"There can be no impropriety in stating now that the lady in question was the Honorable Lady Milbanke, wife of Sir Ralph Milbanke, Bart., (afterward Noel,) and mother of the present Dowager Lady Byron, wife and widow of the great poet. A very interesting analogous statement relating to the same person will be found in the Quarterly Review for March, 1820, No. XLIV, volume 22.
"Lately, in France, the Count de Tristan has published a work on the subject, and a most interesting volume, containing two memoirs, has been written by M. Thouvenel, a physician of reputation in France, who was commissioned in the year 1781, by the king, to analyze and report upon the mineral and medicinal waters of the kingdom. The author undertakes a patient and laborious investigation, in the spirit of a philosopher, and regards his inquiries as leading to a new thread in the tangled skein of physics, which, like any fact of science, may lead to the discovery of a thousand others; a fact which may have escaped the vigilant sagacity of observers, or which may have been totally abandoned to the blind credulity of worthy soft-headed persons, or, in short, since the reign of a kind of false philosophy, the offspring of scientific pride, may have been delivered over to the presumption of men of false wisdom. Thouvenel found a man named Bleton, whose business was that of a sourcier, or discoverer of springs by means of the divining rod, and upon this man he made more than six hundred observations, many of them in the presence of above one hundred and fifty persons, mostly of important stations, and very creditable from their high character, who testify to the truth of the observed phenomena. Among others, was M. Jadelet, professor of physic at Nancy, a man eminent for his abilities, who was not only a witness of these experiments, but was actually concerned in the greatest part of them. As in the case of Lady Milbanke, with Bleton an internal feeling was coincident with the movement of the rod. Whenever this man was in a place where there existed subterraneous waters, he was immediately sensible of a lively impression, referable to the diaphragm, which he called his "commotion." This was followed by a sense of oppression in the upper part of the chest; at the same time he felt a shock, with general tremor and chilliness, staggering of the legs, stiffness of the wrists, with twitchings, a concentrated pulse, which gradually diminished. All these symptoms were more or less strong, according to the volume and depth of the water, and they were more sensibly felt when Bleton went in a direction against the subterranean current than when he followed its course. Stagnant water under ground did not affect him; nor did open sheets of water, ponds, lakes or rivers affect him. The nervous system of this man must have been susceptible, since he was more sensibly affected by change of weather and variations in the atmosphere than other persons; otherwise he appeared healthy. A severe acute disorder had absolutely at one time deprived him of the faculty of perceiving water, and his sensibility in this respect did not return until three months after his recovery; so that if he were sensitive, he could not be classed among the sick sensitive.
"But however remarkable these constitutional peculiarities may have been, there was in Bleton's case a more than usual distinctness in the behavior of the divining rod. Unlike many sourciers, he did not grasp it closely; he did not warm it in his hands; he did not prefer a young, hard branch, forked, newly plucked and full of sap. His custom was to place horizontally on his forefinger and thumb a rod of any kind of wood (except elder), fresh or dry, not forked, only a little curved or bent. A very straight rod failed to turn on its axis, but a bent rod turned on its axis with more or less rapidity, according to the quantity of the water and the force of the current. Thouvenel counted from thirty-five to eighty revolutions in a minute, and always noted an exact proportion between the rotation of the rod and the convulsive motions of Bleton. If these memoirs be critically examined, it will be found that the author experimented with full care to avoid every source of fallacy. The natural motions of the rod on Bleton's fingers were backward, but as soon as he withdrew from the spring over which he stood, in any direction whatever, the rod, which instantly ceased to turn, was subject to a new law, for at a determinate distance from the spring an action of rotation in a direction contrary to the former one took place. This was invariable, and upon measuring the distance of the spot where this retrograde phenomenon took place, from the spring, the depth could generally be found.
"I pass over an account of numerous experiments made by this intelligent and careful observer, pointing out the analogies of the known phenomena of electricity and magnetism, by modifications resulting to the sensibility of Bleton, and the rotation of the rod by various ingenious electrical and magnetic trials suggested by the inventive sagacity of Thouvenel, in order to arrive at the curious anticipations of some of Professor Faraday's discoveries, by means of the sensibility of Bleton and the invariable laws which regulated the rotation of the divining rod, when the experiments were made over places where various substances had been concealed under ground. It was found that whether the trials were made in this manner, or over masses of coal, subterraneous currents of water or metallic veins, the divining rod indicated a determined sphere of electric activity, and was, in fact, an electrometrical rod. 'Of all the phenomena relating to the distinction of fossil bodies,' says Thouvenel, 'acting by their electrical emanations, doubtless the most surprising is this: upon the mines of iron, of whatever kind they may be, the rods supported by the fingers of Bleton turned constantly on their axes from behind forward, as upon the mines of coal; while upon other metallic mines, as upon other metals extracted from their mines, the rotary movement took place in the contrary direction, that is to say, from before backward. This circular movement, which never varies while Bleton is in a perpendicular position over mines or upon metals, presents revolutions as rapid and as regular as the revolutions in the contrary direction upon the mines of iron and coal.'
