Abstract
RECENT correspondents have not referred to the views that place the use of the divining rod in the category of ‘psychological automatisms’ like the use of planchette or divination by a ring suspended in a tumbler. A simple experiment will demonstrate such an automatism. An unsuspecting subject is directed to sit leaning forward with his elbows resting upon his knees and with his hands placed just below the level of his eyes. The end of a watch-chain is placed in his hands with the watch dangling between his separated knees, and he is now assured that the watch will swing from knee to knee. Any plausible explanation may be given—bodily magnetism, or the inner movements of the watch—and, unless the subject be critically disposed, the watch as he gazes upon it will swing with increasing amplitude in the direction named. In an experiment with a fresh subject the watch, by suitable assurance, may be made to swing at right angles to its path in the first case.
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CULPIN, M. Behind the Divining Rod. Nature 119, 783 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/119783a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/119783a0
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