Part 1

Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with underscores: _italics_.

THE DIVINING ROD:

VIRGULA DIVINA--BACULUS DIVINATORIUS (WATER-WITCHING.)

BY CHARLES LATIMER, CIVIL ENGINEER.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."--_Shakespeare._

CLEVELAND, O, FAIRBANKS, BENEDICT & CO., PRINTERS, 1876.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by CHARLES LATIMER, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

AN ESSAY READ BEFORE THE CIVIL ENGINEERS' CLUB OF THE NORTHWEST, AT CHICAGO, FEB. 1, 1875.

PREFACE.

My Essay on the "Divining Rod," (_vulgus_, "Water-Witching,") having proved interesting to a number of my friends, I have concluded to give it to the public, with the hope that some useful practical results may be derived from it. I have no apology to make for presenting this subject in a serious light. I regard it as one strictly in the domain of science, and, therefore, worthy of the consideration of scientific men. I have no fear of ridicule, knowing for myself and "not for another," that what is here presented is the truth.

To those who seek absolute truth, I need not recommend a reading of these pages. To those who merely live by science, drawing their sustenance from it as from the "convenient cow," as Goethe says, I will simply say, imprison yourselves, gentlemen, in your shell; the world will move quite as well without you.

I add a number of notes from various sources to which I had not access before writing my own experience.

ABOUT "WATER-WITCHING."

(WHAT I KNOW.)

I have always observed that when any novelty is presented for the consideration of man, which is not readily proven by already well known scientific laws, or which may not be demonstrated by the knowledge and power of most persons, it is found extremely difficult, if not impossible, to gain the attention of the devotee of science. Whether, indeed, it be from lack of interest, from incredulity, or from the fear of ridicule, or from any other cause, we look with distrust upon anything which is not in harmony with our preconceived ideas or theories, and we are apt to raise the cry of humbug or superstition, and reject, with a contemptuous assumption of superiority as unbelievers, propositions which properly put to the test might prove of value to mankind.

Happily for us a wise Providence has not ordained that all minds shall plough in a single furrow of the great field of knowledge. Some, therefore, believe nothing but what they see, and frequently doubt the evidence of their own senses. Others believe everything they see and nearly everything they hear, and seize with too great credulity upon every new thing presented to them. There are others who disbelieve nothing that is presented to them, however apocryphal, without full and impartial investigation, aided not by testimony alone, but by actual demonstration. Again, there are men who are afraid to investigate, lest the world should call them visionary; these are always prepared to apologize for examining anything outside the mere routine of their special science. But the most frequent error of mankind is to doubt and ridicule, without investigation, everything which is not commonly received. To such I would cite the pungent words of Solomon: "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is a folly and a shame unto him."

I feel that I am speaking to those, who always listen with interest to every proposition, and are willing to examine it, until its demonstration is clear and its hidden mysteries revealed, and never pronounce anything a superstition or an imposture, until from patient research they have a right, through their own experimental knowledge, to utter a verdict. But, lest there should be among us one of these doubting Thomases or disbelieving cynics, I would appeal to him with the history of the two Spanish students. These two young gentlemen, while traveling from Peñaflor to Salamanca, stopped at a spring to quench their thirst, and whilst seated upon the ground near the fountain observed something like a tombstone, level with the water; engraven on the stone were these words: "Here lies interred the soul of Pedro Garcia." The youngest of the students, a thoughtless fellow, said, laughing loudly: "What a joke. Here lies interred the soul! Who ever heard of a soul being buried? who can tell me the author of so ridiculous an epitaph?" The other, a reflective, judicious youth, said to himself: "There is some mystery here, and I intend to solve it before I leave this spot." Letting his companion depart, without losing a moment's time he took out his knife, cut around the stone, dug under it a little, and there found buried a purse containing one hundred ducats, with these words in Latin inscribed upon it: "I declare thee my heir, whomsoe'er thou art, who hast had the genius to understand the meaning of the inscription; but I charge thee to use this money better than I used it."

Now to the point. The subject to which I am about to call your attention--that of finding water by means of the "divining rod"--is one of those which in modern times is classed among mere superstitions, and as such unworthy of serious consideration by sensible people. I think I have it in my power to demonstrate to you, principally from my own personal experiences--the relation of which I beg you to accept as strictly accurate--that this is an error on the part of the over-wise skeptics of our progressive epoch.

Worcester's dictionary gives the following definition of the "divining rod:--A forked branch, usually of hazel, said to be useful to discern mines and water." "Witch-hazel--a tall shrub of eastern North America, remarkable for blossoming late in the autumn."

