THE DIVINING ROD.
FACTS VERSUS THE DICTUM OF SCIENCE—WHAT A TENNESSEAN CAN DO.
A New York Paper publishes the following item of Interest:
I have seen several articles in regard to the divining rod. I know that science does not recognize such a thing, but were not all the sciences tested and proved by practical experiment before they were recognized by the scientific world? There is a man in this country who believes as strongly in the divining rod as the navigator does in the mariner’s compass. He is not an illiterate, superstitious man, but is as well informed on all subjects as any laboring man you ever met. He does not claim that he is enabled to locate a stream of water or a vein of mineral beneath the surface of the earth by any virtue contained in the rod, nor is it by the art of hocus pocus, but it is in and through the influence of electricity, with which his system is abundantly charged.
You will say: “If this be true why does he not go to some mining country and make himself and others rich by locating mineral veins?” He is a man that has had to labor very hard all his life. Now he is old and infirm, and unable to travel. This discovery with him dates only a few years back. His field for practice and experiment is limited consequently he gains knowledge on the subject slowly.
I will mention a few of the things that he claims he can do with the rod; He can locate a stream of water, and where the ground is perfectly level, measure its depth below the surface as accurately as you can measure it after the well is dug. He does not claim the depth within less than a foot, because the surface is so seldom perfectly level. There are hundreds of men in East Tennessee that will testify to this fact from actual experience. Some of them are as responsible men as there are in the State. He has never failed to convert any man who would go with him, no matter how sceptical, and he has certificates from a number of as intelligent men as there are in Tennessee. I cannot give you, in this communication, any idea of the various means by which he is enabled to demonstrate these things, but if you have any curiosity on the subject, and will answer this communication, like you do all others, you will elicit something from him that may be of interest to you.
Another writer says: “The divining rod is only another exemplification of a power not yet recognized. With a piece of witch hazel I discovered the Witch Hazel Coal Mines. I told the number of feet a shaft would have to be sunk to reach the coal, and even gave the thickness of the vein. I got $5,000 for locating the Witch Hazel mines and am also paid 12½ cents a ton for every ton of coal taken out of them.” John R. Whitelaw, Superintendent of the Cleveland Water Works, says: “At Geauga Lake, Mr. Latimer showed the power of the divining rod. After he had cut one I asked him to go over a little stream that we saw running from the bank. We knew that the water was there, and we wanted to see whether the rod would work over it. It was surprising. He held the prongs so firmly in his hands that the green bark twisted off in his palms.”
Water witches are highly regarded in the far West. One man in particular has the reputation in Colorado, of being a trustworthy diviner, and he is always in request. By trade he is a well-digger, but to this commonplace occupation he has added the profession of water finder. And he is not exclusively employed by silly people, but by practical men of business. Thus he is designating for a railroad company all the wells along the new line which they are constructing. The instrument of divination is a forked twig, by preference a mulberry.