NOTIOS ON ESSKX IJIALECT AND FOLK-I.OKK. 83 



In the year 1874 an advertisement appeared in the local pa[)crs as 

 follows : — 



"Water. — Mr. J. Bailey, of \'ine street, Grantham, in addition 

 to his thirty years' experience in raising and conveying water by self- 

 acting machinery, has arranged with Mr. John Mullens, the great 

 water discoverer, for his services, and all orders addressed to him at 

 10, \'ine-street, will receive prompt attention." 



Mullens was known as the Bath water-findtr, or the " man with 

 the twig." He, however, did not use a twig of hazel, but one of 

 blackthorn. This man had been employed to discover water on the 

 estates of the Duke of Beaufort and other noblemen and gentlemen, 

 and it was said that his discoveries by means of his twig were always 

 attended with success, and that a good spring of water was invariably 

 found in the precise spot where his rod had indicated its presence. 

 At the annual meeting of the Science Classes, held in September, 

 1878, Sir W. E. Wei by Gregory, Bart., M.P., said in his speech : 



" The really great man, who devotes his whole life to the pursuit 

 of knowledge, progresses in his discoveries from day to day, only 

 to become more and more convinced of the depth of his ignorance 

 and the vastness and the mystery of the things which lie beyond his 

 ken. The man, on the other hand, who has but a slight acquaint- 

 ance with science, is far too apt to think that he knows everything, 

 and to set up his own judgment in opposition to all authority, even 

 the very highest. I had occasion to seek for an additional supply of 

 water for my house, and I was induced to send for a man out of 

 Wiltshire, who was said to be able to discover running water by the 

 aid of a twig, or, as it used to be called in ancient days, a Divining- 

 rod. The man came, apparently a very simple, straightforward sort 

 of a fellow, who did not profess to know the reason why, but simply 

 the fact that when he crossed running water the twig turned upwards 

 in his hand, and he indicated two spots where he said I should find 

 water at a very moderate depth. So I determined to sink my wells 

 in accordance with his directions, and 1 may say at once that in 

 both cases I found water. But meantime I mentioned what I had 

 been doing separately to two friends well versed in geology, and both 

 as by one consent agreed in laughing the water-finder to scorn. 

 They said he might by long experience have gained some skill in 

 judging where water would be found; he might simply be an im- 

 postor ; only one thing was certain — he could not be possessed of 

 any occult power. Science could not understand such a power 

 existing, and science believes nothing it cannot understand. Now 

 why should not this man be endowed with some force or power 

 that is not yet explained? Did science know all about electricity a 

 century ago? What can it tell now about animal magnetism, mes- 

 merism, and so forth ?" 