Another authority gives the following: "Divining rod--A hazel twig cut in the form of a Y, by the aid of which certain persons (meaning, of course, sorcerers like myself,) called '_scientific_,' pretend to be able to discover water or mineral veins. The rod is held in a peculiar manner, and the 'dowsers' walk backward and forward over the ground to be tried. As soon as he crosses or approaches a metallic vein or aqueous spring the twig turns toward it with a slow, rotary motion. This superstition has not yet died out, and 'dowsers' are yet common in remote parts of England, France and Germany."

Now, one can easily see that this writer is one of those who apologize for seeming to believe a thing of the kind by calling it "a superstition not yet died out."

Here is another definition: "Divining rod--A forked branch, usually of hazel, by which it has been pretended that minerals and water may be discovered in the earth. The rod, if slowly carried along in suspension, dipping and pointing downwards, it is affirmed when brought over the spot, where the concealed mine or spring is situated."

The form, the material and the mode of using the divining rod of the modern miners and water finders seem to be superstitions of comparative recent introduction. Many persons with some pretensions to science have been believers in the powers ascribed to the "divining rod."

Here we have another case of the apologetic historian. He dared not say that he believed it, even though he had seen it. Why? Simply because there was no scientific fact or theory upon which he could base his belief--so he was afraid even to say what he believed, lest people who read his encyclopedia might say he was visionary.

I read somewhere, a long time ago, that this superstition was also rife in the eleventh century. Now, like the young students above cited, some one among you may exclaim, "Who will inform me who can be the author of this ridiculous superstition?" I wish I could tell you; I am sorry I can not, but I should not wonder if he lived before the days of Moses, the first "dowser" on record. When oil was discovered in this country many of us believed that there was at last "something new under the sun.' We have only to turn to the Scriptures to learn that Job was in the oil and dairy business a few thousand years before Oil City sprung up under our wondering eyes. Job has always been supposed to refer to some great miracle when he says, in the 29th chapter of his book, "I washed my steps with butter and the rock poured me out rivers of oil; the young men saw me and hid themselves." Also, in Deuteronomy, we read, chapter 32, verse 13, "And he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock." Now, we have these marvels repeating themselves daily; and I think it no very far-fetched idea to assume that the "divining rod" was used in the discovery of these precious deposits. I am myself acquainted with a gentleman who has lately successfully located two oil wells by this magic (so-called) process.

In fact, who knows but that the first knowledge of the "divining rod" was a revelation, and that Moses not only understood the art, but taught it to the Children of Israel, from whence the supposed superstition has spread.

When Moses found the water at Meribeh-Rephidim and Meribeh-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, he had received the Almighty's command: "Go before the people and take with thee the elders of Israel, and thy rod wherewith thou smotest the river; take it in thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and then shall come water out of it, that the people may drink; and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel."

In the 20th chapter of Numbers we read of a similar miracle occurring three years afterward--"And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him, and said, Hear, now, ye rebels, must we fetch water out of this rock. And Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod smote the rock twice, and the water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their beasts also."

Now in the 21st chapter of Numbers we find these verses: "And from thence they went to Beer, that is, the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses. Gather the people together and I will give them water. Then sang Israel this song--Spring up, O, well! sing ye unto it. The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves." This shows that the lawgiver pointed out the places for them to dig, and the people made the wells.

There is nothing like faithful searching if you wish to find; so I advise you to look back also as far as Confucius, and then come down to the old monk, Roger Bacon, and it would not surprise me if you should ascertain that those old wise-heads had gone even farther than your humble servant into the mysteries of the divining rod.

But I will not quote from these ancients; I will only look back a short hundred years. In Sir David Brewster's Philosophy you will find that he says that there is no doubt that the presence of water can be detected by the divining rod, although it can not be demonstrated by any known science. It was this last paragraph which I stumbled upon many years ago, that first brought me to a practical knowledge of this phenomenon. I read it, and being on a visit in Raymond, Miss., I went to Judge ----, of that place, a scholar and a man of good sense, whom I took for granted had not failed to gather in, among his great stores of learning, something about the topic which had struck me so forcibly. I was not mistaken; the old gentleman told me that he had not only heard a good deal about this matter, but possessed, himself, the power of finding water, offering to show me how he proceeded. Soon after we went, accompanied by my brother, Dr. L., to a spot where there was a well known under-ground stream. The Judge cut three forked branches from a peach tree, each took one and we marched over the spot indicated, holding our rods according to the approved style of the "dowser" proper. At a certain point the switches in the hands of the Judge and myself went down simultaneously; the effect was very apparent; but my brother, in whose hands there was no movement, mercilessly ridiculed the whole proceeding; neither the Judge nor I being at all disconcerted by his skeptical derision of our _scientific_ research. I could not be shaken from faith in my actual, absolute experience, and was fully convinced that there was a mysterious power, beyond my ken, that turned the switch. I pondered over the matter, and resolved that at some future day I would examine more closely into it.

