DISCOVERY 



A MONTHLY POPULAR 

 JOURNAL or KNOW^LLDGE 



No. 9. SBPTBMBBR 1920. 



PRICB 6d. NET. 



DISCOVERY. A Monthly Popular Journal of Know- first number is that by Sir William Barrett,' F.R.S., on 



ledge. 



Edited by A. S. Russell, M.C, D.Sc, 8 Severn Road, 

 Sheffield, to whom all Editorial Communications should be 

 addressed. 



Published by John Murray, 50A Albemarle Street, 

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Editorial Notes 



A NEW journal, the Psychic Research Quarterly,^ has 

 appeared. Its aim is to give in a popular form a 

 reasoned criticism and discussion of spiritualism, 

 telepathy, and other problems of psychical research. 

 It is neither definitely committed nor definitely hostile 

 to spiritualism. Its aim is to get at the truth, or as 

 near as possible to the truth, of these problems, what- 

 ever that may be, and to condemn nothing merely out 

 of ignorance or prejudice. The editor himself declares 

 he holds no brief for spiritualism. He thinks, on the 

 contrary, a very strong case can be made out against 

 it. At the same time he believes it is impossible 

 reasonably to maintain that there is no plausible foun- 

 dation for its doctrines. This is an excellent point of 

 view. If the best obtainable contributions from all 

 sides on the set of problems considered are published 

 m this journal, the reader has every opportunity of 

 forming his own opinion, and this is proposed to 

 be done. Accounts of contemporary researches by 

 reUable investigators and criticism thereon wiU be 

 included in the journal, and also articles dealing with 

 the relation of Theology, Philosophy, and Psychology 

 to psychical research. 



***** 

 One of the most interesting articles in this excellent 

 ' No. I, July 1920. (Kegan Paul, 3s. 6d. net.) 



the so-caUed divining- (or dowsing-) rod. How the 

 dowsing-rod works has always been a puzzle to me. 

 This article does not tell one how, for, it appears, no 

 satisfactory cut-and-dried explanation of the phe- 

 nomenon is yet forthcoming. But it clears up many 

 doubtful points. It tells us what the water-diviners, 

 or " dowsers," can do, and it suggests a cause of their 



power without attempting to elaborate details. 

 ***** 



A dowser is a man with very special powers. He 

 takes a forked hazel twig, and with the point of the 

 twig upwards and a fork lightly held in each hand, he 

 perambulates in a business-like manner over country 

 in a search for underground water or ore. At certain 

 places, sometimes, there is an unconscious and in- 

 voluntary movement of the dowser's muscles which 

 causes the twig to twist, and at these places is found 

 the ore or the water which is sought. If any reader 

 has not heard previously of water-divining, or dowsing, 

 we may say that, if he asks us the question, " Do you 

 mean to tell me that a man, by walking about with 

 a piece of wood in his hands and waiting till it twists, 

 can locate water?" our answer is "Yes." The fact 

 seems well established, and examples of it will be 

 quoted below. It is the explanation of the fact that 

 is the difficulty, and which is rightly the concern of 

 psychical research. 



***** 

 A case exemplifying the power of the dowser is 

 given by Sir William Barrett in the following words : 

 " I was anxious to put the dowser to a severe test 

 by asking him to locate places where water would be 

 found and where it would not be found. A site was 

 selected in a field on the slope of Carrigoona Mountain 

 [Ireland], where the most shrewd observer could not 

 possibly predict beforehand the presence or absence of 

 underground water at any particular spot. The rock 

 is sandstone and quartzite, and water-springs only 

 occur in a few places. I sent for a good English 

 dowser, Mr. W. Stone, who came over specially from 

 Lincolnshire, where he lived. The field was covered, 

 with grass, and the bed-rock was believed to be only 



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