APRIL 87 



' I don't call that blindfolding at all ! ' cried Sir James, 

 and produced some cotton-wool, which he proposed 

 to stuff under the handkerchief; upon which Mullins 

 tore off the handkerchief, vowed that he had practised 

 his profession for thirty years without once having had 

 his honesty called in question, and would not submit 

 to have it doubted now. 



' Don't you believe my word ? ' said he. 



' I believe nothing but what I see ! ' returned Sir 

 James, a sentiment which, though it precisely defined 

 the proper mental attitude of a scientific critic, brought 

 the seance to an abrupt conclusion; for Mullins, so 

 deeply wounded in his self-respect, refused to undertake 

 any further experiments. 



The question, therefore, so far as we were concerned, 

 remained exactly where it was when we took it up. 

 Personally, I disbelieve in the rod except as a irdpepyov, 

 but I suspect that some people are abnormally affected 

 by the vicinity of water, just as others are by that of 

 a cat. Were I in, straits to find water, I should employ 

 without hesitation a professional water- finder rod and 

 all if there remains one so successful as Mullins was. 



XXXVIII 



To return for a moment to the subject of snakes it 

 is well known that their poison is rendered more potent 

 by hot weather. The only instance of fatal 

 results from the bite of an adder which has 

 ever come under my notice happened after three weeks 

 of intense heat in July 1876. Four Scottish Militia 



