The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-12-01
OWNING ROD MYSTERY.
An English Professors Explanation
After Careful Inquiry.

From the Baltimore Sun.
The second instalIment of an elab-
crate report by Prof. w. F. Barrett on
the "so-called divining rod" has just
made its appearance. Prof Barrett is
member of the Royal Society, oc-
cupies the chair of experimental ply
sizes in the Royal College of Science
for Ireland at Dublin and has taken
an active part in the work of the
Society for Psychical Research.
Three or four years ago Prof Bar
rett undertook a thorough investiga-
ton of the subject, collecting all the
stories he could obtain regarding the
use of a forlled twig for the discovery
or water and minerals, sitting them
carefully, seeking such corroboration
as might be available and planning
experiments of his own The first
part of his report, which came out
in 1898, cited 152 cases. The second
furnishes many more, some of them
having been conducted under Prof.
Barretts own supervision. A third
installment is promised and will deal
largely with the hunt for metals with
the divining rod.
In describing the operation of "dows-
ing" as this use of the forked witch
hazel twig is locally called in Eng
land, Prof. Barrett says that the
operator usually holds the Y by the
prongs, so that the stem projects in
front of him and inclnes upward
slightly. When the dowser passes n
spot where water is supposed to exist
the tWig rises to a vertical position,
striking him on the breast. The dows-
er himself often appears exhausted by
his efforts. even complaining of sick
ness or giddinesS and breaking into
perSplratlOn. These are so marked
in instances that he diScards the twir
altogether and is guided by his sensa-
tlons alone. During the operation the
dowser fixes his attention on the tin
of the twig and becomes oblivious to
the world around him.
Eminent people as we'll as those
who are not conspicuous in public life
In England employ dowsers. Prof Bar
rett includes Lords Salisbury and
Lansdowne among their patrons.
There are scores of professional dows-
ers in the United Kingdom, to saw
nothing of Continental Europe. the
United States and Canada. Amateurs
also practice the art. In his fist -
port Prof. Barrett pronounced fairly
successful 14O of the $50 attempts TO-
corded. Rejecting the experiments of
amateurs, he gets ninety-fve success
ful results out of 105 cases In the
second report he finds the proportion
about the same. but he admits that
dowsers may not report their failures
so fully and frankly as their hits.
Still he does not estimate the failures
at more than$l0 to Is per cent. of the
attempts.
Two sets of experiments have heen
tried with view to ascertain the
GenuinenesS of the phenomenon In
one a second or third operator was
taken over the same ground as the
first, and the results of their dlvination
were Identical and successful Some
of the leading spirits in the Society
for Psychical Research hold that when
the ordinary senses are lulled to in
activity by sleep, natural or hypnotic,
a few persons of n peculiar organiza-
tion exhibit power of perception and
susceptibility to influence which Is
unlike that experienced by other peo-
pie or by the same people under other
circumstances Prof. Barrett regards
this possession of a "supernormal"
faculty the most satisfactory theory
regarding the discovery of water with
a witch hazel twig. He thinks that
the successful operator Is self-hypno-
tized by fixing his attention on the
twig. He says: This subconscious
perceptive power, commonly called
'clairvoyance,' may Professionally be
taken as the explanation of those sue
cesses of the dowser which are in
explicable on any grounds at present
known TO Sciencen