No serious inquirer into the mysteries of occultism should neglect to study the peculiar human faculty locally known as Dowsing. Science has hitherto turned a cold shoulder to the skilled wielders of the divining rod, and at first sight perhaps few subjects appear to be so little worthy of investigation. To begin with it is a matter of common geological knowledge that the mode of distribution of underground water is very different from that imagined by the professional dowser. The latter will locate a spring in a certain spot and give you scrupulous details as to its depth and the amount of water it will yield. He may go on to tell you that a few feet distant is another spring, of a totally different depth, and that between the two no water will be found. The assertions are ridiculed by the practical geologist, whose point of view is admirably expressed in the following letter. The writer is the Rev. Osmond Fisher, M.A. (author of "Physics of the Earth's Crust").

"Harlton Rectory, Cambridge,

"February 4th, 1896.

"It appears to me that the assumption which underlies the belief in the divining rod is erroneous. It is only under exceptional circumstances, as among crystalline rocks, or where the strata are much disturbed, that underground water runs in channels like water in a pipe, so that a person can say, 'I am now standing over a spring,' whereas a few paces off he was not over one. What is called a spring, such as is reached in a well, is usually a widely extended water-saturated stratum. Ordinarily where water can be reached by a well, there are few spots [in the neighbourhood] where a well would not find it.

"The question which is really worthy of investigation in this and similar cases seems to be how such an idea ever originated and to what it owes its vitality."

From the geologist's point of view, then, the so-called "diviner" is the merest charlatan, who, so far as the finding of water or mineral veins is concerned, would be equally successful were he to substitute the dice-box or the coin for his more usual implement the hazel wand. It is, he argues, a matter of guessing—and nothing more. The question becomes complicated when we remember that among the ardent devotees of the "rod" are to be numbered country squires, M.P.'s, doctors, clergymen, and farmers, who would have nothing to gain by pretending to a power which they did not possess.

The Society for Psychical Research has devoted a considerable amount of attention to the subject. So far back as 1884 a paper on "The Divining Rod," prepared by Mr E. R. Pease, was read at a general meeting of the Society. The following is an abstract:—

"The Divining Rod is a V-shaped twig, commonly of hazelwood, but sometimes of steel watchspring, whalebone and other substances. It first came into use about three centuries ago, and during the seventeenth century it was the subject of much controversy and of numerous experiments by the learned men of the time. Many theories were proposed to explain its action, but none of them would now be regarded as plausible, and various test experiments which were made uniformly failed. In 1701, the Inquisition condemned the use of the rod, and after this date the popularity of divining greatly diminished. In the seventeenth century it was used to discover murderers and thieves, buried treasures, lost boundaries, and other hidden objects, as well as metals and water springs. At present it appears to be chiefly used in the West of England for the discovery of water springs, and in America for oil wells and mines. Mr E. Vaughan Jenkins, of Cheltenham, has made and presented to the Society for Psychical Research a very valuable collection of evidence of its use in England for locating wells. He has communicated with various well-known 'diviners,' and has received direct from landowners, architects, builders, commercial firms and others, careful records of the successful choosing of well sites by diviners in places where professional geologists or local experts were hopeless of success. It seems also that diviners travel about the country and 'dowse' in localities new and strange to them.... The divining rod is always held in a position of extreme tension, and at the same time of unstable equilibrium. Slight muscular contractions produce violent and startling effects. It would seem therefore that the action of the rod may be caused by unconscious movements of the diviner's hands, due possibly to a sensation of chill on reaching water-bearing spots, or perhaps merely to an unwritten practical science of the surface signs of hidden water."

Mr Pease eventually came to the conclusion that "the evidence for the success of dowsing as a practical art is very strong—and there seems to be an unexplained residuum when all possible deductions have been made." Fifty years ago Dr Mayo, F.R.S., came to a similar conclusion after exhaustive experiments with the divining rod, both in England and abroad, and in 1883, Dr R. Raymond, the distinguished secretary of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, summed up the result of his investigations in the following opinion:—"That there is a residuum of scientific value, after making all necessary deductions for exaggeration, self-deception and fraud" in the use of the divining rod for finding springs and deposits of ore.

