Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1905 — “DOUSING” RODS. [ARTICLE]

“DOUSING” RODS.

Art of Divination In tbe Bowel* of the Karth Explained. There is undoubtedly a practical art of discovering springs. Indians or frontiersmen can find water in the desert when a “tenderfoot” cannot. Mexicans and experienced prospectors can. similarly And ore. These arts consist mainly in the recognition of superficial signs which escape the ordinary observer. It is not necessary that the operator should consciously note these signs separately aud reason upon them. No doubt he frequently does so, though he may not give away the secret of his method to others. But in many instances he recognizes by association and memory tbe presence of a group of indications, great or small, which be bus repeatedly found to attend springs or ore deposits. This skill, due to hafiit, is often almost unerring for a given limited districj, but under new conditions it breaks ddwn. Old miners from California or Australia have often made iu other regions the most foolish and hopeless attempts to find gold because they thought this or that place “looked just like” some other place in which they had mixed successfully. Apart from the magnetic minerals there is no proof that ore deposits exhibit their presence and nature by any attraction or other- active force. With regard to water, however, there may be an action affecting the temperature and moisture of the overlying surface. Even here, however, it seems more likely that such effects are manifested visibly to a close observer rather than by direct affection of his nervous or muscular system. The favorite fields for water diviners are regions in which water is abundant, but not gathered upon given horizons of impermeable strata underlying porous rocks.—Cassier’s Magazine.