WATEK DIVINING GREGORY 331 



some diviners, such as Gataker, used their hands alone. That the 

 twig is moved by some impulse from the diviner is rendered prob- 

 able by the way in which the rod is generally held, for as previously 

 explained, a slight movement of the finger causes a marked movement 

 of the rod. The movement by the diviner is explained in two ways. 

 The theory adopted by Barrett and Besterman attributes the move- 

 ment to " cryptesthesia " — a kind of second-sight, by which the diviner 

 becomes conscious of the presence of any object for which he is 

 searching, such as oil, metals, buried treasure, letters in an envelope, 

 future events, underground water, or some special person. The evi- 

 dence for this form of second-sight is similar to that for the ordinary 

 kind claimed by spiritualists. 



The alternative view is that the diviner unconsciously or subcon- 

 sciously moves the rod owing to an impulse due to unintentional sug- 

 gestion from the bystanders or by his recognition of indications 

 favorable for water. If the diviner is accompanied by people who 

 know where there is a hidden spring, or where some material lies 

 buried, or which envelope contains the test metal, they unconsciously 

 give away the secret, as in ordinary thought reading; but this ex- 

 planation does not answer for cases of water divining in which the 

 bystanders are trusting to the diviner for guidance and have no 

 preconceived ideas. 



This unconscious movement of the rod by the dowser is explained 

 by Dr. Millais Culpin (1920, pp. 24^33 and 34-^3) as an instance of 

 dissociation of the various streams of activity which flow side by 

 side in the human brain. Many actions are unconscious as by fre- 

 quent repetition they have become automatic, and some are now 

 purely instinctive. Doctor Culpin instances the motor driving of an 

 expert whose car slips through crowded traffic while he converses on 

 some abstruse problem. A young pupil reads letter by letter, while 

 a quick reader takes in sentences at a time and is unconscious of the 

 individual letters. Similarly many streams of nervous activity are 

 dissociated from the conscious movements. Hence a man going over 

 a tract of ground may notice signs of water unconsciously, and some 

 slight mental action may cause the twitching of a finger and a jerk 

 of the rod. While some dowsers may be deliberate frauds, and others 

 may be duped by their vanitj', many of the best dowsers probably act 

 by their dissociated mental activities. 



A man like Mullins may by long experience or special quickness of 

 observation instinctively recognize where water is likely to occur, and 

 by some subconscious motion of the hand cause the warning move- 

 ment in the rod. 



Dr. H. Haenel, after a careful investigation of the physiological 

 action of the divining rod, concludes that the nerve system is the 

 receiver, carrier, and transmitter of the whole divining rod phe- 

 nomenon. (Schr. Verb. Klar. Wiinschlr., pt. 8, 1918, p. 28.) 



