413 



otherwise unaccountable, things in those days. Some writers 

 described the divining power as genuine, some as illusory, some 

 as superstitious, and some as sorcerous, and much contradictory 

 evidence was the result. As^ however, it is not my purpose to 

 discuss the question from an antiquarian point of view, I will, 

 having stated sufficient to indicate the lengthened vitality of the 

 belief, proceed at once to consider it in its present-day aspect. 



The use of the divining rod now appears to be restricted to 

 the discovery of oil, metal and water, and for this purpose we find 

 it continually employed in various parts of Eurojje, in America, 

 and also in many uncivilised portions of the globe. I shall 

 confine myself to a consideration of its use in this kingdom, and 

 mainly in relation to the discovery of water. The subject may 

 be said to have a special local interest, inasmuch as it is in this 

 part of the country that a belief in the divining power especially 

 flourishes. De Quincey affirms that he has often seen the 

 divining rod used with success, and says that in a vale of North 

 Somerset most of the tea-kettles are filled by Ehabdomancy, 

 whatever science may have to say to the contrary. The 

 prevalence of the belief in these parts may be to some extent 

 attributable to the success -which has attended th.e operations of 

 certain local practitioners, but whether the supply of these is 

 due to a greater demand for them here than elsewhere, or 

 whether the supply itself creates a demand, I am unable to say. 

 At any rate the services of the Western diviners, and one in 

 particular, are in frequent requisition in other parts of the 

 kingdom. 



In speaking of the power of the divining rod it must be 

 understood that this is inherent, not to the rod itself, but to the 

 person using it, the former being merely a means of communica- 

 tion between the person affected and the object which calls the 

 latent faculty to life. The misapprehensions as to this, which have 

 occasionally come under my notice, furnish a reason for starting M 

 ■what to many would appear self-evident. A water diviner is 