This, to me, decisive epoch finally came after a great number of trials, always with satisfactory results as to the bare fact that water could be traced or discovered. That the switch did turn in my hand readily was undoubtedly true--the agency which moved it was the mystery.

I knew that electricity had broad shoulders, and had always carried the weight of every unexplained phenomenon. I said this switch turns by electric force. Having evolved my theory, I set out to sustain it, by experiment. Upon inquiry, I found that not only could water be discovered, but it was asserted that minerals as readily answered to the call of the magic rod; and, indeed, that even their depth beneath the earth's surface might be computed.

Granting this to be true, I concluded that I had not only a philosophical but a mathematical problem to solve. I, however, never met any one having any information on this latter point, nor in my readings did I find any allusion to the possibility of ascertaining the depth below the surface of any concealed stream or mineral. On the contrary, I found the general impression to be that the whole thing was a superstition of ignorant minds. The doubters frequently met me, and with some show of reason, with this personal argument: "I cannot believe this thing, because the switch does not turn in my hand." It is quite true that every hand does not have the power of giving the motion to the switch; but this does not disprove the fact of its turning. I have heard that the evidence of one man who heard a bell is worth that of a dozen who did not hear it. The testimony is, therefore, to my mind, clearly in favor of the "dowsers." All men are not the same conductors of electricity. I have known persons who could light the gas by running across the floor, rubbing their feet upon the carpet, and pointing a finger at the jet. I never saw this done, but I have no doubt that there are many who can do it, and also many who cannot.

Now, although the switch may not turn in the hands of all, this is no proof that the current producing the movement does not pass through the persons just the same--the effect is only less perceptible in some, than in others.

I had made a very large number of experiments, from time to time, before I had an opportunity to make one which satisfied me that I was on the right track. I had in these experiments exploded the superstition of the "witch-hazel," and learned that peach, apple, willow, dog-wood, beech, maple, iron, steel, copper--in fact, that even an old barrel hoop possessed all of its virtues, and so concluded that after all this relic of the necromancer's art of former days was a very simple matter, if we could but find the clue to it. A few years ago it happened that I wanted to get water at a place called Coloma, upon the Chicago, Michigan & Lake Shore Railroad, of which I was then chief engineer. I concluded to test my electric theory here. I found that it was necessary to dig a well upon the depot grounds--the point was to see if I could find water where I needed a tank. I took a switch and found water near the desired spot; then, with my theory in view, I made a second experiment. I bought four ink bottles, adjusted them to a pair of wooden sandals, which I fastened to my feet. Thus insulated, I walked over the ground, my switch in hand, but, as I had anticipated, there was no movement--the diviner's rod was powerless. I therefore assume that I am right in ascribing the phenomenon to electricity. I continued my experiments, having yet the mathematical point unsettled. Upon walking over the ground again and again, I found that the switch commenced always to turn at the same places, equally (or nearly) distant from a centre, and kept gradually turning until it pointed directly downward. To assure myself, I repeated this experiment many times, and arrived at the conclusion that the switch commenced to turn at an angle of forty-five degrees from the edge of the water, and that the distance from my hand to the water would be measured by the distance from the point where the switch commenced to turn to the point of absolute turn-down, and so it seems to be. The following diagram will show more clearly my meaning:

A B, B A is the surface of the earth; W, a stream or pool of water below the surface. Walking along toward A B the switch begins to move at A, and turns down at B; the angles B A C and B C A being equal, the distance from A to B is equal to B C. Measure the distance, therefore, from the point of commencement of turning to the point of turn-down, and you have the depth from your hand to the water. I have verified this over many water-courses, upon bridges, etc., and I am satisfied it is correct, at least for the latitude in which my experiments were made. Upon this basis I made my first estimate of the depth of the water at Coloma, and gave it as from twenty-five to thirty feet. I employed an experienced well borer and had a two and one-half inch pipe driven into the ground at the exact point my switch indicated, and found water at twenty-seven feet exactly. I had the pipe driven down forty feet, and found that I had thirteen feet of water in it. I then had a windmill erected and a large tank. Up to the time of my leaving the road, the engines were supplied with the water, which, besides, proved to be of excellent quality for drinking.

