| Show WITCHING ROD HAS SEEN BEEN USED FOR QUEER ER PURPOSES IS STILL DISPUTED the iati that a I 1 d twig or so called div ining rod roo is 18 useful in local ing e in mineral Ine findan finding hidden treasure or detecting detec tInT criminals is a curious superstition that hat has been a subject of 01 on since the middle of the lentum and still hab a strong rong hold ou on the to popular pular mind even in thia country this ie Is evident frim the lare large number ot inquiries received each ear tar ba the united geological depart wt of the as to the effina I 1 of adle 1 I twig especially for local ne ing underground water to furnish a reply to loth th sc se inquiries es the geology ical al auvel chiq published a brief pape 1 b by alfidi J u on the history of ater water witching I 1 with bibliography that a truly astonishing number of books bools and P on chiq thi uncanny jelt in summary the paper states it is 18 doubtful so much invests gation and ind discussion hie been be slotted on any other subject with such absolute 1 ick of posit positive ivL results it is difficult to sec see ho for purposes zes the ertia entice e matter could be more thoroughly discredited it I 1 is b bv no rio means meirs true that all persons using forked t twig ig or some antl antler er device for locating water or other minerals are intentional d derums eivers some of then them are doubtless doubt liss men of good character chir acter and benevolent anten tiong however as ant anything bing that can be bede deehl epi ailed in mystery astery affords forba a good opportunity fur swindlers lers there can be no reasonable doubt that min of the 1 arge irge group of professional fess fets ional finder of water ater oil or minerals A who ho take pay for their services or for the sale of their instruments int in are delibe deliberated ratel de the people and that the total amount of mone they obtain ular ia large e to ill the unitta states survey therefore gives giles the advice not to expend any alone for the SPI vices of any water witch or for the use or pu purchase pur chise of any machine or instrument devised for locating underground water or other minerals HISTORY OF THE 0 superstition an in T tracing the history of the tle subject it is found that di divining ining rod have been used 1 to loc locate ite ore dc de posits 2 to discover buried or hidden treasure 3 to find lost landmark and ic ie establish prop property eity 4 to detect criminals 5 to anable personal character 6 to cure disease 17 7 to trice lost or strayed domestic animals 8 to in sure immunity against ill fortune by use as a ft ettish 9 to locate well sites 10 to trace the courses of underground streams 11 to determine the of water ater available by drilling at a given spot 12 to de gelmine the depth at which w water iter cr ores occur 13 to determine the Ai U direction reLtOn of cardinal points 14 to debei mine the heights of trees and 15 to analyze ores oreland ore sand and gatei I 1 he tie origin of the tile superstition is ost ot in antiquity what ii iq beli believed eed ro be the first published description lit fifthe the rod vt i in geoit Geo iu A D re metal ra halh edh publish 1 in 1550 1656 rit SILe became u first in 1 ermana 3 is 18 a 1 means for locating anres and also for descove discovering ring buried of rather common comon rp a t mattel Intel it in aboe days when the phav tile of burling money and plate for site waa was I 1 t y general it MS introduced into england by ger during luring the ragn of f imers nin ann n k 1 b 5 03 and andrt seventeenth century to had of f ite prea prel through the coun tripi of euribe Chery where it t aroused e rules prescribed co I 1 tro ery for the the twig partook largely of glathen bt hl beath athen ath sorcery and as there were indeed to some extent unconscious remi of scandinavian and ind ev even of ofine the the old but this heathen aryan Mh mythology influence was offbeat when the duj duly christianized by baptism being in n the bed w th a foi fol this purpose child by whose u newly trin mine I 1 ass after ward addressed that the I 1 roc at it Is undid this practice tee tle e fr stir rounding diD avith th a arelie religious ious atmosphere might not have altogether alt gether a in its di ine character for lit ut that time anyone found engaged in mysterious yorks works was ia 13 danger of being charged with sorcery and burled to death USE OF THE DIVIN DIVINING ing ROD IN DETECTING CRIMINALS the divining rod continued to L a fiorite fa subject with alchemistic writers until about 1 when a ne turn of affairs was broa brought ht about b a jesuit father who denounced it es ra in n instrument controlled by the devil the subject was as then taken up b the church and for more than vears ears it atas as hotly debated by church men some approved of it and au a theorized zed its use on church prop arty othe s condemned it and thre threatened a te ded ed tho alwo 0 who used it t with tx com commini ciuni in 1691 the barof vear of ti tit salem witchcraft its notoriety noto nety was greatly increased by the arrest and execution of a crimins cri criminal minn through the ig cy of a peasant who used a di dj vining rod interest in this case was intense and wide spread and called forth a birge amount of literature As we labas as 1703 this peasant was employed to point out with his ih divining vining rod protestants for massacre andel the plea of punishment for crimes the had committed the divi divining nini I 1 rod m mas as in some respects closely related I 1 to witchcraft as is suggested by the use of hi citations in connection imph divining and to this relationship lation ship may be ascribed in some measure the strengthening of belief in III it t witchcraft at that time had ia become a frezzi and anything which ba a any stretch of the imagination could be suspected of implication with witchcraft became a subject of discussion and the basis of firm opinions and beliefs in 1701 however the inquisition issued a decree again t the further use of the rod in criminal prosecution and this use of the device rapidly came to an end RECENT discussions in the 1 atter ater part of the eighteenth century an attempt was made to explain in water witching as an electric phenomenon and later it was discussed cu sed as a psychic phenomenon at almost every step in the advance of science some soine one has attempted to explain its supposed operation b bi means of the latest scientific theo ries before the present war there were several societies in germany whose whoso sole object was said to be the stud of the divining rod in 1910 the de 1 apartment parl part ment of agriculture of france ap up pointed a committee to investigate the subject and aud in 1914 this committee was sti still 11 investigating ing A copy of the Goern government ment report which is published as water supply paper can be obtained by addressing d the director united states G survey washington D 0 |
