54 



DISCOVERY 



of that country the density of the atmosphere is only 

 about one-half of that at sea-level, and no aeroplane 

 of the present type would rise from the ground. 

 ***** 



However, some of the difficulties that seem to face 

 the party at present may disappear : others, unforeseen, 

 may arise. It would not be an adventure if everything 

 was seen or foreseen. The expedition has the cordial 

 co-operation of the Government of India and more 

 particularly of the Surveyor-General. With this 

 assistance and that of the two Societies w-hich are 

 going to find the jTicooo necessary for the work of 

 two years, the expedition starts under better auspices 

 than have favoured any previous attempt to climb a 

 high Himalayan peak. Everyone who can see the 

 importance of anj' further step towards the mastery 

 of our surroundings will wish this expedition success. 

 ***** 



I have lately looked through a very able book ^ in 

 which water-divining, one of the subjects in which I 

 am interested, is spoken of rather disrespectfully. A 

 book like this which deals with Spiritism is very timely, 

 for we are getting rather tired of those people w-ho 

 give such profuse material details of the " life beyond " 

 in the Sunday newspapers and the popular monthly 

 magazines. Dr. Culpin in this book attempts to give an 

 explanation of it ail in terms of recent work on psycho- 

 logy. " My object in writing this book," he says in the 

 preface — and it is a good thing to have an object in 

 writing a book nowadays — " is to present an explana- 

 tion of so-called occult phenomena, concerning which 

 credulity is still as busy as in the days of witchcraft. 

 The producers of these phenomena have been exposed 

 efficiently and often, but their supporters are as active 

 as ever, and show a simple faith which is more con- 

 vincing than any argument. Moreover, the producers 

 themselves — mediums, clairvoyants, water-diviners, 

 seers, or whatever they may be — are sometimes of 

 such apparent honesty and simplicity that disbelief 

 seems almost a sacrilege ; therefore part of my aim 

 is to show how a man believing firmly in his own 

 honesty may yet practise elaborate trickery and 



deceit." 



***** 



He then introduces the views on the subjects of 

 the unconscious, the formation of complexes, and 

 of forgetting and repression which are held by most 

 psychologists to-day. With these I do not propose to 

 deal. But if one understands such subjects of the new 

 psychology as " dissociation," " suggestion," and the 

 " unconscious," one may easily follow Dr. Culpin as 

 he expounds his %4ews. I am not sure, however, that 

 Dr. Culpin's explanation of water-divining is as con- 



' Spirilualism and the New Psychology. By Millais Culpin. 

 (Arnold, 6s.) 



vincing as that of some of the other subjects with 

 which he deals. I think that two subjects, water- 

 divining and telepathy, are rather held in disrepute 

 because they are associated with the quackery of 



spiritism. 



***** 



Dr. Culpin looks upon the water-diviner as a species 

 of clown whose object in divining is primarily to 

 show off to an admiring audience, to behave in a 

 queer way that he may become a centre of interest. 

 The audience is there to encourage him, and to slap 

 him on the back when he apparently achieves a 

 success. It has a peculiar kind of memory, for while 

 it remembers the cases successfully demonstrated, it 

 speedily forgets the cases of failure. So does the 

 water-diviner. He himself is not consciously deceiv- 

 ing his audience. He is no doubt quite in earnest : 

 but he is unconsciously a deceiver. Originally he 

 must have known how evil it is to deceive others, but 

 this unpleasant thought has been carefully repressed 

 and hence forgotten, so that the knowledge of his 

 deceit does not occur to him in the conscious state, 

 and an affirmation on his part that he is acting honestly 

 is quite worthless. But why does he do all this ? For 

 notoriety', to have power, to feel superior, to be some- 

 thing exceptional. And why does the twig, which in 

 the hands of the water-diviner twists upwards when 

 he locates the water, move as it does ? Because the 

 diviner, while apparently holding it down for all he 

 is worth, really has it in such a sensitive position that 

 a very little movement actually forces it up. This 

 little movement is supplied unconsciously by a desire 

 to trick and no doubt by a clever appreciation of im- 

 pressions received from the audience. 



***** 



Now this is a vcr}' ingenious theory, and even al- 

 though I cannot state it as clearly as the author does, 

 his main point, that water-di\aning is a fraud, is indi- 

 cated sufficiently. And so the argument falls to the 

 ground if the water-diviner really does know when 

 underground water is below him and when it is not. 

 I think the explanation which agrees most closely with 

 the facts is to say that the water-diviner has a genuine 

 gift which is a new or rare sense. He docs find water ; 

 he can trace underground streams accurately. When 

 he says water is in a certain place, it is there ; when 

 he denies this, it is not there. Give him an area to 

 investigate and sufficient time to work and he can map 

 the underground streams, show their relation to, or 

 independence of, each other and to springs. Sink your 

 shaft at suitable points of the underground stream and 

 there, sure enough, is the water. In the light of such 

 facts, if one regards the diviner as an honest man but 

 unconsciously a trickster, one may apply the same 

 argument to any investigator. One may deny, for 



