Abstract
THE subject of dowsing is one to which a great deal of attention has been given in France in recent years, and its range of application has been extended in many directions, chiefly in the field of biology and medicine. This little book gives an excellent summary of the main facts, but its chief value lies in the instructions given which enable the reader to experiment for himself. Contrary to the practice of most of the best English dowsers, the author makes great use of the pendulum, and most of the instructions refer to this rather than the rod. As is usual in books on this subject, the physical explanation given could not be accepted by physicists in the form in which it is given, and when the author's account of the claims with regard to distinguishing wines, rinding aeroplanes, and diagnosing disease are examined, the scientific imagination is stretched to the limit. However, there is no doubt of the enthusiasm with which the study of this curious, and in some sense genuine, human faculty is being carried on in France, and it is to be hoped that further experiment will throw some light on its physical nature.
The Modern Dowser: a Guide to the use of the Divining Rod and Pendulum
Le Vicomte Henry
de France
. Translated by A. H. Bell. Pp. xvii + 139. (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1936.) 4s. 6d. net.
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The Modern Dowser. Nature 139, 352 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139352c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139352c0