THE DIVININH ROD. 
123 ^ 
independeut examinatioD, I can confirm it did ; at the same 
time it trickled in from the other sides, that farthest off' 
included, quite as freely. ^ 
To me, therefore, it appears that the case of the dowser has 
conspicuously failed, and I attribute it to the fact that the 
dowser’s experience has throughout been gained and employed 
in the finding of ivater, not in seeking for dry places. As to 
his ability to discover underground water, these experiments 
simply confirm general testimony which is unanimously in favour 
of his powers. That these powers are totally independent of the 
use of the rod is, I think, proved by the following considerations. 
For the sake of argument, let us assume that the dowser is 
psychically affected by the presence of water beneath his feet. 
The action between him and the water will take place in a 
straight line, drawn from him to it. On the analogy afforded by 
physical forces, the force of the action will vary directly as the 
mass of the acting bodies and inversely as the square of the 
distance. Let a be the + spot marked by the dowser, and h the 
— spot, distant from each other 15 ft. Let c be the position of 
a stream of water, 20 ft. vertically below a. 
e 
Join c, h. 
Then the action at a will be and at h ~ 
a c" 400^ b 576 
