450 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 266, 



discussion, tbe affidavits by which the alleged 

 discoveries of Bleton were authenticated, and a 

 most curious narrative of the excursions made by 

 M. Thouvenel, with Bleton and another person 

 similarly endowed, as his assistants, in pursuance 

 of a commission from the king, to analyse the mi- 

 neral and medicinal waters of France. These two 

 ■pamphlets, from their miniiteness of detail, and 

 the impartial and philosophical tone which ap- 

 pears to characterise the discussion, are perhaps 

 the most curious and valuable which have yet ap- 

 peared on tbe subject. They are not readily to 

 be met with ; but an abstract of their contents, 

 and some review of the controversy, will be found 

 in the Monthly Review, vols, Ixv. Ixvii. and Ixxi. 

 They are also noticed in The Loungers Common- 

 place Book, articles " Bleton " and " Virgula Di- 

 vinatoria." 



About the year 1690, a power was attributed 

 to the divining rod, which till then it had not 

 been held to possess. A poor mason of Saint- 

 Veran, also in Dauphiny, asserted that with his 

 " baguette de coudrier " he could not only dis- 

 cover water and metals, but also " les malefices, 

 les voleurs, et les assassins." The fullest narra- 

 tive of his proceedings will be found in a pamphlet 

 by a M. de Vagny, procureur du roi, at Grenoble. 

 This is entitled, — 



" Histoire merveilleuse d'un ma^on, qui, conduit par la 

 baguette divinatoire, a suivi un meurtrier pendant 45 

 heures sur la terre, et plus de 30 heures sur I'eau." 



The illustrious Mallebranche became implicated 

 in the controversy which ensued ; some details 

 respecting which will be found in the Recreations 

 in Mathematical and Natural Philosophy of Oza- 

 nam, translated by Hutton, 1st edit. vol. iv. p. 260. 

 See also Biographie Universelle, tom. i, p. 350. 

 (Aimar-Vernai). 



The Abbe de Vallemont, a man enjoying a 

 reputation for some erudition, was inclined to 

 favour the pretensions of Aimar, and published 

 a pamphlet in their defence, entitled — 



" La Physique occulte, ou Traits de la baguette divina- 

 toire, et de son utility pour la decouverte des sources 

 d'eau, des miniferes, des tr^sors caches, des voleurs, et des 

 meurtriers fugitifs," &c., 1693, 12mo. (republished after- 

 wards at Amsterdam, 1696, Paris, 1709, and La Haye, 

 1722-47, 2 vols. 12mo.) 



This, a curious but unsatisfactory performance, 

 was speedily attacked and its theory demolished 

 by a more learned man, Pierre Lebrun, of the 

 Oratory. His work is entitled, — 



" Lettres qui d^couvrent I'illusion des Philosoplies sur 

 la Baguette, et qui d^truisent leurs systemes. 1693, 

 12mo." 



This treatise is entirely recast, and considerably 

 augmented, in a subsequent publication : 



" Histoire critique des pratiques superstitieuses qui ont 

 s^duit les peuples, et embarrasse les savants, avec la 



Methode, et les Principes pour discemer les effets na- 

 turels d'avec ceux qui ne le sont pas. 12mo., 1702." 



A well-authenticated narrative is to be found in 

 the Quarterly Review, vol. xxii. p. 373., to tbe effect 

 that a certain Lady N. (Noel) having witnessed the 

 successful efforts of a peasant to discover a spring to 

 supply a chateau in Provence, wbei'e she happened 

 to be staying, became aware that she was endowed 

 with the same faculty herself. When Dr. Hutton 

 published in 1803 bis translation of Ozanam's ikfa- 

 thematical Recrecttions, where the belief is treated 

 as absurd, she wrote a long letter to him contain- 

 ing a narrative of her own experiences. At Dr. 

 Hutton's request she visited bim at Woolwich, 

 and discovered a spring in a field which he had 

 lately purchased. She afterwards showed the ex- 

 periment to others, but rather wished to conceal 

 her mystic power, from the fear of the imputation 

 of witchcraft or imposture. To this the reviewer 

 adds, — 



" The fact, however, of the discovery of water being 

 effected by it (the divining rod), when held in the hand 

 of certain persons, seems indubitable." 



This story is also quoted in Sketches of Imposture, 

 Deception, and Credulity, p. 310. 



In the Gentleman's 3Iagazine (vol. xxii. p. 77.) 

 is an account of an experiment made by tbe ce- 

 lebrated Linnaeus to test the alleged efficacy of 

 the rod ; and with such satisfactory results that 

 tbe botanist is reported to have said " that such 

 another experiment would be sufficient to make \ 

 proselyte of him." 



An account of an unsuccessful trial made by 

 Lilly the astrologer, to discover bidden treasure 

 by the hazel rod, will be found in the History of 

 his Life and Times, by that worthy, p. 32. 



A tract recently published, — 



" Narrative of Practical Experiments, proving to De- 

 monstration the Discovery of Water, Coals, and Minerals 

 in the Earth, by means of the Dowsing Fork, or Divining 

 Rod, &c., collected, reported, and edited by Francis 

 Phippen." London, 12mo., Hardwicke, 1853, pp. 24. 



appears to merit attention as a calm and truthful 

 statement of facts. 



Billingsley, in his Agricultural Survey of the 

 County of Somerset (Bath, 8vo., 1797), also speaks 

 of the faith held in that county, by tbe Mendip 

 miners, in the efficacy of the divining rod : 



" The general method of discovering the situation and 

 direction of these seams of ore (which lie at various 

 depths, from five to twenty fathoms, in a chasm between 

 two benches of solid rock) is by the help of the divining 

 rod, vulgarly called josing ; and a variety of strong testi- 

 monies are adduced in supporting this doctrine. _ Most 

 rational people, however, give but little credit to it, and 

 consider the whole as a trick. Should the fact be al- 

 lowed, it is difficult to account for it ; and the influence 

 of the mines on the hazel rod seems to partake so much, 

 of the marvellous, as almost entirely to exclude the 

 operation of known and natural agents. So confident, 

 however, are the common miners of the efficacy, that 



