WATER DIVINING 



By J. W. Gregory, LL. D., D. Sc, F. R., S. 

 M. I. M. M. Glasgow University 



I. MEDIEVAL AND MODERN USE 



The existence of water, water, nearly everywhere, at slight depths 

 underground, with often no clue where to find a drop to drink, is 

 the basis of the widespread faith in the divining rod. Its value has 

 been a subject of perennial controversy. Its use was denounced as 

 idolatrous by the medieval church and forbidden hy the Inquisition 

 for the detection of crime. It has been repeatedly repudiated, after 

 careful testing, by men of science and water-supply engineers. 

 Though the church, academic science, and the practical man of 

 affairs have alike condemned the divining rod, it has been com- 

 mended by bishops and lesser clerics, men learned in higher physics 

 have suggested that modern discoveries may explain its action, and 

 it is employed by people whose judgment carries great w^eight. The 

 rod has unquestionably been often successful, and it is perhaps more 

 used now than at any previous time owing to the increased need for 

 small shallow supplies of water. The enormous literature on the rod 

 has been recently increased by an elaborate defense by Sir W. F. 

 Barrett and T. Besterman (1926) ; wonderful powers are claimed 

 for it in France in the works of M. Henri Mager (1913, 1920, etc.) ; 

 a special journal and society have been founded in Germany for its 

 study (Verband zur Klarung der Wiinschelrutenfrage, i. e., the wish- 

 ing rod problem) ; and last month it was the subject of an interna- 

 tional congress at Hildesheim. Its use goes back to ancient times; it 

 was doubtless the virgula divina of the ancients and is claimed as the 

 rod of Moses that provided the Israelites with water in the desert. 



Its modern use was apparently begun by German medieval miners 

 in their search for metals. They had no reliable information as to 

 the genesis and distribution of ore deposits, and in the absence of 

 geological guidance a method which required the careful systematic 



1 Read at the session of the British Waterworks Association, Public Works, Roads, and 

 Transport Congress, 1927. Here reprinted by permission of the British Waterworks Asso- 

 ciation. 



24034—29 22 325 



