SOME CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE 



Investigation, methodically pursued, may in 

 time bring us nearer to a solution of the questions 

 how is that influence generated and what are 

 the exceptional conditions in the individual affected 

 by it ? And possibly the germ of a great prin- 

 ciple may be found in the answers. This course 

 seems, at any rate, preferable to that of regarding 

 any phenomenon as outside the pale of scientific 

 inquiry if it does not fit in with a preconceived 

 plan of accounting for it. " There are more 

 things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are 

 dreamt of in your philosophy " is as perfect a 

 crystallization of the truth now as when it was 

 first uttered nearly three centuries ago, and it 

 will probably remain so for many a long year 

 to come. 



After I had written the foregoing chapter, 

 I had some interesting corroborative testimony 

 from Mr. A. F. Somerville, of Binder House, 

 Wells, an active member of the B. & W. Society's 

 Council, and the Chairman, among other public 

 bodies, of the Somerset County Appeal Tribunal. 

 His shrewd penetration and capacity for sifting 

 evidence* add weight to any opinion he may 

 express. He wrote as follows : 



" DEAR MR. PLOWMAN, 



" Your last chapter of ' Fifty Years of a 

 Showman's Life ' was particularly interesting to 

 me, as I am a ' dowser ' I have had twigs as 

 thick as my little finger twist off and break after 

 scoring my hand till it was red. 



" The muscles of the arm become contracted 

 when the bodily magnetism is affected by the 



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