THE DIVINING ROD 103 



be demonstrated. Till they are demonstrated, one 

 should not hesitate to refuse credence to them, which 

 is a very different thing from declaring them to be 

 impossible. 



XXXVII 



Another meet subject for CTTOX^, or philosophic 

 suspension of judgment, is the claim of 

 certain persons to the power of the Divining 

 divining rod. It is not necessary in- 

 deed, it would be the reverse of philosophic to deny 

 the possibility of such a faculty, belief in which is so 

 venerable and so widespread. But it is reasonable 

 nay, it is the only course consistent with reason 

 to refuse to believe in its existence until it has been 

 submitted to proper 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 



i Mullins died in the winter of 1894-5. 



