66 USE or THE DIVINING BOD. 



claim to have entirely succeeded. It seemed hopeless indeed at 

 first, but there is a knack about it which after all is easily- 

 acquired when once the way is pointed out- 



The tighter the forked twig is held the easier it turns — that is 

 acknowledged on all hands. The method we use to start it is 

 this:— The arms are held close to the sides, the twig being 

 grasped in the proper manner as far as thfe fingers are concerned; 

 then if the hands are slightly approached towards each other 

 horizontally without the fingers being moved at all, it will be 

 found enough to determine a starting of the rod, and if persisted 

 in, the rod will turn over upwards towards the face of the 

 operator. The least thing causes it to move, and when once it 

 has fairly begun it cannot be stopped without relaxing the grasp. 

 It will be understood from this how it will frequently turn over 

 in the hands of novices without any conscious action of theirs, 

 and therefore without their being necessarily able to do it a 

 second time. We do not imagine however for a moment that it 

 is usually involuntary with the professional dowsers ; when a fee 

 or its equivalent is to be had, we rather fancy, from our know- 

 ledge of human nature, that the rod is likely to act in the desired 

 way. 



Since our small experience of the Divining-rod we have been 

 incited to look for other accounts of its use. It was only last 

 JS'ovember that one of her Majesty's Geological Surveyors 

 expressed his surprise [Geol. Mag. 1872.] at its use in the 

 Mendips. 



"We owe our thanks to Mr. Taylor, the very intelligent 

 Librarian of the Bristol Library Society, for pointing our 

 attention to the following account of the use of the dowsing- 

 fork at Dundry in the year 1830.* 



We quote most of it as it may be interesting to those who are 

 living in sight of that hill. It relates to a trial for a spring of 

 water. 



* Year Book of Recreation, 1830. Reprinted, W. Tegg, Cheapside, 

 1850, page 1590. 



