1821.1 



Facts relative to the Divining Rod. 



should consider the whole as a mere 

 trick. 



Ou making a trial, much to my 

 surprise, I found it worked equally 

 strong with me, and the attraction so 

 considerable, that, by my attempting to 

 resist it, the forks of tlie stick broke 

 off close to my hands ; and on sinking 

 the well at the depth of seven feet, a 

 spring of considerable force burst fortli. 

 Some mouths after this discovery, the 

 owner of an adjoining lot was desii-ous 

 of sinking a well, and requested me to 

 point out where he could find a spring ; 

 I went and fixed ujwn a spot farther 

 from his liouse than hewishe.l to have 

 the well, wJiicli determined him to open 

 one 40 feet nearer the house. The well- 

 digger went down 30 feet through a 

 solid rock, which appeared to increase 

 in firmness as lie proceeded downwards; 

 the proprietor therefore, had it filled up 

 again, and under the sjiot I had pointed 

 out, at the de[ith of 14 feet, discovered 

 a large spring of excellent water. On 

 my return to tliis country, I thought it 

 possible that I might here be in exclu- 

 sive possession of this secret, but hear- 

 ing the subject had been mentioned in 

 your Magazine, 1 am desirous it should 

 imdergo that liberal discussion which 

 generally promote the advancement of 

 science and the benefit of the public 

 at large; at the same time, as the gift 

 of working the rod, appears not to be 

 possessed l)y more than one in two 

 thousand, I am cnd:iavouring to turn 

 the possession of tliis gift to personal 

 advantagcyind will briefly inform you of 

 the result of my practice in this; how- 

 ever, as in all new discoveries, I have 

 had more curious spectators to the 

 process than employers for emolu- 

 inenl. 



Mr. Cruttwell,a respectable solicitor 

 of liath, first employed me, and ou his 

 jtremises I found a spring at four 

 feet depth, immediately under the spot 

 pointed out by the divining rod, at a 

 suflicient elevation to supply his house 

 with water. My brother, Mr. John Car- 

 tridge, afterwards employed me to find 

 waler on I'ery high ground for the sup- 

 ply of cuttle, as he wished to convert 

 several fields from arable to pasturage. 

 On sinking a well .'5G feet from the sur- 

 face, where the rod worked, a spring of 

 sucii magnitude burst fortii, that if 

 means ha<i not been used to prevent the 

 water runningolT through t lie wall, there 

 is liltle doubt bu( it would have risen to 

 and run ovr the top of the w(dl. There 

 Monthly Ma-i.No. 35-1. 



137 



has, from October last (avery dry season) 

 to tlie present time, been from 20 to 25 

 feet of water. The utility of the divin- 

 ing rod will, on trial, be obvious in 

 many cases to which ithasuot yet been 

 applied, such as letkages tlirough canal 

 banks, to point out the proper lines for 

 divining, &c. &c. and for the accuracy 

 of its operation lean appeal to Mr. John 

 Bell of Trowbridge, Wilts ; John Tho- 

 mas, Es,|. Prior Park, near Bath, and 

 Benj. Wingrove, Esq. Hetling House, 

 Batii ; also to Mr. Thos. Parsons, and 

 Mr. Sam. Huckvale, Chipping Norton, 

 Oxon, and many others. It has been 

 said that the hazle and thorn are theonly 

 woods that will work as divining rods, 

 but I have tried almost every kind of 

 wood without a perceptive difference. 



The chief deficiency at present, is the 

 want of means to ascertain the depth 

 of a spring before digging to its bed, but 

 I am not without hope that this deside- 

 ratum will be ultimately supplied. Ou 

 passing a M^ooden bridge over an open 

 stream, the rod will not work, although 

 it works in passing over a stone bridge. 

 Nor will it work \\ hen the hands are 

 covered with leather gloves. These 

 facts connected with the circumstance 

 that the rod must consist of green 

 wood, together Mitii all the phenome- 

 na I have noticed in tlie operation, 

 induces me to infer, that the working 

 is occasioned by electrical attraction, 

 and that those persons in whose hands 

 it will work, must have a redundancy 

 of that fluid in their composition. It ap- 

 pears that the divining rod will indicate 

 the presence of metals as well as wafer, 

 which is jtroved by the following cir- 

 cumstance, related to me by Messrs. 

 Jones and Davis, of Bath, who are too 

 much attached to science to beottended 

 at my mentioning their respected 

 names, in attempting to demonstrate a 

 curious and interesting physical fact. 



"A gentleman residing on the Mendip 

 Hills, who possessed the pro])erty of 

 discovering wafer and metals by the 

 rod, offered to wager with the above 

 genfhimen and others present, that he 

 could discover a half crown placed, 

 under oue of ten hats, by any person 

 during his absence, so as to render it 

 impossible he eould know where it was, 

 unless by the operation of the rod. The 

 experiment was tried three times suc- 

 cessively, and in each the rod was proved 

 to indicate accurately."' Ihqiiug this 

 communication may excite the atten- 

 tion of some of your (scientific corre- 

 II pondcnts, 



