APRIL 85 



tests. This has never been done, though I was present 

 some years ago at an elaborate attempt to do so. The 

 facts were as follows : 



Lord Jersey had employed Mullins, the celebrated 

 water-finder, 1 to discover springs on his property at 

 Middleton, in Oxfordshire, and had been not only 

 gratified, but astonished at his success. I ventured, 

 without questioning Mullins' undoubted skill and 

 usefulness, to express some doubt as to the part played 

 by the divining rod. It seemed so much easier to 

 credit the man with experience and quick powers of 

 observation, enabling him to detect the presence of 

 subterranean springs by means of signs invisible to 

 less practised eyes. That Mullins was an expert was 

 beyond doubt : dozens of people had reason to be 

 grateful to him for finding water for them after all 

 other means had failed. The only question was 

 whether he was not a bit of a humbug also. It was 

 determined to invite him to submit to certain simple 

 tests. He accepted Lord Jersey's invitation to examine 

 the ground at Osterley Park, near Isleworth, in the 

 presence of certain persons accustomed to scientific 

 inquiry. Now in describing what took place, there is 

 no intention of reflecting unfairly on Mullins' pro- 

 ceedings, or of imputing to him any intentional dis- 

 honesty. There may have been a degree of suspicion 

 in the minds of some of those present ; probably there 

 was; but Mullins got perfectly fair play, and people 

 must be left to draw their own conclusions from an 



1 Mullins died in the winter of 1894-5. 



