ~
Quently made tests, and had In nearly
every instance found strata OF water or
minerals under him.
i The manner in which he did this was
explained as follows: Cut a twig from
a tree, or take wire, and bend IL
in the shape of crescent. Place the
lends in the hands with the bow up
ward; hold tightly, and when at an
angle of forty-hve degrees, the first at-
tempt OF the DOW to turn downward will
be felt, and it will gradually lower, until
j directly over the spot the twig or wire
will BIZ turned bow downward. He had
|neyer known this to fail in one instance.
! At one time he visited a college, by re-
=, quest, and addressed a class on the sub
I IJecB. He made several tests. He first
walked to the farther part OF the
7 room, and when near the end the
WAND turned. The teacher said there
was neither iron nor water in that locad-
lily, and pronounced it fraud; but he
\ was unable to account for the turning OF
the wand, except it was immediately
I over some gas pipes which he mad laid
in the floor. A few months alter he went
To the school, and, sure enough. imme-
diatefy under where he had stopped
1 there was an iron column, the presence
of which the teacher had evidently ior-
'tgotten.
The speaker was unable to account for
the phenomenon, except that the frie-
| lion of water caused an electric current
which attracted the wand toward 1T. de
fhad no doubt but at NO distant day some
/ one would turn up vino would be able
10 ascertain exactly whether III was
twater Or u mineral substance which at
ftracted the wand.
The efficacy OF the wand was no longer
a superstltion but reality, the same AS
in the Mosaic time.
This method of divining for water has
been practieed from the most remote an
[tiqufty; and is now employed among the
EChinese as a matter Of common use and
universal acceptation; and has been so
employed among them from time i'm
memorial. And there, as here, the
movements of the hazel wand is much
more strongly manifested in the hands
OF certain particular individuals than in
the hands OF others. There seems to be
too much fact about this matter to- per-
NIT of refutation by scofiiag, but Of Its
philosophy who can exp0und the
ratioHalef-KD. or THE STAR.l