On Sun, 24 Oct 2004, Russell McMahon wrote:

>>> take two rods...even coat hangers.....bend so they
>>> each
>>> have a handle at a right angle....hold them loose in
>>> your hands.... and as you cross over pipes, etc, they
>>> will cross showing where things are buried.
>> 
>> I hear this works even better during a full moon with a string of garlic
>> around your neck.  And there has to be a dead fish tied to this somehow.
>
> Dousing has, quite understandably, been much derided since time immemorial. 
> And yet there are still eg well diggers who use it as one of their a primary 
> means of locating water. Where it's your own labour and income that's at 
> stake, and not the chance of making money from some other gullible person, 
> then there usually needs to be a better than random degree of correlation 
> between predictions and theory.

Unless one can afford to make mistakes often. An electrometry kit that 
can be used to 'douse'  for water scientifically should run under $2000 
all included (pencil & paper wetware operated).

> One danger with such things is that we overlook a good physical explanation 
> for an apparently arcane ability. While I have no idea if there is such an 
> explanation in many or any such cases, I would be wary of completely 
> rejecting the art as bogus.

Until someone comes up with a way to duplicate positive dousing results 
with some instruments (or another 'unbelieving' person) it stays bogus.

Peter
_______________________________________________
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist