Excerpt from The Divining Rod: A History of Water Witching The use of a forked twig, or so-called divining rod, in locating minerals, finding hidden treasure, or detecting criminals is a curious superstition that has been a subject of discussion since the middle of the Sixteenth century and still has a strong hold on the popular mind, even in this country, as is Shown by the large number of inqui ries received each year by the United States Geological Survey as to its efficacy, especially for locating underground water, and the per sistent demands that it be made a subject of investigation by the Survey. The bibliography Shows that a truly astonishing number of books and pamphlets have been written on the subject. The purpose of the present brief paper is not to add another contribution to this enormous volume of uncanny literature but merely to furnish a reply to the numerous inquiries that are continually being received from all parts of the country. The outline of the history of the sub ject presented in the following pages will probably enable most honest inquirers to appreciate the practical uselessness Of water Witching and other applications of the divining rod, but those who wish to delve further into the mysteries of the subject are referred to the literature cited in the bibliography, in which they will find reports in painful detail of exhaustive investigations and pseudo investigations of every phase of the subject and every imaginable explanation of the supposed phenomena. It is doubtful whether so much investigation and discussion have been bestowed on any other subject with such absolute lack of posi tive results. It is difficult to see how for practical purposes the entire matter could be more thoroughly discredited, and it should be obvious to everyone that further tests by the United States Geo logical Survey of this so-called Witching for water, oil, or other minerals would be a misuse of public funds. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.