"The constitutional effects of spasms and convulsive twitchings took place more or less in all the veins, but copper emanations excited very strong and disagreeable spasmodic symptoms, accompanied by pains about the heart, by flatulent movements in the bowels, and by abundant eructations of air. On lead, there seemed to be less unpleasant consequences, but stronger again on the mines of antimony. Having previously determined that for Bleton, on all the metals except iron, there existed a sphere of electric activity which propagated itself toward the west, a great number of experiments were made, which always had the same results. At the depth of two, three or four feet under ground were buried gold, silver, copper, tin, lead and iron. The weight of each was only from five to eight pounds. In other similar pits, pyrites of all kinds, sulphur, coal, resin, wax and lard were buried. All these different deposits were made at distances from each other in gardens or in open country, and they were so well covered over and concealed, that nothing could be perceived but private marks, to be known only by certain assistants. Over the resin, wax and lard, Bleton experienced nothing. Over the coal, there was a decided effect, the convulsive tremor of muscle was manifest, and the rod rotated from behind forward. Over the iron, the same indications, but more energetic. A feeble impression from the sulphur, but sufficient to establish a difference between it and the two preceding; and the rod over the sulphur turned from before backward. Pyrites produced the same rotation as sulphur, and a slight tendency of the electric sphere toward the west. Gold and copper especially exhibited strongly this singular tendency of the active electric emanations. Over silver, tin and lead, also, it was more remarkable. It extends itself more or less from the focus of the metals according to their depth and their mass. For example, in describing a circle having a radius of three or four feet from this focus, Bleton felt absolutely no action except on the line of the west. It was the same when, in proceeding from the vertical point of the focus, he successively traversed all the radii of the circle, or even if he went from all the points of the circumference to proceed to the center. In these two inverse proceedings it was always only on the radii going westward, that his person and the rods were affected by movements more or less intense, according to the kinds of metal.
"It must, however, be admitted that the action of these metals presenting only the differences of greater or less in degree, either in the nervous and muscular impressions of the body or in the circular revolutions of the rods constantly moved from before backward, these differences do not yield a certain means of distinguishing the five metals one from the other. The object Thouvenel had in view was nevertheless fulfilled, for he had established the extent and the determination of a sphere of electric activity towards the west in certain metals and on sulphur which does not exist in the same manner, on iron, on coal, or on streams of water.
"To give a summary then of the relations of these phenomena to those established by Professor Faraday, it may be said that over iron mines, the divining rod assumes a movement of rotation diametrically opposite to that which it exhibits over all other mines. When iron and other metals are extracted from their ores and deposited under ground, the phenomenon occurs with the same distinction, that is to say, with the iron it rotates towards the north. With all other metals submitted to trial, its action is from east to west. The influence of the red metals seems to be more energetic than that of the white. But with regard to this divining rod, let one condition be remarked—the relation of the organic substance to another organic and living power of matter, to a human being in a certain susceptible state of nervous system. Thouvenel describes the symptoms which affected Bleton when he was in the sphere of metallic action, and the rod becomes the secondary part of a philosophical instrument composed of an impressionable human being and a piece of stick.
"A highly respectable girl, the lady's maid of a very clever and intelligent friend of mine residing in Hertfordshire, offers, when she is mesmerized, a great many deeply interesting phenomena. She is as guileless and as good a being as can be met with, and is much beloved by her excellent and amiable mistress who has repeatedly addressed me in her case. If a piece of hazel stick or white thorn be presented to Harriet, she grasps it and sleeps mesmerically in less than a minute. The sleep is at first very intense and deep, and then the stick is held so firmly that the spasmodic state of the muscles renders it very difficult for even a powerful bystander to turn it in her hand. Harriet P's impressionability was put to a very useful purpose. Her mistress heard that she had a practice of 'dowsing' for water, and writes thus to a friend, July, 1845: 'We made a carious experiment here, some days since, with Harriet P——. We have very bad water here and have long been unable to find a good spring. Mr. G. has in vain dug and dug for one. I proposed the divining rod; "for" said I, "Dr. Ashburner would not think it a foolish experiment." Harriet P. was willing, so we went forth to a field the most likely one for a spring—Mr. and Mrs. G., myself, and two friends staying here. We put Harriet to sleep with the hazel stick. She grasped it so tightly we were obliged to use the gold chain. She then held it only in one hand, and immediately began to walk, taking her own way. She went very carefully for about twenty yards, then suddenly stopped as if she had been shot. Not a word was uttered by any one. We all looked on, and were not a little surprised to see the rod slowly turn round until her hand was almost twisted backwards. It looked as if it must pain her; still no one spoke. Suddenly she exclaimed, "There! there! don't you see the stick turn? The water is here, under my hand. I see, oh, I see; let me look; don't speak to me; I like to look." "How deep is the water?" said Mrs. G., speaking to Harriet's fingers. "Oh, about three feet; I can't quite tell, but it is here." In a moment, to our astonishment, she sank down on the grass, and took the stick again in her hands. We made a strange group around her, as we were all much astonished to see what we had come there to see. She seemed so like a witch. We marked the place, and, after a few minutes, we awoke her. In the evening she was again mesmerized to sleep, and we asked her what she saw at the spring. "Why, I saw water, water everywhere." "Then," said I, "how do you know where the spring is?" "Oh, because it goes trinkle, trinkle, I know it is there." "Why did you sit down?" "Why, because I was so giddy; it seemed as if all was water but the little piece of ground I stood upon. I saw so much water, all fresh, no sea. I tried to see the sea but could not; I could not at all." Mr. G. caused a large hole to be dug, and just at the depth of three feet the water was found. A brick well has been constructed, and there is a good supply of excellent water. No one could doubt the action of the rod, it turned so evidently of itself in her hand. Of course, when awake, Harriet knew nothing of the circumstance.'"
