JULY 173 



'Do you find the exercise of your power exhausts 

 you?' 



' No. Of course I get tired after hunting for water ; 

 but not more so, I think, than the mere fatigue caused 

 by walking.' 



We were sitting at luncheon one day, eight or ten of 

 us, when Mr. Howson asked whether we would care to 

 see some further experiments with the divining rod. 

 Of course we agreed. He then said that if he might 

 take the ' power ' of any one present by touching him 

 or her with the point of the wire that served him as a 

 rod, that person might go out into the park or woods 

 or anywhere and that he would follow his or her foot- 

 steps at any time within, I think he said, 36 hours. So 

 we sent out a young lady, whose ' power ' he took in the 

 manner prescribed, pressing the point of the wire on 

 her arm. We gave her a ten minutes' start, and then 

 set forth in pursuit, guided by the diviner. It was 

 impossible that there should be any collusion between 

 pursuer and pursued, for it was I who asked the lady 

 to submit to the experiment, and Mr. Howson had 

 never met her till just before we sat down to luncheon. 

 It was equally impossible that he should have seen 

 from his seat at the table the direction she took in her 

 flight ; yet he hit the trail at once, followed it step by 

 step, the index pointing upward when he was right 

 and rising to horizontal when he went astray. Our 

 operator followed that young woman across a wide 

 lawn, into a wood on the far side, where she had 

 described a considerable circuit, returning to the flower- 

 garden near the house. Here Mr. Howson got confused. 



