Part 3

"'L'Homme a la Baguette, from experience, could with tolerable accuracy, tell the depth at which the springs were, and their volume, from the force with which the baguette turned; I can only give a rough guess. In strong frost, I think its powers not so great. On a bridge or in a boat, I think it has no effect--the water must be under ground to affect the baguette, and running through wooden pipes acts the same as a spring. I can neither make the baguette turn where there is _no water_, nor prevent it from turning where there is any, and I am perfectly ignorant of _the cause why it turns_. The only sensation I am conscious of, is, an emotion similar to that felt on being startled by sudden noise, or surprise of any kind.

"'I generally use a baguette about six inches from the vertex to the ends of the twigs where they are cut off.

"'I shall most probably be in London next winter, and will (if you wish it) afford you an opportunity of making your own observations on this curious fact.'

"The lady arrived in London, wrote to Dr. Hutton to inform him that she proposed being in Woolwich on Friday, the 30th inst., (May, 1806,) at eleven in the forenoon. 'Accordingly,' says Dr. H., 'at the time appointed, the lady, with all her family, arrived at my house at Woolwich Common, where, after preparing the rods, etc., they walked out to the grounds, accompanied by the individuals of my own family and some friends; when Lady ---- showed the experiment several times in different places, holding the rods, etc., in the manner as described in her Ladyship's first letter above given. In the places where I had good reason to know that no water was to be found, the rod was always quiescent; but in other places, where I knew there was water below the surface, the rods turned slowly and regularly, in the manner above described, till the twigs twisted themselves off below the fingers, which were considerably indented by so forcibly holding the rods between them.

"'All the company present stood close around the lady, with all eyes intently fixed on her hands and the rods, to watch if any particular motion might be made by the fingers, but in vain; nothing of the kind was perceived, and all the company could observe no cause or reason why the rods should move in the manner they were seen to do. After the experiments were ended, every one of the company tried the rods in the same manner as they saw the lady had done, but without the least motion from any of them. And, in my family, among ourselves, we have since then several times tried if we could possibly cause the rod to turn by means of any trick, or twisting of the fingers held in the manner the lady did; but in vain; we had no power to accomplish it.'

"The annexed figure represents the form and position of the rod, about six inches in length, cut off just below the joint or junction of the two twigs.

"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.