IN DEFENCE OF DOWSERS

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NOTES, COMMENTS, AND ABSTRACTS

IN DEFENCE OF DOWSERS

THE art of water-divining-part of the stock-in-trade, perhaps, of the old magicians-has survivedinto our own day, and, despite a growing distrust ofthe marvellous, public bodies still employ dowsersto recommend sites for well-sinking. Indeed, the

present alarm over continuing drought has led theBritish Society of Dowsers to offer the services ofdiviners, both amateur and professional, through thepress.

Dr. G. A. M. Lintott, being among the sceptics,recently conducted a careful experiment in thephysiological department at Guy’s Hospital,l andhas convinced himself that, though no one testedcould detect the presence of still water, there areundoubtedly people who are sensitive to the pre-sence of water in motion. His experiments, hesays, were conducted in a strong spirit of disbelief.A pipe was arranged beneath a platform, and theflow of water through the pipe could be controlledby a tap, without the knowledge and out ofsight of the diviner. He found that when thewater in the pipe was flowing, the people tested couldbe divided into three groups : those in whose hands thedivining rod remained inert when they were standingover the pipe ; those in whom a slight response waselicited when the flow of water was large ; and asmall group of people who seemed to be notablysensitive to the presence of moving water, as shownby the upward movement ’of the forked twig, or theinward deflection of the two L-shaped metal rods whichsome dowsers prefer. Those in the third group wereable to map out with considerable accuracy thecourses of unseen drains in which water was flowingwhen they were tested out of doors in a localityunknown to them. This contradicts the experienceof Prof. J. W. Gregory, the geologist, who foundthat diviners were often ludicrously astray whentested over areas where the distribution of water wasaccurately known. 2 It is consistent, on the otherhand, with the views of Mr. Theodore Besterman,investigation officer of the Society for PsychicalResearch, who says in The Listener of Jan. 24ththat a Major Pogson, at one time official water-diviner of the Government of Bombay, " over andover again succeeded in finding water in practicalquantities after expert geologists and water engineershad failed."At least there is no reason, Dr. Lintott assures us,

to assume that the evolutions of the rod are miraculous.The movement is conveyed to it by the dowser, inwhose forearm muscles a definite increase of tensioncan be felt as the rod moves. A similar increasein tone was detected in the masseter muscles whenthe diviner was asked to cross moving water whileholding a rubber bulb, connected with a tambour,between his teeth. Moderately thick gloves weresufficient to prevent the movement from beingtransmitted from the hands to the rod, and a responsewas not obtained when the short limbs of the rodwere held in sockets so that there was no contactbetween them and the diviner’s hands. Dr. Lintottthinks that the twig or rods not only act as indicators,but help the diviner to achieve the proper state ofmuscular tension. Experienced dowsers were seento adopt a shuffling gait as though to increase volun-tarily the tone in the muscles of the lower limbs ;when they were wheeled over running water in achair, with their legs flaccid and dangling, no responsewas obtained, but when they were wheeled over itstanding upright, the response was as great as if theyhad walked. A slippery surface, such as glass,interfered with reception, but not if it was coveredwith a duster so as to give a grip to the feet. Other-wise, substances such as lead, brass, aluminium,

Guy’s Hosp. Gaz., 1933, xlvii., 255, 282.’See THE LANCET, 1927, ii., 1144.

rubber, and asbestos had no influence on reception,except that rough surfaces tended to exaggerate it.As a final experiment, three dowsers, each acting

independently and accompanied only by an impartialobserver, were asked to detect an area of subterraneanmoving water at a certain site in Sussex ; each markedout the same spot, though unaware of the findings ofhis colleagues, and at the time of publication ofDr. Lintott’s paper a bore-hole was to be sunk atthis site. It is only fair to remember, however, asProf. Gregory pointed out, that though water is oftenfound where the rod indicates its presence, negativefindings are rarely tested ; and Dr. Lintott admittedthat it would not be possible, in his experiment, tosink another bore-hole in a negative area, owing tothe high cost of the operation. He thought that theevidence was sufficient to show that water-diviningis a genuine phenomenon, however, deserving furtherstudy, and suggested tentatively that the receptionof the stimulus and the production of the responseare subconscious, and concerned with the moreprimitive centres rather than the cerebral cortex.Among the many letters which followed the publica-tion of his paper was one packed with romanticsuggestions, signed " T. K. Eipselig," which postulatedthat the stimulus conveyed by running water is likelyto be vibratory, and that those persons who are sensitivemay possess some vestigial remnant of the " lateralline " of fish, the organ sensitive to vibrations in fluid.

Water-divining thus remains a mystery, agreeablyflavoured to tickle every palate. Those with a

sneaking regard for witchcraft will find it significantthat only running water elicits a response from therod ; reasonable people will be glad to see the businessput on a scientific footing at last ; while if Dr.Eipselig is right, the sceptics can console themselveswith the thought that there is something fishy aboutwater-diviners after all.

THE STATE OF THE TEETH AS A GUIDE TOPROGNOSIS IN TUBERCLE

AT a meeting of the Tuberculosis Association heldin London last week, Dr. F. W. Broderick, dentalsurgeon to the Royal National Sanatorium atBournemouth, said he did not accept any of thetheories current as to the causation of dental cariesand pyorrhcea alveolaris. These were, he thought,merely symptoms of some constitutional disturbance,.the main feature of which was a disturbance in theacid-base equilibrium of the blood : acidosis tendedtowards caries, alkalosis towards pyorrhoea. Thesechanges’ in turn were regulated by the vegetativenervous system which presided over the innervationof all the involuntary organs and tissues of the body.Reaction to disease depended upon the stability ofthis system and upon non-specific immunity factorswhich would eventually decide not only the occurrenceof disease but its outcome. In pulmonary tuberculosisit was quite as much the reaction to the infection asthe virulence of that infection that determined theprognosis ; the patient with sympathetic predomin-ance would probably suffer from the destructive type,and the patient with parasympathetic predominancefrom the fibrotic type of lesion. Dr. Broderick drewsupport from Balint and Weiss, who had shown thatall inflammatory phenomena were influenced by theacid-base balance of the tissues of the individual ; yand from Leriche and Policard, who had found thatbone resorption and ossification depended primarilyupon circulatory over-activity and stasis. In tuber-culosis the same factors came into play. In 100 cases -investigated by him at Bournemouth, the state ofthe teeth had given a useful hint of the patient’sreactivity to his infection, and had made it possibleto divide cases into two distinct groups. In thecaries group there was the underweight, with increasedmetabolic rate, increased reactivity, increased permea-bility of blood-vessels, increased calcium-potassiumratio, increased acidity, and a diminution in the size