So many and so various are the testimonies and the facts relating to the divining rod, that it would be tedious to recite the hundreds of respectable documents offered by those authors who have written on the subject. A work by Tardy de Montravel, printed in 1781, entitled "Memoire Physique et Medicinale sur la Baguette Divinatoire," abounds in testimonies of the truth of the same class of facts. One of the most curious works on this subject, is a little book entitled "Occult Physics, or treatise on the Divining Wand and on its utility in the discovery of springs of water, mines, concealed treasures, thieves, and escaped murderers, with principles which explain the most obscure phenomena of Nature," by L. L. de Vallemont, Ph.D. This work, embellished with plates, illustrating the different kinds of divining rods with the various modes of holding them for use, appeared at the latter part of the seventeenth century, and passed through several editions in France and Holland. It is remarkable for much curious literary and historical learning, and for able statements of the arguments which were used in the controversies rife at that period, on the realities of the facts under consideration. It contains a curious catalogue of a great number of mines discovered in France, by means of the divining rod, made out by a German mineralogist employed for the purpose by the Cardinal de Richelieu.
[From Cyclopedia Americana.]
Divining Rod.—A rod made with certain superstitions ceremonies, either single and curved, or with two branches like a fork, of wood, brass or other metal.
The rod is held in a particular way, and if it bends towards one side, those who use the rod believe it to be an indication that there is treasure under the spot.
Some publications respecting a man who, in quite recent times pretended to be able to discover water and metals under the ground by his feelings, attracted much attention.
Campetti, an Italian, born at Gargnano, on Lake Garda, has attracted much attention in our time by pretending to be capable of ascertaining by his feelings the places where metals and water exist under ground.
Many experiments seem to confirm his statements. The King of Bavaria sent for him in 1806, and he came to Munich, where the experiments were renewed.
These experiments were chiefly made with pendulums of sulphurous pyrites, which are said to vibrate if brought near to metals.
Rhabdomancy is the power considered by some as existing in particular individuals, partly natural and partly acquired, of discovering things hid in the earth, especially metals, ores, and bodies of water, by a change in their perceptions, and likewise the art of aiding the discovery of these substances by the use of certain instruments; for example, the divining rod.
That rhabdomancy, generally speaking, is little more than self-delusion, or intentional deception, is now the opinion of most natural philosophers and physiologists. Still it has some champions. From the most remote periods, indications are found of the art of discovering veins of ore and water concealed in the bowels of the earth, by a direct perception of their existence.
The divining rod is held in the hand so that the curvature is inclined outward. If the person who holds the rod possesses the powers of rhabdomancy, and touches the metallic or any other magnetic substance, or comes near them, a slow, rotatory motion of the rod ensues in different directions, according to particular circumstances; and, as in the other cases, no motion takes place without a direct or indirect contact with a living person. In the South of France and Switzerland this art is frequently made use of under the name of METALLOSCOPE (when discovering or feeling for metals,) and of HYDROSCOPE (when discovering or feeling for water).
[From Chamber's Cyclopedia.]
The Divining Rod—often called the Virgula Divina, the Baculus Divinatorius, the Caduceus, or Wand of Mercury, the Rod of Aaron, etc.—is a forked branch, usually of hazel, sometimes of iron, or even brass or copper, by which it has been pretended that minerals and water have been discovered beneath the surface of the earth.
The rod when suspended by the two prongs, sometimes between the balls of the thumbs, will distinctly indicate by a decided inclination, it is alleged, the spot over which the concealed mine or spring is situated.