In 1892, Professor W. F. Barrett, yielding to the earnest request of the Council of the Society for Psychical Research, began an investigation of the matter. It was with considerable reluctance that Professor Barrett undertook the work, since, as he has told us, his own prejudice against the subject was not less than that of others. He hoped, however, that a few weeks' work would enable him to relegate it

Six years later Professor Barrett presented to the Society a voluminous report, which occupies a considerable part of two volumes of the "Proceedings." Embodied in this Report, which is a veritable masterpiece of patient and indefatigable research, is a mass of evidence so vast that it is only possible to pick out a case here and there at random.

The following case was sent by Miss Grantham:—

"100 Eaton Square, London, S.W.,

"February 1st, 1893.

"My father (Judge Grantham) was going to dig a well on one of his farms. The Rev. J. Blunt was then residing in our parish, and as he had previously told us he was able to discover the presence of water underground by means of a twig, we asked him to go with us one day to see if he could find water. Mr B. began by cutting a twig out of the hedge, of hazel or blackthorn, V-shaped, each side about eight inches long, then taking hold of one end in each hand between the thumb and first finger, and pointing the angle to the ground, he walked about the field in which my father proposed digging a well, and at two spots the point of the twig turned right up, exactly reversing its previous position; in fact so strong was its impulse to point upwards, that we found that unless Mr B. relaxed his hold the twig broke off near his fingers. We put small sticks in these spots, and then took a boy about twelve years old who was in Mr B.'s employment, and who had since quite a child shown that he possessed this power, over the same ground; he had not seen the spots at which Mr B.'s twig found water, neither did we point them out to him, but at these places his twig behaved in the same way as Mr B.'s. My father, mother, and four or five others, then cut similar twigs out of the hedge, but with none of us would they divine water. My father then took Mr B. over some ground where he knew of the existence of an underground stream; he did not tell Mr B. this, but directly Mr B. passed over the places the twig again turned upwards as it had done before. A well has since been dug at one of the spots in the first field where the twig indicated water, and it was found at the depth of fifteen feet. Mr B. and the boy both said that they did not feel any abnormal influence whatever when the twig divined water.

"Emma L. Grantham."

Another case (from Somersetshire) is quoted from in The Western Gazette of 10th February 1893. Evercreech is at the foot of the Mendips.

"A well has recently been sunk on the premises of Messrs W. Roles & Son, of Evercreech Junction, on the site of the proposed milk factory. Mr Henry Smart, head gardener at Pennard House, was successful with the divining twig (or rod), and a well was sunk to a depth of 60 feet, when a spring was found which yielded no less than 15,000 gallons of water in ten hours. Water came at such a rate that a powerful pump had to be erected temporarily by Messrs Hill & Son, of Bruton, and was kept working day and night in order to keep the water down for the purpose of walling (the well). At the present time there is 50 feet of water in the well, the supply increasing daily."

Professor Barrett wrote to Messrs Roles to know if a well had been sunk previously, and if the above statement was correct. They reply that the account is quite correct, and add: "We had previously sunk a well without the use of the rod, to nearly the same depth, but it was unsuccessful. Six yards from this useless well the diviner found the spring which now yields enough to supply a small village if required."

The Rev. Martin R. Knapp, M.A., vicar of Holy Trinity, Dalston, writes to Professor Barrett as follows:—

"72 Forest Road, Dalston, N.E.,

"November 14th, 1896.

"In the summer of 1892, I entered on the vicarage of North Wootton in North Somerset, and had reason at once to look for water. I was advised to try a 'water-finder,' and did so. The dowser was a retired miller, and came provided with a number of forked twigs. Holding one he traversed the place, and at certain points the twig oscillated violently in his hands, and there, he professed, he should find water.

