Dowsing

For the English iconoclast, see William Dowsing.

A dowser, from an 18th century French book about superstitions.

Otto Edler von Graeve in 1913

Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites,^[1] and many other objects and materials, as well as so-called currents of earth radiation (Ley lines), without the use of scientific apparatus. Dowsing is also known as divining (especially in reference to interpretation of results),^[2] doodlebugging^[3] (in the US)^{[citation needed]}, or (when searching specifically for water) water finding, water witching or water dowsing.^[4] There is no accepted scientific rationale behind dowsing, and there is no scientific evidence that it is effective.

A Y- or L-shaped twig or rod, called a dowsing rod, divining rod (Latin: virgula divina or baculus divinatorius) or witching rod is sometimes used during dowsing, although some dowsers use other equipment or no equipment at all.

Dowsing appears to have arisen in the context of Renaissance magic in Germany, and it remains popular among believers in Forteana or radiesthesia^[5].

History

Dowsing as practiced today may have originated in Germany during the 15th century, when it was used to find metals. As early as 1518 Martin Luther listed dowsing for metals as an act that broke the first commandment (i.e., as occultism).^[6] The 1550 edition of Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia contains a woodcut of a dowser with forked rod in hand walking over a cutaway image of a mining operation. The rod is labelled "Virgula Divina – Glück rüt" (Latin: divine rod; German "Wünschelrute": fortune rod or stick), but there is no text accompanying the woodcut. By 1556 Georgius Agricola's treatment of mining and smelting of ore, De Re Metallica, included a detailed description of dowsing for metal ore.^[7]

In 1662 dowsing was declared to be "superstitious, or rather satanic" by a Jesuit, Gaspar Schott, though he later noted that he wasn't sure that the devil was always responsible for the movement of the rod.^[8]

An epigram by Samuel Sheppard, from Epigrams theological, philosophical, and romantick (1651) runs thus:

Virgula divina.

"Some Sorcerers do boast they have a Rod,

Gather'd with Vowes and Sacrifice,

And (borne about) will strangely nod

To hidden Treasure where it lies;

Mankind is (sure) that Rod divine,

For to the Wealthiest (ever) they incline."

In the late 1960s during the Vietnam War, some United States Marines used dowsing to attempt to locate weapons and tunnels.^[9]

Dowsing rods

Traditionally, the most common dowsing rod is a forked (Y-shaped) branch from a tree or bush. Some dowsers prefer branches from particular trees, and some prefer the branches to be freshly cut. Hazel twigs in Europe and witch-hazel in the United States are traditionally commonly chosen, as are branches from willow or peach trees. The two ends on the forked side are held one in each hand with the third (the stem of the "Y") pointing straight ahead. Often the branches are grasped palms down. The dowser then walks slowly over the places where he suspects the target (for example, minerals or water) may be, and the dowsing rod supposedly dips, inclines or twitches when a discovery is made. This method is sometimes known as "Willow Witching."

Two L-shaped metal wire rods

Many dowsers today use a pair of simple L-shaped metal rods. One rod is held in each hand, with the short arm of the L held upright, and the long arm pointing forward. When something is found, the rods cross over one another making an "X" over the found object. If the object is long and straight, such as a water pipe, the rods will point in opposite directions, showing its orientation. The rods are sometimes fashioned from wire coat hangers, and glass or plastic rods have also been accepted. Straight rods are also sometimes used for the same purposes, and were not uncommon in early 19th century New England.

In all cases, the device is in a state of unstable equilibrium from which slight movements may be amplified.^[10]

Other equipment used for dowsing

A pendulum of crystal, metal or other materials suspended on a chain is sometimes used in divination and dowsing. In one approach the user first determines which direction (left-right, up-down) will indicate "yes" and which "no" before proceeding to ask the pendulum specific questions, or else another person may pose questions to the person holding the pendulum. The pendulum may also be used over a pad or cloth with "yes" and "no" written on it and perhaps other words written in a circle. The person holding the pendulum aims to hold it as steadily as possible over the center and its movements are held to indicate answers to the questions. In the practice of radiesthesia, a pendulum is used for medical diagnosis.