Many men, even of some pretensions to scientific knowledge, have been believers in the occult power ascribed to the magic wand.
Agricola, Sperlingius, and Kirchmayer, all believed in its supernatural influence. So did Richelet, the author of the Dictionary. The learned Morhoff remained in suspense, while Thouvenot and Pryce, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, gave ample records of its power.
In a work published by Dr. Herbert Mayo, in 1847 and 1851, entitled, "On the Truth Contained in Popular Superstitions," he gave some curious illustrations of the art, supposed to be possessed by one in forty of the Cornish miners. At Weilbach, in Nassau, he likewise met with one Leebold, who, he says, possessed the power, but afterwards lost it.
Arthur Phippen, in 1853, published a pamphlet containing an account of two professional diviners, or "dowsers." One of them, named Adams, gave remarkable indications of being able to detect water underground. He not only was able to discover the particular spot where the water might be found, he could even perceive a whole line of water running underground.
[From Hartwig's Subterranean World.]
As far back as the eleventh century, the divining rod came into practice and found full credence in a superstitious age. A forked branch of hazel tree, cut during a peculiar phase of the moon, was the means employed in Germany for the discovery of buried treasures, of veins of metals, of deposits of salt, or of subterranean sources.
But the miraculous rod did not indiscriminately show its power in every hand. It was necessary to have been born in certain months, and soft and warm, or—according to modern expression, magnetic fingers were indispensable for handling it with effect.
The diviner possessing these qualifications took hold of the rod by its branches so that the stem into which they united was directed upwards.
On approaching the spot where the sought for treasure lay concealed, the magical rod slowly turned towards it, until finally the stem had fully changed its position, pointed vertically downwards.
To increase the solemnity of the scene, the wily conjurers generally traced magical circles, that were not to be passed, burnt strong smelling herbs and spices, and uttered powerful charms, to disarm the enmity of the evil spirits that were supposed to guard the hidden treasures.
[From American Cyclopedia.]
Divining Rod.—The increase of knowledge has not yet expelled even from the educated portions of the United States all faith in the magic virtues of this instrument.
There is a mystery in the hidden flow of subterranean courses of water, and in the occurrence of deposits of valuable ores, which encourage a resort to mysterious methods for discovering them.
If the wise can point to no sure clue to them, the ignorant pretender does not fail to find one, which to many is all the more acceptable for its extravagant pretensions and inexplicable nature. It is stated by a writer in the "American Journal of Science," (Vol. 11, 1826,) that the divining rod has been in frequent use since the eleventh century.
A work was published in France, in 1871, detailing six hundred experiments made to ascertain the facts attributed to it, "by which is unfolded," according to this work, "their resemblance to the admirable and uniform laws of electricity and magnetism."
These sciences still continue to be appealed to in order to support in some vague way phenomena which defy other means of explication.
As commonly used, the divining rod is a forked, slender stick of witch hazel; elastic twigs, however, of any sort, or even two sticks of whale-bone fastened together at one end, do not appear to be rejected in the want of the hazel tree.
One branch of the twig is taken in each hand between the thumb and forefinger, the two ends pointing down. Holding the stick in this position, the palms towards the face, the gifted operator passes over the surface of the ground; and whenever the upper point of the stick bends over and points downward, there he affirms the spring or metallic vein will be found.
Some even pretend to designate the distance below the surface according to the force of the movement, or according to the diameter of the circle over which the action is perceived, one rule being that the depth is half the diameter of this circle; whence, the deeper the object is, below the surface, the further is its influence exerted. It is observable that a rod so held will of necessity turn as the hands are closed more tightly upon it, though this has at first the appearance of serving to resist its motion. From the character of many who use the rod and believe in it, it is also plain that this force is exerted without any intention or consciousness on their part, and that they are themselves honestly deceived by the movement.
On putting the experiment to the test by digging, if water is found it proves the genuineness of the operation; if it is not found, something else is, to which the effect is attributed, or the water which attracted the rod is sure to be met with if the digging is only continued deep enough. Some ingenuity is therefore necessary to expose the deception.
The writer above referred to succeeded in showing the absurdity of the operation by taking the "diviners" over the same ground twice, the second time blindfolded, and each time marking the points designated by the rod. This, however, is a test to which they are not often willing to subject their art.
Some operators do not require a forked twig. There was, in 1857, and may be still, within less than one hundred miles from New York, a man who believed himself gifted in the use of the divining rod, and was occasionally sent for to go great distances, to determine the position of objects of value sunk in the lakes, of ores and of wells of water. He carried several little cylinders of tin, but what they contained was a secret. One had an attraction for iron, another for copper, a third for water, etc. He had in his hand a little rattan cane, which he used as not likely to excite the observation of those he met.