My well borer, who was a doubting Thomas, said he believed that he could get water at the same depth anywhere. Fortunately for my theory, a neighboring store-keeper tried the doubter and failed to get water under fifty-nine feet.

Subsequent to the satisfactory experiment at Coloma it happened that on one occasion, when I was traveling west on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, that I was introduced to a gentleman engaged in building a road, who related to me that during its construction the engineers had made use of drive wells as they moved rapidly along. As the water question was always one of interest to me, our conversation drifted, naturally, to "water-witching." The gentleman said that all of his knowledge on this subject had been obtained from his brother--a young man employed by Horace Greeley on his farm at Chappaqua. Mr. Greeley had sent for him from hearing of him as extremely intelligent and thrifty as a farm hand. It happened while the young man was at Chappaqua that a well was needed, and the question of "water-witching" came up. The young man said that his belief was, that if one man could find water, so could another--whereupon he took a forked switch and, walking about, found that the magic wand turned down over a rock. He had a blast of powder put in at the point, the smoke of which hardly cleared away, revealed a spring of water. Here is simply a repetition of the smiting of the rock. In my own experience I have a similar instance: I was assistant superintendent at Highlands, on the Vandalia line. Mr. ----, then chief engineer, had, previous to my arrival, caused a well of ten feet diameter and forty feet depth to be dug and walled up with brick, but the supply of water was so small that it could be pumped out in a few minutes. A hole had then been drilled sixteen feet to the rock, which was conglomerate, of very great hardness, with no better results. The well was therefore abandoned. If I had seen Mr. ----, I should have advised penetrating the rock, but I did not meet him, and did not wish to interfere with the work.

Mr. Koepfle, the owner of the land upon which the well was located, arrived just at that time from Switzerland, and I soon became acquainted with him. He came into my office one day and said: "Mr. Latimer, do you not think there is water under that ground?" I replied, "Yes, I thought so." "Did you ever hear of 'water-witching?'" he then asked. I said "Yes." "Can you tell where water is?" Upon my affirmative answer he requested me to go down and try a switch. I did so and found that it turned down in a number of places about the well. Mr. Koepfle came to me again to say that there was a "dowser" in the neighborhood and to ask me what I thought of his employing him. I advised him to try the skill of this man by all means. I was not present at the trial, but a short time afterward Mr. K. came to me in great excitement to tell me that the man said there was a subterranean lake at that very point. Among other things, he told me that the wand in this case was a bit of whalebone--an item I treasured for future consideration. Mr. ---- had already commenced another well in a marsh about half a mile west of the first. Mr. Koepfle asked my advice as to what he should do. I replied, "I cannot take any action in the matter officially, but if you will take it upon yourself to bore through that rock and pay the expense of it, I think that no objection can be made to it, and I believe that you will get plenty of water--in which case, I am sure you will not lose your money." "But where can I get a man?" urged Mr. Koepfle. "Try Mr. ----'s man. I think Mr. ---- will be glad to get rid of the expense," I said. Mr. K. came soon after with the man and agreed, by my advice, to give him $7.50 per day for his own work and that of his man with the drills. In five days the rock was smitten through with a three-inch drill, and the water immediately rushed up to a point above the natural surface of the ground, only held by the railroad bank--which surrounded the well--and there remained. I am not aware that Mr. ---- ever knew that his excellent well water was provided for him by the magic power of a morsel of whalebone and a peach twig.

Upon one occasion, at a farm of one of my connections, the water gave out in the well, (seventeen feet deep,) which had for years supplied a large number of cattle. In the first place I ordered the well to be cleaned out, for it was very dirty; but there was no improvement. It was then decided to dig another. I found a place about ten feet north of the old well, where I judged there was a small stream, and repeatedly estimated the depth to it by my rule, and came to the conclusion that it was between ten and twelve feet. I was rather astonished at this, for the water, it may be observed, was seventeen feet deep in the old well. However the well was begun. I asked the digger at what depth water ought to be found; he said at seventeen feet; but I made this a test case, and said, "You will find water here between ten and twelve feet, but if I should have to say precisely, I should say at ten feet." Water was found at exactly ten feet, and stood at that point after the well was finished.