Suggested explanations

Early attempts at a scientific explanation of dowsing were based on the notion that the divining rod was physically affected by emanations from substances of interest. The following explanation is from William Pryce's 1778 Mineralogia Cornubiensis:

The corpuscles ... that rise from the Minerals, entering the rod, determine it to bow down, in order to render it parallel to the vertical lines which the effluvia describe in their rise. In effect the Mineral particles seem to be emitted from the earth; now the Virgula [rod], being of a light porous wood, gives an easy passage to these particles, which are also very fine and subtle; the effluvia then driven forwards by those that follow them, and pressed at the same time by the atmosphere incumbent on them, are forced to enter the little interstices between the fibres of the wood, and by that effort they oblige it to incline, or dip down perpendicularly, to become parallel with the little columns which those vapours form in their rise.

Such explanations have no modern scientific basis.

A 1986 article in Nature included dowsing in a list of "effects which until recently were claimed to be paranormal but which can now be explained from within orthodox science."^[11] Specifically, dowsing could be explained in terms of sensory cues, expectancy effects and probability.^[11]

Skeptics and some supporters believe that dowsing apparatus has no power of its own but merely amplifies slight movements of the hands caused by a phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect: people's subconscious minds may influence their bodies without their consciously deciding to take action. This would make the dowsing rods a conduit for the diviner's subconscious knowledge or perception.^[12][13]

Soviet geologists have made claims for the abilities of dowsers,^[14] which are difficult to account for in terms of the reception of normal sensory cues. Some authors suggest that these abilities may be explained by postulating human sensitivity to small magnetic field gradient changes.^[15][16][17]

Evidence

Renowned skeptic James Randi at a lecture at Rockefeller University, on October 10, 2008, holding an $800 device advertised as a dowsing instrument

A 1948 study tested 58 dowsers' ability to detect water. None of them was more reliable than chance.^[18] A 1979 review examined many controlled studies of dowsing for water, and found that none of them showed better than chance results. ^[4]

In a study in Munich 1987-1988 by Hans-Dieter Betz and other scientists, 500 dowsers were initially tested for their "skill" and the experimenters selected the best 43 among them for further tests. Water was pumped through a pipe on the ground floor of a two-storey barn. Before each test the pipe was moved in a direction perpendicular to the water flow. On the upper floor each dowser was asked to determine the position of the pipe. Over two years the dowsers performed 843 such tests. Of the 43 pre-selected and extensively tested candidates at least 37 showed no dowsing ability. The results from the remaining 6 were said to be better than chance, resulting in the experimenters' conclusion that some dowsers "in particular tasks, showed an extraordinarily high rate of success, which can scarcely if at all be explained as due to chance ... a real core of dowser-phenomena can be regarded as empirically proven."^[19]

Five years after the Munich study was published, Jim T. Enright, a professor of physiology and a leading skeptic who emphasised correct data analysis procedure, contended that the study's results are merely consistent with statistical fluctuations and not significant. He believed the experiments provided "the most convincing disproof imaginable that dowsers can do what they claim,"^[20] stating that the data analysis was "special, unconventional and customized." Replacing it with "more ordinary analyses,"^[21] he noted that the best dowser was on average 4 millimeters out of 10 meters closer to a mid-line guess, an advantage of 0.0004%, and that the five other good dowsers were on average further than a mid-line guess^[22]. The study's authors responded, saying "on what grounds could Enright come to entirely different conclusions? Apparently his data analysis was too crude, even illegitimate."^[23] The findings of the Munich study were also confirmed in a paper by Dr. S. Ertel,^[24] a German psychologist who had previously intervened in the statistical controversy surrounding the "Mars effect", but Enright remained unconvinced.^[25]

More recently a study^[26] was undertaken in Kassel, Germany, under the direction of the Gesellschaft zur Wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP) [Society for the Scientific Investigation of the Parasciences]. The three-day test of some 30 dowsers involved plastic pipes through which water flow could be controlled and directed. The pipes were buried 50 centimeters under a level field, the position of each marked on the surface with a colored strip. The dowsers had to tell whether water was running through each pipe. All the dowsers signed a statement agreeing this was a fair test of their abilities and that they expected a 100 percent success rate, however the results were no better than chance.