"There was an interesting sidelight in the matter that I will tell you of. My builder, who came from Bath, was very sceptical about the whole thing. Three or four of us who were on the spot tried to see if the twigs would 'play up' with us.

"We were unsuccessful till this man tried his hand, scoffing the while. But directly that he came to the spots the dowser had found the twig showed vigorous signs of animation. When his hand was being twisted in his efforts to keep the twig steady, I cried to him to hold fast, with the result that the twig twisted itself into two pieces.

"At Wells, close by, lived a coachman, who was reported to have the power to find, not only water but minerals. He carries neither rod nor twig, and told me when I inquired, that his sensations are undoubted and extraordinary whenever he is directly above either water or minerals.

"Martin R. Knapp."

In answer to inquiries Mr Knapp informed Professor Barrett the builder was a stranger to the locality, and the spots where the rod moved were unlikely to suggest water below. The twig in the builder's hand, Mr Knapp says, in every case corroborated the dowser's indications, and hence he (the builder) was unmercifully chaffed, as he had treated the whole thing with such contempt. Mr Knapp says it is possible that the places indicated by the dowser might have been perceived by the builder, but it was the spontaneous and vigorous movement of the twig, evidently contrary to the holder's intention and against his will, that excited their astonishment.

Dr Hutton, F.R.S., the distinguished mathematician—to whom the Royal Society entrusted the gigantic labour of making an abridgment of the whole of the Transactions of the Royal Society from its foundation in 1666 to the beginning of this century—gives the following account of his experiments with the divining rod as used by Lady Milbanke:—

"At the time appointed (eleven A.M., 30th May 1806) the lady, with all her family, arrived at my house on Woolwich Common, where, after preparing the rods, etc., they walked to the grounds, accompanied by the individuals of my own family and some friends, when Lady Milbanke showed the experiment several times in different places, holding the rod in the manner described elsewhere. In the places where I had good reason to know that no water was to be found the rod was always quiescent, but in other places, where I knew there was water below the surface, the rods turned slowly and regularly in the manner above described, till the twigs twisted themselves off below the fingers, which are considerably indented by so forcibly holding the rod between them.[3]

"All the company stood close to Lady M. with all eyes intensely fixed on her hands and the rods to watch if any particular motion might be made by the fingers, but in vain; nothing of the kind was perceived, and all the company could observe no cause or reason why the rods should move in the manner they were seen to do.

"After the experiments were ended, everyone of the company tried the rods in the same manner as they saw Lady M. had done, but without the least motion from any of them. And in my family, among ourselves, we have since then, several times, tried if we could possibly cause the rod to turn by means of any trick or twisting of the fingers, held in the manner Lady Milbanke did, but in vain; we had no power to accomplish it."

The following is a remarkable case, and an important one from an evidential point of view. It is not known whether the "diviner" in this case was an amateur or not; he is now dead.

The Bristol Times and Mirror of 16th June 1891 states:

"The Anglo-Bavarian Brewery at Shepton Mallet needed a large water supply; accordingly excavations had been made to find water, but without success. About two years since, during an exceptionally dry season, it became absolutely necessary to obtain a further supply of brewing water; hence several boring experiments were made on the property. At the suggestion of a gentleman in the locality, the services of a 'diviner' were obtained, and although the principal members of the firm professed to have no faith in his 'art,' yet he was allowed to try the fields on the company's property, and those on the neighbouring estate, and discovered the well now used by the brewery.... The soothsayer who carried the divining rod, a hazel branch, was Mr Charles Sims, a local farmer, and a notable discoverer of wells in the district. Operations were immediately commenced, and, after excavating and dynamiting through the rock, to the depth of fifty feet, a magnificent spring was discovered in a fault of the rock, which proved to be of exceptionally fine water, and of even a finer quality than the town's supply."

Professor Barrett wrote to the Secretary of the brewery to make inquiries and he replied as follows:—

"Shepton Mallet, Somersetshire,

"September 12th, 1896.

