Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1884 — The Divining Rod. [ARTICLE]

The Divining Rod.

At the electrical exhibition in West Philadelphia, Dr. Raymond, of* New York, delivered a lecture on “The Divining Rod.” After an introductory allusion to the prevalence, even at the present day and in this country, of a belief in the divining-rod as a means of discovering springs, mineral veins, hidden treasures, and oil deposits, the lecturer described its various forms, the commonest of which resembles a letter Y, and consists of a forked branch of witch-hazel having this form. The ordinary forked rod is held in the two hands, each grasping the extremity of a prong, with the fingers closed and the palms up war cl, the shank or stem being horizontal or vertical or variously inclined, according to the preference of the operator. Carried in this manner over the surface, the rod is said to turn or dip over on nearing treasure veins, springs, etc., and even to give more complicated information by means of its movements, which have been at different times elaborately codified. The lecturer adopted, with some modification, the theory of Chevreul, suggesting that-, in the case of springs (and of mineral veins which are the conduits of springs) there are differences of temperature, heat-con-ductivity, etc., which might affect sensitive persons so that the unconscious volition and minute muscular movements of Chevreul might be thus occasioned. In the main, however, he regarded the present theory and practice of divining with the rod as the small, lingering remnant of a once powerful superstition, and entitled to the same respect as “planohette”—the object of curiosity, or of study from the standpoint of pyschology, but not worthy of the attention of geologists or prospectors.