454 



NATURE 



[July 3, 19 13 



anee of grave furniture, we are permitted a more 

 intimate insight into the life and habits of Palaeo- 

 lithic man. 



It is an interesting yet readily intelligible reflec- 

 tion that, although the mass of the deposits postu- 

 lates a long period during which the layers gradu- 

 ally accumulated, although the fauna changed con- 

 siderably during that time, yet the same weapons 

 are found in the upper as in the lower beds. The 

 explanation, of course, is that at all periods the 

 dwellers in the caves were hunters, and the same 

 weapons were required, although the animals 

 which they hunted might and actually did differ. 

 Another conclusion to which we can, we think, 

 with reason arrive is that there was no very 

 great lapse of time between the end of the Moustier 

 period and the middle of the Aurignac period ; 

 in other words, the first of the divisions into which 

 this last period has been divided does not, at 

 Grimaldi at any rate, appear to have been of suffi- 

 cient length to have made its presence felt. 



It is to the middle of the Aurignac period that 

 the graves, of which there were no fewer than 

 thirteen, should be ascribed. Further, the graves 

 were clearly of the same date, judged by the 

 character of the associated relics, although it is 

 curious to find the methods of burial were not 

 identical ; for example, the dead were in some cases 

 disposed at length, at other times they were found 

 in contracted positions. 



Like its predecessors, the volume is perfectly 

 produced and illustrated. An admirable biblio- 

 graphy concludes the volume, and the fact that 

 the literature dealing with these caves covers a 

 period stretching from 1786 to 1912 is perhaps 

 sufficient evidence of their infinite power to stimu- 

 late interest and investigation. 



The text of the volume at present under review, 

 while as strictly scientific and accurate as possible, 

 is warmed by many sympathetic references, M. 

 Cartailhac having, from his lifelong labours in 

 this field of archaeology, acquired no little affection 

 for these long-forgotten followers of the chase, 

 no little insight into their habits and life. 



William Wright. 



THE DIVINING ROD. 



WITHIN the last few years many experiments 

 have been performed in various countries 

 to test the claims of water diviners, and among 

 those who have published papers on the 

 subject are Graf Karl von Klinckowstroem, 

 of Munich, and Dr. Armand Vire, director 

 of the Laboratory for Underground Biology 

 in Paris. A series of experiments at 

 Guildford has also been organised by the editor 

 of The Sanitary Record and Municipal Engi- 

 neering, under the auspices of a number of 

 scientific men, including Prof. Henry Adams, Dr. 

 Herbert Lapworth, and Dr. Samuel Rideil. 



Graf von Klinckowstroem, in a paper published 



in parts 1, 2, and 3 of the Zeitschrift des Vereines 



der Gas- und Wasserfachmanner in Oesterreich- 



Ungarn for 1913, gives, in the first instance, an 



NO. 2279, VOL. 91] 



account of certain supposed successes in water- 

 finding, which Dr. Achille Poskin, of Spa, has 

 gathered together from various sources. These 

 are not very interesting, as the observations do 

 not appear to have been controlled by impartial 

 witnesses possessing some knowledge of scientific 

 methods. 



But Dr. Poskin also includes an account of five 

 experiments undertaken by him, in which the 

 diviners indicated places where water was found. 

 Dr. Poskin believes that he himself possesses the 

 power of detecting water by means of the divining 

 rod. In any case, it is quite certain that 

 "dowsers" are frequently successful in indicating 

 points where water is subsequently found ; the 

 real question is, whether these indications are pro- 

 duced by anything outside themselves, or whether 

 they are purely subjective. 



In the same paper Graf von Klinckowstroem has 

 translated into German a paper describing my 

 own experiments, accounts of which were pub- 

 lished m'The Times and in The Journal of the 

 Royal Society of Arts in 191 1. He admits that 

 the experiments were performed with all reason- 

 able care, and without any prejudice, but he de- 

 scribes them, using stronger language than I 

 did, as a fiasco for the diviners who were tested, 

 and then gives a number of possible reasons why 

 the experiments may have failed. He does not 

 give enough weight to the fact that in every 

 case the experiments were conducted under 

 conditions which the dowser in question 

 thought reasonable, and were directed to 

 test powers which he alleged he possessed. 

 This seems to be the only reasonable way of 

 attacking the question from a scientific point of 

 view ; it is not for the investigator to say what 

 the dowser can do, or under what conditions he 

 can do it, but when the dowser has stated what 

 his powers are, to arrange an experiment which 

 shall test the alleged powers. 



M. Armand Vire (La Nature, April 19, 

 pp. 332-338) has conducted a series of 

 experiments in order to ascertain whether the 

 diviners could determine the existence of under- 

 ground cavities which did not contain water ; the 

 results given by M. Vire include a considerable 

 number of "successes," but he passes over too 

 lightly the cases in which the indications given 

 by the diviners are inaccurate. It will be interest- 

 ing to await the result of an experiment which 

 he proposes to undertake later, in order to dis- 

 cover the shape and extent of caves or grottoes 

 the existence of which has not yet been proved, 

 and the plans for which will only be prepared after 

 the diviner's plans have been reduced to paper. 



The series of experiments recently performed 

 in the neighbourhood of Guildford have now been 

 completed, and the committee of investigation has 

 published its report. The members point out 

 that, while there appeared to be some evidence 

 that certain persons may be sensitive to under- 

 ground water, their sensitiveness " is not suffi- 

 ciently definite and trustworthy to be of much 

 practical value." They also allude to the lack of 



