i885-] 
Analyses of Books. 
109 
quested to point out the metal with his rod. But he could find 
nothing, though during his perambulation the point of his rod 
was frequently within an inch of thousands of dollars.” But he 
had an excuse at command. “ When the bandage was removed 
from his eyes and he was shown that all the coin had been put 
in the fire-proof safe, while all the bullion had been fastened by 
wire to the underside of a writing-table, he claimed that his rod 
had been diverted by the immense amount of treasure in a bank 
half a block distant !” 
The author gives other instances of failure and of fraud among 
these diviners. He then sums up the matter in the following 
series of propositions : — 
“ The material, consecration, astrological relations, and ritual 
formalities of the rod are entirely irrelevant and indifferent to 
its efficacy. The rod is entirely inert, unless in the hands of a 
human operator, and ... is merely an index revealing in visible 
results the peculiar inward sensation of the diviner. The fa- 
vourite and most convenient form of the rod (Y) is one which 
promotes involuntary muscular movements, and permits de- 
ception. 
“ The uses of the rod for discovering moral qualities, restoring 
missing landmarks, tracing stolen property, predicting the future, 
or even settling the orthodoxy of theological dogmas belong 
to charlatanry and superstition. 
“ The agency of demons we may also set aside, as a view 
outgrown if not disproved. [This can scarcely be asserted with 
as much confidence now as was the case half a century ago.] 
“ The application of the rod to the discovery of metals, coal, 
buried treasure, &c., is shown abundantly to be chimerical. The 
rules and methods, as well as the asserted performances of its 
professors, contradict each other, and innumerable failures and 
exposures have justly covered their pretensions with ridicule. 
“ The transparent humbug of locating oil-wells with the rod 
needs no comment. 
“ The case is somewhat different with the discovery of springs, 
and (since ore-deposits always have been the channels of 
springs) of ore-deposits. Here we have much stronger and 
more abundant evidence in favour of the rod, and here, in my 
judgment, there is a residuum of scientific value.” 
On this head Mr. Williams makes use of the following judi- 
cious remarks : — “ There is undoubtedly a practical science [art] 
of discovering mineral deposits and springs. The most skilful 
prospectors can scarcely explain how they decide upon the place 
where they dig; and yet, though they are by no means always 
successful, it is certain that they are more successful than the 
inexperienced. . . . The practical explorer . . . has a science of 
his own which affeCts his mind by the principles of association 
and memory. He recognises in a new locality the tokens that 
he has been accustomed to associate with a rich gulch or an 
