Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1901-06-07
THE OWNING ROD MYSTERY.
An Eaxssh Professors Explanation Amer
Careful Inquiry.

NdTe1ul inquiry
The second installment Of an elab-
crate report by Prof w. f. Barrett on
the "so-called dividing rod has just
made its appearance. Prof. Barrett Is
a member OF the Royal Society, oc-
cupies the chair of experimental phys
les in the Royal College of Science for
Ireland at Dublin and has taken an &C
tive part In the work Of the Society for
Psychical Research.
Three or four years ago Prof. Bar
rett undertook a thorough investiga-
tlon of the subject, collecting all the
stories he could obtain regarding the
use Of forked twig for the discovery
of water and minerals, Sitting them
carefully seeking such corroboratlon
as might be available and planning ex-
periments of his own. The first part
of his report, which came out in 1898,
cited 1872 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
rod
In describing the operation Of 'dows-
Ing" as this use of the forked witch
hazel twig is locally called in England,
Prof. Barrett says that the operator
usually holds the Y by the prongs, so
that the stem projects in front of him
and inclines upward slightly. When
the dowser passes a spot where water
Is supposed to exist the twig rises to
vertical position, striking him on
the breast. The dowser himself Otter
appears exhausted by his effort, even
complaining of sickness or giddiness
and breaking into perspiration. These
are so marked In instances that he dis
cards the twig altogether and is guild
ed by his sensations alone. During
the operation the dowser fixes his at.
tention on the tip of the twig and be-
comes oblivious to the world aroundI
him.
Eminent people as well as those who|
are not conspicuous in public life inI
England employ dowsers. Professor
Barrett includes Lords Salisbury an6
Lansdowne among their patrons
There are scores of professional dow
sers in the UnitNd Kingdom, to saII
nothing of Continental Europe, theI
United States and Canada. AmateursI
also practice the art. In his first re-
port Professor Barrett pronounced
fairly successful. 140 of the $50 att
tempts recorded. Rejecting the ext
periments of amateurs, he gets ninety
five successful results out Of los cases.
In the second report he finds the pro-
portion about the same, but he admits
that dowsers may not report their fail
ures so fully and frankly as their hits.
Still he does not estimate the failures
Mt more than 10 to 15 per cent of the
attempts.
Two sets of experiments have been
tried with a view to ascertain the
genuineness of the phenomenon. Inl
one a second or third operator was
taken over the same ground as the
first. and the results Of their divina-
ton were identical and successful.
Some Of the leading spirits in the So
ciety Of Psychical Research hold that
when the ordinary senses are lulled to
inactivity by sleep, natural or hyp-
motto, few persons of a peculiar or
ganization exhibit a power Of percep-
ton and a susceptibility to influence
which is unlike that experienced by
other circumstances. Professor Bar
rett regards this possession of "suber-
normal faculty the most satisfactory
theory regarding the discovery Of wat
er with witch hazel twig. He thinks
that the successful operator is self
hypnotized by fixing his attention on
the twig. He says: This subcon-
sclous perceptive power, commonly
called 'clairvoyance,' may Professionally
be taken as the explanation - -