Connecticut western news., 1898-02-10
MAGIC HAZEL TWIG.
. SCIENTIST MAKES A sTucY OF THE
 OWNING ROD.

OWNING ROD, interesting Investigations hy Professor W.
 F. Barrett of the Royal College of sci-
 rn,o For Irelsnd-Psyehic Phenomen.
 Connected with Dowsing.
 The notion that you could detect the .,xistence and position of 8 stream of water flowing underground st 2 depth of 100 feet or more by the peculiar behav- or of hazel twig held in your fingers ms been looked upon in modern times as a ridiculous superstition. Scientific people, and particularly the geologists, have diScredited all stories of this sort 90 long and So decidedly thas other folk have been ashamed to ovince faith in them.
 Now, however, a professor of physics in the Royal College of Science For Ire land, approaching the subject with a distinct prejudice antagoaistic to the theory, has been led to change his mind by an extended investigation. His name is W. F. Barrett, and the subtitle of the treatise ill which is embodied the result is "A scientific and historicaf researcl, as 10 the existence and practical value of peculiar human faculty, unrecog. nized hy scieuce. locally kuOwn as dowsirg "
 The first great step in this work was to collect all available narratives nI re- gard 10 the Use of the diyinipg rod In time Professor Jarrett was con frcutcd with an au!az-iEg quantity of evidence. Scores, if nvt hundreds, Of these tales are given in his treatise. Hero gre three samples: A ssniiarium was to be bailt On high ground m Som. erseishire, England The site wss 3D. larci:tly a dry one. Three professional l ''dowsors" were sent for separately, each unknown 10 the others and each working under the conviction that he alone was employed. All three pointed to the same spot. 4 well was sunk there and abundant water was found. Will
 liam Ward Spink, a justice in British Columbia, walked about over his grounds for an hour, blindfolded and carrying divining rod in his fingers.
 Every time the wand dipped an attend ant drove peg into the earth In many | cases the justice would pass over spot
 where the rod had moved before. and it | would invariably give the same sign 1, again He dug wells at only two of the places indicated, but got water in both. This man declared that if he stood over ! 8 garden hose with diyining rod in his fingers he could tell by it's conduct l when tho water was turned on and of. | At Newport, Goumouthshire, well | was sunk to depth of u feet without success Local experts, noting the char | ac!er of the soil, then psoIGIIceI the i quest hopeless. \ Cornislnnan who | was present advocated a trial Of the di- | vining rcd, with which his boy, aged II, had had some successful experience. ! The lad was sent for. h lis hands the | twig gave distinct signs But the reo- pie who would have to pay for the ex-
 cavstion were skeptical and hesitared. | The CornisEman olered to take the con- ! tract himself ard stipulated that he I would demand no pay if no water Was | found. The job proceeded on that basis. At depth of IS feet the tiiSgers struck
 a gushing vein and were obliged to fee for their lives.
 | The typical divining rod is shaped | somewhat like wishbone and is abcut
 a foot long The tip of one prong is held in each hand, and the hands are kept | eight or ten inches apart. The elbows are usually in contact with one's sides | and the forearms extend straight for
 ward horizontally. The twiS itself
 stands almost vertically in front of the
 dowser's chest In the majority of cases
 reported the upper part of the rcd sway | ed toward the operators body, bGr in a | few instances it moved in the other di-
 rection-namely, downward toward the earth Tho violence of the movement ! seemed to vary greatly. If the twig was
 so held that 1t could move freely, it would perhaps reyolye on an imaginary
 axis extending from one hand to the
 other IL is related that on some occa- sions, when the twig could not revolve, it would Ee badly twisted and bent and | would even be broken. Much variety is | discernible i'll the accounts, both as to
 the way of grasping the rod aud the latter's behavior
 1 Although Professor Barrett doesn't
 attempt fully to explain these phenome-
 na, he has clear convictions on one | point. He is confident that it is the up- |
 water. The movement is not due in | genuine cases. he believes, to any at.
 traction or repulsion excrted upon the | twig GOT the substitute therefcrl by the
 hidden stream, but to muscular action
 exerted unconsciously in response 10
 some inward inspiration. Some psychol- | ogists have been accustomed CT late
 years 10 assign many human scnsihili.
 ties and activities to a part ot tue spir- | itual nature that lies below tho level of
 consciousness and which they call the
 "subconscious self |" 'Subliminal' is
 another common name for it. Professor
 Barrett is inclined to think it passl hle
 that tho faculty which some people
 seem to possess of finding water and
 metals in the manner described resides
 down in the "subfiminal. but further
 investigation is necessary, he admits,
 to establish that theory. York | Tribune.