Taking one of the cylinders out of his pocket he slipped the rattan into a socket in its end, and holding in his hands the other end of the stick, he set the contrivance bobbing up and down and around. That it was attracted and drawn towards any body of ore in the vicinity he was evidently convinced.
[From Notes and Queries.]
Divining Rod.—Divination by the rod or wand is mentioned in the prophecy of Ezekiel. Hosea, too, reproaches the Jews as being infected with the like superstition: "My people ask counsel at their stocks and their staff declareth unto them." Chap. iv, 12. Not only the Chaldeans used rods for divination, but almost every nation which has pretended to that science, has practiced the same method. Herodotus mentions it as a custom of the Alani, and Tacitus of the old Germans. See Cambridge's "Scribleriad," book V, note on line 21.
In the manuscript "Discourse on Witchcraft," 1705, written by Mr. John Bell, page 41, I find the following account from Theophylact on the subject of rabdomanteia or rod-divination: "They set up two staffs, and, having whispered some verses and incantations, the staffs fell by the operation of dæmons. Then they considered which way each of them fell—forward or backward, to the right or left hand—and agreeably gave responses, having made use of the fall of their staffs for their signs."
Dr. Henry, in his "History of Great Britain," tells us (II, 550), that after the Anglo-Saxons and Danes embraced the Christian religion, the clergy were commanded by the canons to preach very frequently against diviners, sorcerers, auguries, omens, charms, incantations, and all the filth of the wicked and dotages of the Gentiles."
The following is from "Epigrams, etc.," published London, 1651—Virgula Divina:
The earliest use made of the divining rod by the miners was for the discovery of the lode. So late as three years ago (1850), the process has been tried. The method of procedure was to cut the twig of an hazel or apple-tree of twelve months' growth, into a forked shape, and to hold this by both hands in a peculiar way, walking across the land until the twig bent, which was taken as an indication of the locality of the lode. The person who generally practises this divination boasts himself to be the seventh son of a seventh son. The twig of hazel bends in his hands to the conviction of the miners that ore is present; but then the peculiar manner in which the twig is held, bringing muscular action to bear upon it, accounts for its gradual deflection, and the circumstance of the strata walked over always containing ore gives a further credit to the process of divination.
The vulgar notion still prevalent in the north of England of the hazel's tendency to a vein of lead ore, seam or stratum of coal, etc., seems to be a vestige of this rod divination.
The virgula divina or baculus divinatorius is a forked branch in the form of a Y, cut off an hazel stick, by means whereof people have pretended to discover mines, springs, etc., underground. The method of using it is this: the person who bears it, walking very slowly over the places where he suspects mines or springs may be, the effluvia exhaling from the metals, or vapor from the water impregnating the wood, makes it dip or decline, which is the sign of a discovery.
In the Living Library or Historical Meditations we read: "No man can tell why forked sticks of hazill (rather than sticks of other trees growing upon the very same places) are fit to shew the places where the veins of gold and silver are." See Lilly's History of his Life and Times, for a curious experiment (which he confesses, however, to have failed), to discover hidden treasure by the hazel rod.
In the Gentleman's Magazine, for February, 1752, xxii, 77, we read: "M. Linnæus, when he was upon his voyage to Scania, hearing his secretary highly extol the virtues of his divining rod, was willing to convince himself of its insufficiency, and for that purpose concealed a purse of one hundred ducats under a ranunculus which grew by itself in a meadow and bid the secretary find it if he could. The wand discovered nothing, and M. Linnæus's mark was soon trampled down by the company who were present; so that when M. Linnæus went to finish the experiment by fetching the gold himself, he was utterly at a loss where to seek it. The man with the wand assisted him and pronounced that it could not lie the way they were going, but quite the contrary; so he pursued the direction of his wand and actually dug out the gold. M. Linnæus adds, that such another experiment would make a proselyte of him." We read in the same book for November, 1751, xxi, 507: "So early as Agricola, the divining rod was in much request, and has obtained great credit for its discovery where to dig for metals and springs of water; for some years past its reputation has been on the decline, but lately it has been revived by an ingenious gentleman who, from numerous experiments, hath good reason to believe its effects to be more than imagination. He says that hazel and willow rods, he has by experience found, will actually answer, with all persons in a good state of health, if they are used with moderation and at some distance of time, and after meals, when the operator is in good spirits. The hazel, willow and elm are all attracted by springs of water. Some persons have the virtue intermittently; the rod in their hands will attract one half hour and repel the next. The rod is attracted by all metals, coals, amber and limestone, but with different degrees of strength. The best rods are those from the hazel or nut tree, as they are pliant and tough and cut in the winter months. A shoot that terminates equally forked is to be met with—two single ones of a length and size may be tied together by a thread and will answer as well as the other."
In the supplement to the Athenian Oracle, p. 234, we read that "the experiment of a hazel's tendency 'to a vein' of lead ore is limited to St. John Baptist's Eve, and that with an hazel of that same year's growth."
