THE DIVINING-ROD 389 



hands move spasmodically, causing the rod to move, and 

 they attribute this to an influence on the human body of 

 " vibrations " or possibly " electricity " from the concealed 

 metal or water. This is ingenious enough ; it shifts the 

 seat of mysterious action from the simple twig to the 

 much more complex human body, and accepts to a certain 

 extent what I have above stated as to the nervous 

 condition of the douser and the fatigue of the hands. 



Others, who have lately discussed the subject, suggest 

 that the douser is affected not by any known kind of 

 physical vibrations, but by some mysterious emanation 

 from the concealed metals or water similar to that which 

 they (without any sufficient evidence) assume to pass 

 from one human being to another over long distances, 

 causing what has been called " second-sight," 

 " thought-reading," and (in order to give an air of 

 scientific importance to it) " telepathy." This may 

 seem satisfactory to some people, but it is plainly a case 

 of attempting to explain a little-known thing by reference 

 to a still less known thing — ^what is called " ignotum per 

 ignotius" Sir W. F. Barrett, of Dublin, has lately 

 written on this subject, and very rightly says that the 

 real question to be decided in the first instance is 

 whether the modern " water-finders," who profess to be 

 guided by occult influences, whatever the nature of those 

 influences may be, are more successful in discovering 

 water than those who seek for it by the use of the 

 known natural indications of its presence ; and, further, — 

 and this seems to me to be the most important con- 

 sideration, — whether, taking into account all the " ex- 

 periments" made by the occultist water-finders, both 

 the successful and the unsuccessful, the proportion of 

 successes is greater than might be expected as a 

 matter of chance and the use of common intelligence. 



