Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-20
THE OWNING ROD.
Use OF the Instrument in Locating I'm
foreground Streams.

NS1 &S1A1A oI1CdulSs
From the New York Tribune
Accounts of the discovery of subterranean
streams with the aid of a forked twig held
by perambulating explorer the surface
of the earth, have usually been regarded
with skepticism and often with derision
Biologists. engineers and other scientific
men have usually laughed at the stories
themselves. and pronounced the persons
who made use of the divining rod conscious
or unconscious deceivers. Within the last
few years, though. such tales have been
treated with more respect than formerly
They are not infrequently examined with
enough care to indicate whether they rest
on good authority. Details are occasionally
considered with a view to ascertaining IL
test conditions were imposed on an operator
whose feats were described. willingness
to be convinced OF the geuineness of the
phenomenon, II suitable evidence is forth
coming. Is thus evinced: and even though
no verdict may be rendered an attitude of
serious attention is really a concession
Engineering News, technical period
ical whose management is marked by an
admirable mixture of independence. judg-
ment and caution. recently reproduced in
Its news columns narrative which It found
In some foreign publication Herr Fran
illus, associate director of important gov
eminent work at Kiel, Germany. is respon-
sible for the truth of 1t. The necessity hav-
ing arisen for more wells at the navy yard
there, use was made of the services of a
diviner named Vono Bulow- Bothkamp.
First the latter traced for some distance the
course of an underground flow which was
already known to the engineer in charge
but of which there were no superficial
signs. His skill was then tried in another
way. Without any intimation of the pur-
pose of the experiment he was led to and
fro over a pipe running horizontally under
ground from an artesian WELL the pipe it
self having been cut and plugged some time
previously. The diviner could get no hint
OF water whatever, and for few minutes
it was believed that he was at fault. Sub
sequently 1t proved that the pipe was
empty. the well having gone dry. When
at length the duty of finding water in
locality where nobody could predict its ex-
istence was imposed on Herr Won Bulow
Bothkamp, he succeeded; and he specified
the depth at which 1t would be found. To
his report of the performance Herr Fran
ZfuS adds an expression of confidence that
there must be something in the matter"
Many feats similar to those of Herr Won
Bulow- Bothkamp are vouched for by crit
ical witnesses in this country and in Eu-
rope. Whatever Interpretation be put upon
them, the most careful sitting leaves con-
siderable residuum of fact. Perhaps the
largest collection of these tales which any
one ever made can be found in treatise
by Professor w. F. Barrett Of Dublin.
which appeared about five years ago. This
writer found 1t necessary to discredit some
of them, for one reason or another, but he
FOUND q rev which seemed TO MIN 10 SldnQ
critical examination. The suspicion enter
tained by Herr Franzius one of the engi-
neers Of the Kiel navy yard, that there
may be something in the matter" does not,
therefore, appear strange.
It is worthy of note that the device en-
ployed by Herr Won Bulow-Bothkamp was
q loop of wire. and not twig. Though the
preference has usually been given to wood.
some OWNERS Tor 'dowsers," they are
called in England rely on one kind and
some on another. There Is no apparent diff
ference in the efficiency of the old favor
ties, the witch hazel and the peach tree.
Instances are related. indeed in which the
discovery was made without twig at all.
Exactly how the unseen fluid operates so as
to reveal where 1t is must still be a matter
of speculation; but 1t can hardly be
doubted that the susceptibility to the inf1u-
-ence resides in the diviner, not in what he
carries in his hands. Those who exercise
the power are probably not particularly
we'll qualified to explain 1t. There are in
dications of the presence OF a more or less
perfectly developed sense which nobody yet
fully understands. These Justify Professor
Barretts treatment of the underlying prob
lem as psychological one: but the inquiry
into the nature of the faculty needs to be
conducted further before any safe conclu-
sions can be drawn.