There is a treatise in French entitled, La Phisique Occulte ou Traite de la Baguette Divinatoire, et de son utilite pour la decouverte des sources d'Eau, des Minieres, de Tresors caches, des Voleurs et des Meurtriers fugitifs: par M. L. L. de Vallemont pretre et docteur en theologie; 12 mo., Amsterdam, 1693. 464 pages.
[From Brand's Popular Antiquities.]
At the end of Henry Alan's edition of Cicero's treatise De Divinatione, and De Fate, 1839, will be found "Catalogus auctorum de divinatione ac fato, de oraculis, de somniis, de astrologia, de dæmonibus, de magia id genus aliis."
With the divining rod seems connected a lusus naturae of ash tree bough resembling the litui of the Roman augurs and the Christian pastoral staff which still obtains a place, if not on this account I know not why, in the catalogue of popular superstitions. Seven or eight years ago, I remember to have seen one of these, which I thought extremely beautiful and curious, in the house of an old woman at Beeralston, in Devonshire, of whom I would most gladly have purchased it; but she declined parting with it on any account, thinking it would be unlucky to do so. Mr. Gostling, in the Antiquarian Repertory, ii, 164, has some observations on this subject. He thinks the lituus or staff, with the crook at one end, which the augurs of old carried as badges of their profession and instruments in the superstitious exercise of it, was not made of metal but of the substance above mentioned. Whether, says he, to call it a work of art or nature may be doubted: some were probably of the former kind; others, Hogarth, in his Analysis of Beauty, calls lusus naturæ found in plants of different sorts, and in one of the plates of that work gives a specimen of a very elegant one, a branch of ash. I should rather, continues he, style it a distemper or distortion of nature; for it seems the effect of a wound by some insect which, piercing to the heart of the plant with its proboscis, poisons that, while the bark remains uninjured and proceeds in its growth, but formed into various stripes, flatness and curves for the want of the support which nature designed it. The beauty, some of these arrive at, might well consecrate them to the mysterious fopperies of heathenism, and their rarity occasions imitations of them by art. The pastoral staff of the Church of Rome seems to have been formed from the vegetable litui, though the general idea is that it is an imitation of the shepherd's crook. The engravings given in the Antiquarian Repertory are of carved branches of the ash.
[From Modern Magic, by M. Shele de Vere, published 1873.]
The relations in which some men stand to nature are sometimes so close as to enable them to make discoveries which are impossible to others.
This is, for instance, the case with persons who feel the presence of waters or of metals. The former have, from time immemorial, generally used a wand, the so-called divining rod, which, according to Pliny, was already known to the ancient Etruscans as a means for the discovery of hidden springs.
An Italian author, Amoretti, who has given special attention to this subject, states that at least every fifth man is susceptible to the influence of water and metals, but this is evidently an over-estimate.
In recent times many persons have been known to possess this gift of discovering hidden springs or subterranean masses of water, and these have but rarely employed an instrument.
Catharine Beutler, of Thurgovia, in Switzerland, and Anna Maria Brugger, of the same place, were both so seriously affected by the presence of water that they fell into violent nervous excitement when they happened to cross places beneath which, large quantities were concealed, and became perfectly exhausted.
In France, a class of men, called sourciers, have for ages possessed this instinctive power of perceiving the presence of water, and others, like the famous Abbe Paramelle, have cultivated the natural gift till they were finally enabled, by a mere cursory examination of a landscape, to ascertain whether large masses of water were hidden anywhere, and to indicate the precise spots where they might be found.
Why water and metals should almost always go hand in hand in connection with this peculiar gift, is not quite clear; but the staff of Hermes, having probably the form of the divining rod was always represented as giving the command over the treasures of the earth, and the Orphic Hymn (v. 527,) calls it—hence, the golden rod, producing wealth and happiness.
On the other hand, the Aquæ Virga, the nymph of springs, had also a divining rod in her hand, and Numa, inspired by a water-nymph, established the worship of waters in connection of that of the dead. For here, also, riches and death seem to have entered into a strange alliance.
Del Rio, in his Disquisitiones Magicæ, mentions thus the Rahuri of Spain—the lynx-eyed, as he translates the name—who were able, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, to discover all the veins of metals or of water beneath the surface, all hidden treasures and corpses in their coffins.
There is at least one instance recorded, where a person possessed the power to see even more than the Rahuris. This was a Portuguese lady, Pedegache, who first attracted attention by being able to discover subterranean springs and their connections, a gift which brought her great honors after she had informed the king of all the various supplies of water which were hidden near a palace which he was about to build. Shafts were sunk according to her directions, and not only water was found but also various soils and stones which she had foretold would have to be pierced.