Some researchers have investigated possible physical or geophysical explanations for alleged dowsing abilities. One study concluded that dowsers "respond" to a 60 Hz electromagnetic field, but this response does not occur if the kidney area or head are shielded.^[27]

Commercial and "hi-tech" dowsing devices

A number of devices resembling "high tech" dowsing rods have been marketed for modern police and military use: none has been shown to be effective.^[28] The more notable of this class of device are ADE 651, Sniffex, and the GT200.^[29][30] A US government study advised against buying "bogus explosive detection equipment".^[28]

Devices:

• Sandia National Laboratories tested the MOLE Programmable System manufactured by Global Technical Ltd. of Kent, UK and found it ineffective.^[29]

• The ADE 651 is a device produced by ATSC (UK) and widely used by Iraqi police to detect explosives.^[30] Many^[30][31] have denied its effectiveness and contended that the ADE 651 failed to prevent many bombings in Iraq. On 22 January 2010, the director of ATSC, Jim McCormick was arrested on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation.^[32] Earlier, the British Government had announced a ban on the export of the ADE-651.^[33]

• SNIFFEX was the subject of a report by the United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal that concluded "The handheld SNIFFEX explosives detector does not work."^[34]

• Global Technical GT200 is a dowsing type explosive detector which contains no scientific mechanism.^[35][36]

List of well-known dowsers

Well-known dowsers include:

• Otto Edler von Graeve^[37]
• Uri Geller
• A. Frank Glahn
• Thomas Charles Lethbridge^[38]
• Karl Spiesberger
• Ludwig Straniak
• Hellmut Wolff

See also

• Geopathic stress
• Long range locator
• Michel Moine
• Pigeon Post
• Professor Calculus
• Rhabdomancy
• TR Araña

