528 Correspondence. 



schoolmaster and schoolmistress in the kingdom, and, we might add, 

 every landed proprietor. The beautifully coloured Geological Map 

 of Great Britain, at the commencement of the volume, is w^orth at 

 least half the price of the work, which is only 7s. Qd. This edition 

 may almost be regarded as a new work. D. M. 



II. PROOEEDINaS OF THE BRISTOL NaTTJKALISTS' SoCIETT, vol. vi., 



1871. 



WE generally look to our local societies for observations on the 

 Natural History of the neighbourhood which it is their special 

 province to investigate — indeed most of them were formed for this 

 purpose. Our Bristol friends last year, however, seem to have found 

 nothing new to say about their own country, and so the only geolo- 

 gical papers relate to distant parts, — the valley of the Thames in 

 Berkshire, the shores of Waterford Haven, and the neighbourhood 

 of Edinburgh. We think it is rather a mistake to publish such 

 papers in the journal of a local society ; we do not mean to discourage 

 the bringing together of facts from other parts : but if the paper be a 

 record of any new facts, it is apt to be lost sight of and is unknown 

 to those who would perhaps be specially interested in it. — Fort- 

 Major Austin read a paper on his discovery many years ago of 

 Silurian fossils at Duncannon, Wexford, which were identified by 

 Mr. Salter as belonging to the Llandeilo Flags. — Mr. E. W. Claypole 

 read a paper on the development of the Carboniferous system in the 

 neighbourhood of Edinburgh ; and another on some Gravels in the 

 Yalley of the Thames near Wallingford, in Berkshire. 



THE DIVINING-ROD IN SOMERSETSHIRE. 



Sir, — One would imagine that the Divining-rod or Dowsing fork 

 had become a thing of the past — that in these " enlightened " days, 

 no man could go about with a forked hazel-twig pressed to his ribs, 

 and believe it could indicate a coal-crop, a metalliferous deposit, or a 

 water-supply. Yet there are some who still cling without question 

 to the faith of their fathers, on the principle that as it was in the 

 beginning it should be now, and so although I experienced a 

 sensation of great surprise, and almost of incredulity, yet the fact 

 appears that on the jMendip Hills the Divining-rod is still used. 

 I was staying a few days ago at the little hamlet of Gurney 

 Slade, near Oakhill, and went to look at a shaft that was being sunk 

 for iron-ore, not far from the decayed George Inn. Several trial 

 holes had been made — and some I was told by an intelligent 

 miner had been made at the instigation of the Divining-rod ! Although 

 a little iron had been found, and some calamine too, — both of which 

 would most probably be found anywhere in the Dolomitic Conglome- 

 rate of the Mendips,- — yet the ores were very poor, and the works 

 would no doubt soon be abandoned. I have heard that a few of 

 the old Cornish miners still retain some belief in the efficacy of the 

 Divining-rod, but I was not prepared to find it still being used 

 as a guide to mining enterprise. H. B. Woodward. 



SoMEiiTON, \2th October, 1872. 