She also seems to have cultivated her talent, for we hear of her next being able to discover treasures, even valuable antique statues in the interior of houses, and finally she reached such a degree of intuition that she saw the inner parts of the human body, and pointed out their diseases and defects.
The divining rod, originally a twig of willow or hazel, is often made of metal, and the impression prevails that in such cases an electric current arising from the subterranean water or metals enters the diviner's body by the feet, passes through him, and finally affects the two branches of the rod, which represent opposite poles. It is certain that when the electric current is interrupted, the power of the divining rod is suspended.
[From Notes and Queries.]
Perhaps, like many of your correspondents, I had imagined that the supposed properties of the divining rod had been a discovery recently made, either by the great American artist, Mr. Barnum, or by one of Dii Minores of this country. To my mortification, however, I find that it is "as old as the hills," or at least contemporaneous with the Sortes Virgilianæ, et id genus omne. I have before me the works of Mr. Abraham Cowley, in two vols. 12 mo., London, 1681, and in one of his Pindarique Odes, addressed to Mr. Hobs, I find the following lines:
And to these lines is added the following note:
"Virgula Divina, or divining wand, is a two-forked branch of a hazel tree which is used for the finding out either of veins or hidden treasures of gold or silver, and being carried about bends downwards (or rather is said to do so,) when it comes to the place where they lye."
"In the first edition of his Mathematical Recreations, Dr. Hutton laughed at the divining rod. In the interval between that and the second edition a lady made him change his note, by using one before him, at Woolwich. Hutton had the courage to publish the account of the experiment in his second edition, after the account he had previously given. By a letter from Hutton to Bruce, printed in the memoir of the former which the latter wrote, it appears that the lady was Lady Milbanke."
"A Cornish lady informs me that the Cornish miners to this day use the divining rod."
However the pretended effect of the divining rod may be attributed to knavery and credulity by philosophers who will not take the trouble of witnessing and investigating the operation, any one who will pay a visit to the Mendip Hills, in Somersetshire, and the country around their base, may have abundant proof of the efficacy of it. Its success has been very strikingly proved along the range of the Pennard Hills, also, to the south of the Mendip. The faculty of discovering water by means of the divining rod is not possessed by every one, for indeed there are but few who possess it in any considerable degree, or in whose hands the motion of the rod, when passing over an underground stream, is very decided, and they who have it are quite unconscious of their capability until made aware of it by experiment.
I saw the operation of the rod, or rather of a fork formed by the shoots of the last year, held in the hands of the experimenter by the extremities, with the angle projecting before him. When he came over the spot beneath which the water flowed, the rod, which had before been perfectly still, writhed about with considerable force, so that the holder could not keep it in its former position, and he appealed to the bystanders to notice that he had made no motion to produce this effect, and used every effort to prevent it. The operation was several times repeated with the same result, and each time under the close inspection of shrewd and doubting, if not incredulous observers. Forks of any kind of green wood served equally well, but those of dead wood had no effect. The experimenter had discovered water, in several instances, in the same parish (Pennard), but was perfectly unaware of his capability till he was requested by his landlord to try. The operator had the reputation of a perfectly honest man, whose word might be safely trusted, and who was incapable of attempting to deceive any one—as indeed appeared by his open and ingenuous manner and conversation on this occasion. He was a farmer, and respected by all his neighbors. So general is the conviction of the efficacy of the divining rod in discovering both water and the ores of calameni or zinc all over the Mendip, that the people are quite astonished when any doubt is expressed about it. The late Dr. Hutton wrote against the pretension, as one of many instances of deception founded upon gross ignorance and credulity, when a lady of quality, who herself possessed the faculty, called upon him and gave him experimental proof, in the neighborhood of Woolwich, that water was discoverable by that means. This, Dr. Hutton afterwards publicly acknowledged.
After delivering my essay before the Civil Engineers' Club of the Northwest, the following letter was forwarded to me by the secretary:
Brownsville, Tenn.
Gentlemen:—I notice that at a meeting of your honorable Club, Mr. Latimer read an essay upon the subject of the "Divining Rod," and seemed to be at a loss to know how to tell whether the rod's movements pointed to or indicated any particular substance under the earth. I am now seventy-three years of age, and have been studying and experimenting with it since twenty years of age. I am not satisfied what causes the motion of it in my hands, but by experimenting, I can tell to a certainty whether I am over any substance, either water or mineral, or whether it is sulphur, salt or any other kind of water.
I am glad that investigation in this is being made by scientific men, and hope some day it may profit man. For any information you may want, address me at Brownsville, Tennessee.
Very respectfully,
Harry Sangster.
Upon receipt of this letter from Mr. Sangster, I wrote to him asking him to explain to me upon what principle he could discover the difference between metals and water, and between one kind of water and another. To this I have received the following answer, just in time to add it to this publication:
Brownsville, May 10, 1876.
