Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-11
TO LOCATE WATER.
Practical Beliefs in the Old Super.
stitiOn of the Divining Rod.

From the Philadelphia Press.
Finding on several occasions that the
divining rod was spoken of by the farmers
of a Pennsylvania community, I deter
mined to investigate, and to my astonish-
ment found that not only did no one avow
plain disbelief, but that many expressed
most perfect confidence in the mysterious
power. One person, largely townbred, and
perhaps, therefore, more familiar with
phases of skepticisnl. boldly asserted that,
though at one time an unbeliever, he had
recanted his error, and had become a firm
adherent to the belief that you can dscov-
er water underground by means of stick
of the proper kind, carried in the proper
way in the hands.
Two instructors in the art were forth
coming, and 1 was told of a third, who was
a well-tried professor, and who would, for
q small sum- infallibly point out a place at
" hich you might safely bring well-sinking
operations with full confidence that your
1ator would not be in vain took my les
sens in private with each of my teachers
Independently of the other. The procedure
was exactly the same in both cases. we
repaired to the orchard and found a shoot
of one years growth, which had formed a
fork. Note well that 1T is necessary that
the shoot should be of one years growth
] was then instructed to place my hands
horizontal with the palms upward, the
thumbs. of course. being outward, and my
elbows close 20 my side. The two branches
of the fork were placed in the palms which
were then closed tightly. so that the han
de of the fork stood perpendicularly up
ward. The next direction was to hold the
apparatus firmly in this position, and to
walk slowly and carefully about when, If
passed over a spring of water, the index,
or handle of the fork, would bend down to
the water. / did so. and after a short
time felt the divining rod twisting round
fo1
and finally vertically downward. In each
case my teacher was delighted, and pre-
dcted that / should make a good diviner.
We did not, of course sink well to COM
plete the demonstration, but that has moth
ing to do with the matter. My instructors
Were convinced that water was under my
feet. So am 1. for you could scarcely go
ten yards sink a well twenty feet deep
without finding water, seeing that it bursts
from the sides of the hills and bubbles up
in the plains in all directions.
1t was useless to argue about the muscu-
lar force that was acting down my arms
and along my fingers, and of which 1 was
painfully conscious, from the constrained
Position in which 1 held the twig.
Now, please observe that this is an ac-
count of an event which took place within
200 miles of the enlightened city of Phila-
delphia, in the year 1896, A. D., only four
years before the dawn of that magnificent
twentieth century in which time and space
and darkness are all to be abolished, and
men may even hope to understand more
than three, four or five dimensions. Con-
servatism would certainly hold that the be-
lief in the power of discerning water and
other treasures in the recesses of the earth,
by means of a divning rod, rests on a
surer basis than discovering the contents
of a purse by means of Roentgen x rays,
because it is so much more ancient. Baby
lcnians of old used divining rods. The
mystical Magians made them out of tama-
rick boughs. Hindoos, as long ago as when
the Vedas were written, practiced the art
of discovering hidden things by means of
magic wands. The Chinese from time i'm
memorial have made them of peach twigs.
European nations have had faith in the
Eazel branch, and not even the sarcasm of
Sir Walter Scott. as put forth against the
person of DouSterswivel in THE Anti
quarry, as been allie to kill the English
and Scotch belief in the method.