q 



14 



mineral clay, the but-end will turn down, and with such force, if resisted 

 by the operator, as to twist the stem and crack the bark. It was this 

 twisting and cracking of the bark that removed my doubts, or rather 

 settled unbelief in the theory some forty years since. And then digging 

 for, and finding water exactly as told by the operator, both as to depth, 

 quality and quantity, I must show symptons of insanity, or yield a full 

 faith in the fact which I saw with my own eyes, and proved by my 

 own hands, in digging, and by my OAvn mouth in the delicious drinks of 

 good cold water, raised from the well. 



My own testimony, whatever it may be worth Avhere I am known, is 

 but one among many thousands, a few of which only can be here given, 

 without extending this paper to a greater length than is intended. But 

 having seen it proved in scores of cases, and heard of even hundreds of 

 such, I am and must be a believer in this mode of procuring water, the 

 science of which will be hereafter explained. But I will first give two 

 historical facts to establish the theory. 



About the commencement of the present century. Dr. Adam Clark, one 

 of the greatest linguists and philosophers of the age, was stationed on 

 Guernsey Island, in the British Channel, as a Wesleyan Methodist Minis- 

 ter. The people there had suffered much from want of water. But few 

 springs had been discovered; the streams were short, and subject to en- 

 tire failure from drought ; and, as a matter of course, they were depend- 

 ent upon their cisterns, which often failed also from want of rain. Under 

 these circumstances, the discovery of water at a moderate depth in the 

 soil, or in the rock, was as a God-send to the people. 



Dr. Clark found in his Society a man Avho professed to make this dis- 

 covery. But not believing in the truth of the profession, because he 

 could not understand the why and wherefore of the thing, he arraio-ned 

 the member on a charge of humbuggery. He would not allow a mem- 

 ber of his Society to humbug the people. The accused man, however, 

 proved by some half dozen reputable witnesses that it was no humbuo- ; 

 that he had told them where to dig, and they had dug and found water 

 as he had told them. This was a poser for the Doctor. He had too 

 much sense, and too great a degree of justice to dispute and deny facts 

 thus clearly proven. But still doubting, he required the operator to per- 

 form in his presence. This was done, and the water obtained. But as 

 this might have been a chance case, he would have the experiment 

 renewed, which was done with like success. There now were a score or 



