388 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



gift in being able to experience the curious ducking action 

 of the twig when they walk with it in their hands in 

 quest of this or that. 



In the seventeenth century the dousing-twig was 

 used as a guide in all sorts of quests, for instance, in 

 searching for hidden treasure and in tracking criminals ! 

 In our own times it is chiefly known through its use by 

 professional water-finders. There is no doubt that 

 some of these gentry are dishonest. They are not the 

 credulous rustics to whom the dousing-twig owes its long 

 popularity. They are often clever and expert judges 

 of the indications by form of the land, lie of geological 

 strata, and distribution of vegetation, as to the sub- 

 terranean water which is so abundant in this country. 

 They make a pretence of using the douser's twig, in 

 order to obtain employment from landowners in search 

 of a likely spot for sinking a well, since it is the fact 

 that many people prefer to be guided by a sort of 

 magician who uses a supposed mysterious occult agency 

 rather than to employ the honest and perhaps less acute 

 geologist who avowedly proceeds in his search for water 

 by making use of ascertained facts as to the structure 

 and character of the subsoil and deeper strata of the 

 district in which his services are called for. 



The believers in the connexion of the movement of 

 the douser's rod and the existence of concealed metal or 

 water, have of late years started the theory that the 

 twig itself is of no value in the " experiment." Certain 

 dousers have declared that they can work just as well 

 without it, and that it is not the rod or twig but they 

 themselves who are sensitive to concealed water or metal. 

 They state that they feel a peculiar " sinking " in the pit 

 of the stomach, also a nervous tremor, and that their 



