TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 115 



claiming to have the power to divine underground water near the surface by means 

 of a forked stick. That all who pretend to have this power of divination are inten- 

 tional deceivers, I have always doubted. Ever before seeing "water-witching" per- 

 formed, I had been of the opinion that there must be, as Prof. Czermak calls it in 

 his lectures on hypnotism, "a not well or not clearly-observed fact.'''' In vain I sought 

 for an explanation of the phenomenon. Works treating on the solution of popular 

 superstitions did not give the least explanation. Mayo, in "Truth in Popular Super- 

 stitions, Divining-Rod and Witchcraft," comes to no solution of the problem; he 

 experiments with the rod, but does not find the real cause. An article in a number 

 of the St. Louis Globe- Democrat in March, 1888, on "Divination," does not solve it, 

 in spite of all endeavors to do so. 



Whether anyone else has made the observations herein stated, I do not know. 

 They were made by a friend of mine, Werner A. Stille, Ph. D., Principal of the Baden 

 Schools, Baden, St. Louis, Mo., and myself. 



I saw "water-witching" performed for the first time some ten years ago, by an 

 old honest farmer, who believed in it as gospel truth. Walking by the side of the 

 performer, it became at once clear to me that there was a case of self- deception. 



It may be hardly necessary to give a description of the divining rod. The forked 

 hazel or the forked twig of a peach tree are in high esteem by those who practice 

 "water-witching," although any other forked twig will do. Both prongs of the rod 

 have to be thin, of nearly equal thickness, and about two feet in length. An end is 

 taken in each hand, the arms extended forward, and held stiff; the hands are kept at 

 about the height of the hips, and turned outward, so that the closed fingers are above 

 and the thumbs at the outside of the hands; the rod is grasped tightly and held 

 horizontally, while walking over the ground to be explored for water. 



Both arms and hands thus in a strained position are to regain a more easy posi- 

 tion, but the rod must be held tightly. As the turning of the arms and hands is 

 either by relaxation of the muscles or involuntarily, an invisible power seems to be 

 active in twisting the rod out of the operator's hands. In the endeavor of the mus- 

 cles to regain their natural position, the hands turn somewhat, and by observing 

 them closely it will be seen that by this involuntary movement of the hands, caused 

 by the relaxation of the muscles, the rod is bent downward, and in some instances 

 with so great a force that it is t^^isted in the hand, and one or the other end will 

 break. 



And surely water will be found if "water-witching" is exercised in places where 

 underground water near the surface is in abundance. 



Try the experiment, which is easy to perform, and you have a very fine illustra- 

 tion of a " not well or not clearly observed fact.' 



METEOROLOGICAL SUMMAKY FOR THE YEARS 1887 AND 1888. 



PREPARED BY PROF. F. H. SNOW, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT LAWRENCE. 



1887. 

 The year 1887 was marked by a cold winter and a warm spring, while the summer 

 and autumn were of nearly the average temperatures. The total rainfall fell but 

 little short of the average amount, but its distribution was unfavorable to corn and 

 other midsummer crops. A serious deficiency in July found the ground nearly des- 

 titute of moisture, on account of the eleven-inch deficiency of the year 1886, and in 

 less than two weeks what promised to be the most abundant corn crop ever produced 



