568 



NA rURE 



[October 14, 1897 



situation. A remarkable case of this kind has been re- 

 lated by M. Cruveilhier, who was invited to see an infant 

 just born presenting a complete case of ectopia of the 

 heart. He says : " On examining the heart thus exposed, 

 both sounds were distinctly heard over the base, and 

 not at the apex." 



Lastly, the author has submitted the problem to the 

 test of experiment, and finds that sounds resembling the 

 first and second sounds of the heart can be produced 

 artificially in accordance with his view. A sheep's heart 

 is carefully prepared, and fitted with gutta-percha tubes 

 for inlet and outlet, respectively, of water. If the ven- 

 tricle be filled from the former, fitted into the left auricle, 

 the water passes into the ventricle, and thence into the 

 aorta, and finally rests upon and closes the aortic valves. 

 If the ventricle be now compressed rhythmically in 

 imitation of systole, and allowed to relax in imitation 

 of diastole, a sound closely resembling the first sound 

 of the heart is produced when the water is propelled 

 from the ventricle into the tube fitted into the aorta ; 

 and another sound closely resembling the second sound 

 of the heart is produced when the sigmoid valves close 

 under the superincumbent weight of water in the aortic 

 tube. As the fluid rises in the aortic tube, which is 

 made three f6et long, the pressure on the valves increases 

 and the sound becomes more marked ; when the fluid, 

 on the other hand, diminishes, the sound becomes less 

 d istinct. The terminal piece of small diameter of a binaural 

 stethoscope gently placed over the aorta at its com- 

 mencement is most suitable for observing the cardiac 

 sounds in this experiment. 



It thus appears that the sounds of the heart are both 

 produced at the same point — that is, at the semi-lunar 

 valves ; and each of them by its own single and simple 

 agency. 



Sir Richard Quain was moved to undertake and con- 

 tinue this inquiry by a desire to obtain a solution of 

 what seemed to be an insoluble problem, and also by 

 a belief that a correct explanation of the first sound of 

 the heart would be of practical value in the study of the 

 clinical phenomena of diseases of this organ. If the 

 explanation given by him is so different from that hitherto 

 accepted as to be calculated to create difficulties in the 

 diagnosis of valvular diseases of the heart, closer con- 

 sideration will show that this is not the case, but that, 

 like all accurate knowledge, it simplifies and does not 

 confuse. It affords an explanation of the relations of 

 certain morbid phenomena which are at present unin- 

 telligible, such, for example, as that a systolic murmur 

 may be heard at the apex, whilst the first sound is audible 

 at the base free from murmur ; and it will serve to en- 

 courage a closer study of the relation between muscular 

 contraction of the walls of the heart and the tension of 

 the vessels of the system. 



THE DIVINING ROD?- 

 T T is certainly advisable to inquire into the foundation 

 ■*- of all popular beliefs. In some cases popular 

 feeling, or superstition — call it what you will — has un- 

 doubtedly led to the discovery of truths not at first 

 understood or accepted by men of science. As, for 

 instance, the danger in the proximity of the barberry- 

 plant to crops of corn ; a danger well known, though 

 unexplained until the microscope was used to trace out 

 the life-history of the minute organism which causes the 

 mischief On the other hand, careful and unprejudiced 

 inquiry may prove the utter baselessness of some uni- 

 versally accepted belief. We have an instance of this in 



1 "On the So-called Divining Rod, or Virgnla Divina: a scientific 

 and historical research as to the existence and practical value of a peculiar 

 human faculty, unrecognised by science, locally known as dowsing." By 

 Prof. W. F. Barrett. {,Froc. Soc. Psychical Research, part xxxii., vol. xiii. 

 July, 1897.) 



NO. 1459, ^OL. 56] 



the statistical inquiry into the connection between the 

 changes of the moon and of the weather. Such a con- 

 nection is apparently taken for granted by every sailor 

 and farmer ; yet a careful analysis of the records shows 

 that the belief is entirely groundless. We are inclined, 

 therefore, to welcome a scientific investigation into the 

 common use of the divining rod for thq purpose of 

 finding water or metallic ores. 



Turning to the paper of 280 pages which forms the 

 text of this article, we must confess to a feeling of 

 considerable disappointment at the way in which the 

 subject has been treated. What are the points at issue ? 

 And what should be the method adopted ? Before 

 entering into these questions it may be well to explain in 

 a few words what is the "divining " or "dowsing" about 

 which so much has been written. Here we can recom- 

 mend Prof. Barrett's paper. He gives a lucid account 

 of the process, clearly distinguishing between the instru- 

 ments used, which he explains are evidently of no 

 importance whatever, and the physical or mental state of 

 the operator, which is the matter of real moment. 



"Divining" or "dowsing" is a method of finding 

 hidden springs or ores by the employment of persons 

 supposed to possess a peculiar faculty not common to 

 mankind in general. This faculty takes the form of a 

 special sensitiveness which causes a forked hazel-twig, or 

 other pointer, held in the hands, to point downward, or 

 upward, when the operator is vertically over the thing 

 sought for. The pointer is a mere " autoscope ; " for one 

 dowser used a watch-spring, another a German sausage, 

 and others go with nothing in the hands. The twitching 

 of the rod is, as Prof Barrett points out, a mere indication 

 of a muscular disturbance, not otherwise very obvious. 

 In the search for water the usual method of divining is 

 for the operator to walk across the ground, rod in hand, 

 stopping at points where involuntary movements cause 

 the rod to turn. At these spots he considers that water 

 is to be found, and he will often go so far as to state the 

 amount that a well sunk there will yield, and the depth at 

 which the spring will be struck. We refer specially to 

 the discovery of water ; but the same method is used for 

 the discovery of ores, and sometimes for the tracking of 

 criminals, the feeling responding only, so it is said, to the 

 presence of the particular object for which search is 

 being made. 



Two hundred pages of the paper before us are devoted 

 to an " Examination of Evidence," or rather to records 

 of the employment of diviners for the discovery of hidden 

 springs. To this section we will now turn. It is obviously 

 impossible within the limits of this article to analyse the 

 mass of evidence. The difficulty of obtaining trustworthy 

 information as to depth of wells, level of springs, yield of 

 water and other circumstances is very great. Even where 

 no personal feeling enters into the question, the details 

 supplied need the most careful sifting. All we can here 

 do is to take some one district, and see how far Prof. 

 Barrett's records correspond with memoranda of our 

 own, made in the course of a geological examination of 

 the same area. Our notes were taken simply for the 

 purpose of obtaining details of the strata, not to prove or 

 disprove any theory. 



Two wells are mentioned as sunk in the Isle of Wight 

 under the advice of a diviner, both counting as successes. 

 As to the first, at Arreton, we are only given the diviner's 

 own uncorroborated account, and not knowing the exact 

 site of his well it is impossible to form an opinion about 

 it. At the other place mentioned, a house called Wood- 

 side, at Wootton, near Ryde, two wells had been sunk, 

 under whose«advice we know not, in the Oligocene clays, 

 and, of course, they yielded no water. The diviner 

 afterwards selected a site a few yards further south, on 

 the edge of the sheet of plateau gravel which supplies 

 water to all the farms and houses over its area. It did 

 not need a diviner to give this advice ; any cottager 