C. Latimer, Esq., Cleveland, Ohio:
Dear Sir:—Your favor of the 5th inst. is before me; also that of the 15th ult. You must excuse me for not answering the latter sooner, owing to ill health and other causes. I am glad to furnish you all the information in my power relative to the matter in question, because I would like to see it developed—as I believe it will be eventually—into a tangible, practical and useful science. The prejudice now prevailing against it will, in my opinion, ere long be dispelled. It is impossible for me, in the space of a letter, to give a full statement of my views, theory and experience on the subject of finding the locality of metals, minerals and water under the surface of the ground; but will endeavor to answer the inquiry of your first letter as concisely and explicitly as possible.
I understand fully the method of calculating the depth of water beneath the surface. What you wish to know is, after the substance is shown to exist beneath a certain point, whether it be mineral, metal or water, and the kind, character and description of each. As you are aware of the fact, the simple "forked rod" will indicate the presence of either of these. Now, to tell which of these it is, and the character of the same; if it be water, the kind of water. This is my method of testing the same, whether it be water, mineral or metal: It is on the principle of affinity—the attraction that like substances have for each other. After the rod indicates the particular spot, I take a sponge and saturate it with ordinary drinking water, either from spring or well, and put it on the top of the rod, and test it with this. If the substance beneath be water, and the same kind of that in the sponge, it will turn much stronger, and the demonstration be more active and powerful. But, if the rod should not turn at all, it will be some other substance, either mineral or metal. To test the kind of water, after I am satisfied that it is water—to discover, for instance, whether it be sulphur water, I dip my sponge in that kind of water, and test as above. If the movement of the rod be active and strong when this is done, the water below will be that species of water. If salt water, dip the sponge in that kind of water, and the result will be similar; and so on through the whole catalogue of waters.
In regard to the metals. The tests are made in a similar manner. After I discover by proper tests that it is a metal, which are as follows: If it be metal or mineral, after the sponge is saturated with water, the rod will not act at all. I then put a piece of metal on the top of the rod; first, a small bit of iron. If there is no movement of the rod at the spot already indicated, it is safe to conclude that the substance is not of that nature; so I continue the experiment with different kinds of metal—lead, silver, copper, tin, gold, etc., until I find some one of these that will cause the rod to turn and operate in a manner sufficiently strong and satisfactory. The same method pertains to the minerals. Of course, a great deal of the practical operations of these various tests, will depend upon one's discretion and judgment at the time they are made, which it is impossible to put upon paper. This is but a general outline of the system.
If I can be of any further assistance to you in the investigation of this subject, do not fail to let me know of it. Would be pleased to hear from you at any and all times. Be sure and send me your pamphlet.
Yours, respectfully,
Harry Sangster.
Immediately after receiving this letter, I made some experiments as follows: I took a green, forked twig, and found that over iron water-pipe, gas-pipe, and over a cistern of water, it turned down vigorously. I then took a wet rag and fastened it on top of the twig or rod. As Mr. Sangster testifies, I found it powerless over the iron water-pipe and over the gas-pipe, but it turned rapidly over the cistern. I put a key on the end of the rod over the wet rag; then the rod turned over both iron pipes promptly. Again, I took off the rag and put the key on the rod, and walking to the cistern, found that there was no movement. I took off the key and the rod turned instantly. I have no doubt but that he is correct as regards other metals.
CONCLUSION.
If any one, after the perusal of these pages, is disposed to doubt the efficacy of the divining rod, he will find it at least difficult to explain the coincidences between my experiences and those of the various persons presented in the foregoing pages—all confirming most fully conclusions reached by me, after many experiments made when quite alone. And, he must be even more eccentric than L'Homme à la Baguette, who does not find in the subject a treasure hidden, well worthy of his research.
It will be noticed that I can lay claim to no originality, or rather to no knowledge beyond that of the greater number of the parties mentioned, in regard to the fact of the discovery of minerals or waters; but, I find myself in advance in two essentials. First, I absolutely proved, by insulating myself on glass or India rubber sandals, that the electric emanations were cut off. Secondly, that these emanations universally radiate at an angle of forty-five degrees from the horizontal, and thus the calculation of the depth below the surface, is simply the solution of a mathematical problem.
In this theory of the invariable law of electric emanations, I have received the strongest confirmation in the perusal of Baron Von Reichenbach's Dynamics of Magnetism. By numerous and varied experiments, Reichenbach proved that from metals, and especially from magnets, there is a constant emanation of electric flame upward, at an angle of forty-five degrees with the horizon. For a more serious study of the subject, I refer the reader to the work itself, which is full of curious and well authenticated experiences.
Finally, I would paraphrase the words of my friend, the renowned Pedro Garcia: "To thee, whomsoever thou art, who mayst have the genius to investigate and the courage to face wise fools, I predict a valuable discovery, which will benefit the human race."
THE END.