"Replying to your letter in regard to a local diviner, we had one of the name of Sims, from Pilton, who successfully denoted a spot on our ground where we have had an abundant supply of water since. This was some eight years ago.

"The writer of this letter also has had some considerable experience with Mr Lawrence of Bristol, who was one of the most noted divining rod men in the West of England. He also was successful in denoting a supply for a Bristol brewery with which the writer was connected; and in numerous other instances in the neighbourhood. Mr Lawrence bore a very high reputation. We believe he died a few months ago at a ripe old age.

"The Anglo-Bavarian Brewery Ltd.,

"J. Clifford,

"Manager."

Having written to ask if a previous boring had been made, and if so, what depth, and with what result, the following reply was received:—

"Shepton Mallet, Somersetshire,

"September 18th, 1896.

"Replying to yours of the 14th, a boring was carried out to the extent of some 140 feet without success on another portion of our premises, before it was successfully done at the spot indicated by the water finder; here, a well was sunk and abundant water obtained at a depth of 40 feet.

"The Anglo-Bavarian Brewery Ltd.,

"J. Clifford,

"Manager."

In the following case, the best advice was obtained and some £1000 spent fruitlessly searching for an underground spring prior to the dowser's visit. The first notice of it appeared in a local newspaper, The West Sussex Times and Sussex Standard, from which the following letter is reprinted:—

"Warnham Lodge, Horsham,

"January 3rd, 1893.

"Having had very great difficulty in the supply of water to this house, I sent for John Mullins, of Colerne, near Chippenham, who, by the aid of a twig of hazel, pointed out several places where water could be found. I have sunk wells in four of the places and it each case have been most successful.

"It may be said that water can be found anywhere—this is not my experience. I have had the best engineering advice and have spent many hundreds of pounds, and hitherto have not obtained sufficient water for my requirements, but now I have an abundant supply.

"I certainly should not think of sinking another well without previously consulting John Mullins.

"Henry Harden."

It is sometimes urged that only springs yielding a limited supply of water are found by dowsers, who fix on spots where more or less surface water can be got from shallow wells rather than run the risk of sinking a deep well. Many of the cases already cited refute this notion, and the following bears on the same point. It is from Messrs Beamish & Crawford, the well-known brewers, of Cork.

"Cork Porter Brewery, Cork,

"December 30th, 1896.

"In reply to your letter of 26th inst., we beg to state:

"1. We had an old well yielding a small supply of water. It was about 30 feet deep.

"2. No new well was fixed on by Mullins. He bored down to a depth of about 60 feet below the bottom of the old well, and therefore about 90 feet below the surface of the ground.

"3. The supply of water now obtained from the new pipes sunk by Mullins is, as nearly as we can estimate, about 10,000 gallons per hour.

"Beamish & Crawford Ltd."

It goes without saying that professional dowsers are not always successful in their quests. "I am inclined," states Professor Barrett, "to think we may take from ten to fifteen per cent. as the average percentage of failures which occur with most English dowsers of to-day, allowing a larger percentage for partial failures, meaning by this that the quantity of water estimated and the depth at which it is found have not realised the estimate formed by the dowser."

What then is the secret of the dowser's often remarkable success? The question is whether, after making every allowance for shrewdness of eye, chance, coincidence, and local geological knowledge, the dowser has any instinctive or supernormal power of discovering the presence of underground water. Professor Barrett, who has perhaps devoted more time to the subject than any other man living, is inclined to answer in the affirmative.

"There appears to be evidence," he writes, "that a more profound stratum of our personality, glimpses of which we get elsewhere in our 'Proceedings,' is associated with the dowser's art; and the latter seems to afford a further striking instance of information obtained through automatic means being more remarkable than, and beyond the reach of, that derived from conscious observation and inference."

In another passage he adds:

"For my own part, I have been driven to believe that some dowsers—

"Whose exterior semblance doth belie
The soul's immensity"

nevertheless give us a glimpse of

"The eternal deep
Haunted for ever by the eternal mind."