References

1. ^ Kenney, Andrew. The Herald (Johnson County, North Carolina); "Grave Hunters." http://www.theherald-nc.com/front/story/10836.html; 29 July 2009, page 1. Article also reproduced as a source document at WeRelate.
2. ^ Discovering Dowsing and Divining, p. 5, Peter Naylor
3. ^ "Dowsing, Doodlebugging, and Water Witching". Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers Wiki. http://www.readersandrootworkers.org/wiki/Category:Dowsing,_Doodlebugging,_and_Water_Witching. Retrieved 11 October 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Vogt, Evon Z.; Ray Hyman (1979). Water Witching U.S.A. (2nd ed.). Chicago: Chicago University Press. ISBN 9780226862972.  via Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (Second ed.). Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 420. ISBN 9781573929790. 
5. ^ As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active dowsers in Germany alone can generate a conservatively-estimated annual revenue of more than 100 million DM (US$50 million)". GWUP-Psi-Tests 2004: Keine Million Dollar für PSI-Fähigkeiten (in German) and English version.
6. ^ Decem praecepta Wittenbergensi populo praedicta, Martin Luther
7. ^ William Barrett and Theodore Besterman. The Divining Rod: An Experimental and Psychological Investigation. (1926) Kessinger Publishing, 2004: p.7
8. ^ Michel Eugène Chevreul, De La Baguette Divinatoire du pendule dit explorateur at des table tournants au point de vue de l'histoire, de la critique, and de la méthode expérimentale, Paris, 1854. "Le père Gaspard Schott (jés.) considère l'usage de la baguette comme superstitieux ou plutôt diabolique, mais des renseignements qui lui furent donnés plus tard par des hommes qu'il considérait comme religieux et probe, lui firent dire dans une notation à ce passage, qu'il ne voudrait pas assurer que le demon fait toujours tourner la baguette." (Physica Curiosa, 1662, lib. XII, cap. IV, pag. 1527). See facsimile on Google Books
9. ^ FIX ME (could not access entire article) Claudia Sandlin (1989-11-30). "Divining Ways; Dowsers Use Ancient Art in Many Kinds of Searches". Washington Post. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1225953.html. "[Louis Matacia] worked as a Marine Corps analyst at Quantico during The Vietnam War teaching Marines how to dowse..." 
10. ^ Randi.org
11. ^ ^{a b} Marks, David F. (March 13, 1986). "Investigating the paranormal". Nature (Nature Publishing Group) 320 (6058): 119–124. doi:10.1038/320119a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 3951553. 
12. ^ The Matter of Dowsing
13. ^ Dowsing (a.k.a. water witching)
14. ^ Williamson, T. New Scientist 81, 371 (1979)
15. ^ Rocard, Y. La Recherche 12, 792 (1981)
16. ^ Presti, D. & Pettgrew, J. Nature 285, 99 (1980) doi:10.1038/285099a0
17. ^ Baker, R. Nature 301, 78 (1983) doi:10.1038/301078a0
18. ^ Ongley, P. (1948). "New Zealand Diviners". New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology 30: 38–54.  via Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (Second ed.). Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 420. ISBN 9781573929790. 
19. ^ Wagner, H., H.-D. Betz, and H. L. König, 1990. Schlußbericht 01 KB8602, Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie. As quoted by Enright in Skeptical Enquirer
20. ^ Enright, Jim T. (Jan/Feb 1999). "The Failure of the Munich Experiments". Skeptical Inquirer. Paul Kurtz. http://www.csicop.org/si/show/testing_dowsing_the_failure_of_the_munich_experiments. Retrieved 2006-11-14. "The researchers themselves concluded that the outcome unquestionably demonstrated successful dowsing abilities, but a thoughtful re-examination of the data indicates that such an interpretation can only be regarded as the result of wishful thinking." 
21. ^ Enright, J. T. 1995. Water dowsing: The Scheunen experiments. Naturwissenschaften 82: 360-369.
22. ^ http://www.idt.mdh.se/kurser/ct3340/archives/ht05/assignment-2d-dowsing-articles/Articles%202-3-Betz-Enright.pdf
23. ^ H.-D. Betz, H. L. König, R. Kulzer, R. Trischler, and J. Wagner. 1996. Dowsing reviewed — the effect persists. Naturwissenschaften 83: 272-275.
24. ^ Ertel, S. (May, 1996). "The dowsing data defy Enright's unfavorable verdict". Naturwissenschaften (Springer Berlin / Heidelberg) 83 (5): 232–235. doi:10.1007/BF01143332. ISSN 1432-1904. http://www.springerlink.com/content/h7577m1087734mlh/. Retrieved 2009-09-26. 
25. ^ Enright, J. T. (June, 1996). "Dowsers lost in a Barn". Naturwissenschaften (Springer Berlin / Heidelberg) 83 (6): 275–277. doi:10.1007/BF01149601. ISSN 1432-1904. http://www.springerlink.com/content/km4q44357k557w90/. Retrieved 2009-09-26. 
26. ^ GWUP-Psi-Tests 2004: Keine Million Dollar für PSI-Fähigkeiten (in German) and English version.
27. ^ Harvalik, Z. V. (1978). "Anatomical localization of human detection of weak electromagnetic radiation: experiments with dowsers". Physiol Chem Phys 10 (6): 525–34. PMID 754193. 
28. ^ ^{a b} Guide for the Selection of Commercial Explosives Detection Systems for Law Enforcement Applications (NIJ Guide 100-99), Chapter 7. WARNING: DO NOT BUY BOGUS EXPLOSIVES DETECTION EQUIPMENT
29. ^ ^{a b} Double-Blind Field Evaluation of the MOLE Programmable Detection System, Sandia National Laboratories
30. ^ ^{a b c} Iraq Swears by Bomb Detector U.S. Sees as Useless
31. ^ A Direct, Specific, Challenge From James Randi and the JREF
32. ^ "'Bomb detector' maker arrested". BBC News. 2010-01-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8476381.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-01. 
33. ^ "Government statement on 'bomb detectors' ban". BBC News. 2010-01-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8475875.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-01. 
34. ^ Test Report: The detection capabilities of the SNIFFEX explosive detector, p.8
35. ^ "Tests show bomb scanner ineffective, Thailand says". CNN. 2010-02-17. http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/16/thailand.bomb.scanner/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+rss/cnn_topstories+(RSS:+Top+Stories). 
36. ^ E-k9.net
37. ^ "His Rod to Find Radium". New York Times. January 28, 1914. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E06E3DB1730E733A2575BC2A9679C946596D6CF. Retrieved 2010-07-13. "Otto Edler von Graeve, who locates water and minerals with a 'divining rod,' arrived yesterday from Germany on the George Washington, ..." 
38. ^ Tom Lethbridge's dowsing measurments

Further reading

• Barrett, Linda K. and Evon Z. Vogt, "The Urban American Dowser", The Journal of American Folklore 325 (1969), S. 195-213
• Bird, Christopher, The Divining Hand, 1979.
• Randi, James, Flim-Flam!, 1982. Devotes 19 pages to double-blind tests in Italy which yielded results no better than chance.
• Spiesberger, Karl, Reveal the Power of the Pendulum.
• Underwood, Guy, The Pattern of the Past, Museum Press 1969; Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd 1970; Abacus 1972.

External links

• Dowsing at the Open Directory Project
• Footage of water dowser at work
• George P. Hansen: Dowsing: A Review of Experimental Research. In: Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Volume 51, Number 792, October 1982, pp.343–67
• James Randi on Dowsing
• The Skeptics Dictionary - Includes details of various scientific tests.
• "Beyond Science" video PBS show Scientific American Frontiers on dowsing featuring Ray Hyman, November 19, 1997