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of one, and not of another. Well, I will say, it is not clairvoyance, mes- 

 merism, spiritual rappin<rs, necromancy, nor any other species of hum- 

 buggery, but simply the laws of electricity ; which, when understood, 

 are as plain as the growth of grain or cattle on a farm. 



As before stated, this philosophy was practiced on Guernsey Island, 

 from whence it went into France, where the philosophers must always 

 know the why and wherefore of any and every useful fact which occurs 

 within their knowledge. The result of their observations on the subject, 

 as reported in their Transactions, is, in substance, this : 



The electric fluid is attracted from the surrounding mass of rock or 

 earth, by running water in its bowels, but not by dead or standing water. 

 Every man is charged with electricity, either positively or negatively ; 

 this is a well known fact. The rod used must be green or in the sap. — 

 The sap is a conductor of the fluid, and in the hands of one negatively 

 charged (that is, one to whom the fluid will flow when he comes within 

 the reach or influence of a positively charged body or substance) the rod 

 is attracted towards the current. The reason why it will work in the 

 hands of one, and not in those of another, is thus explained. If all men 

 ■were negatively charged, it would work in all hands ; or, if all were pos- 

 itively charged it would not work in anybody's hands. 



It is known that silver will attract the rod, and that, in our mineral re- 

 gion, a crevice in the rock, having in it lead-bearing clay, or soil, will 

 also attract it. And in consequence thereof, the operator cannot tell, in 

 the mineral region, whether it is water, or a lead, or a crevice ; the lead 

 here having silver enough in it to become a conductor, and an accumula- 

 tor of the fluid in the ground. 



It is known in the mines of our State, and I believe equally so in all 

 other countries, that lead ore is found mostly in the crevices of openings 

 in the rock. There may be crevices without lead, but seldom is there 

 lead without a crevice. The object, then, of the miner, is to find a cre- 

 vice, or opening, into which he will dig in pursuit of the ore. To find 

 these crevices, many in the mines use the rod, who find water sometimes 

 as well as a crevice. The skilful miner, however, can form a tolerably 

 correct judgment from the formation of the ground whether it is water or 

 a crevice, which may contain mineral, and so of the skilful Avell-digger. 

 From experience and observation he forms his opinion whether it is water 

 or mineral substances which attract the rod. But either and both may, 

 and sometimes do, mistake the one for the other in this matter. 



