Dowsing is a type of

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

employed in attempts to locate

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

, buried metals or ores, gemstones,

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, claimed radiations ( radiesthesia),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) an

. gravesites, malign "earth vibrations" and many other objects and materials without the use of a scientific apparatus. It is also known as divining (especially in water divining), doodlebugging (particularly in the United States, in searching for

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions le ...

) or (when searching for water) water finding, or water witching (in the United States). A Y-shaped twig or rod, or two L-shaped ones—individually called a dowsing rod, divining rod (Latin: ''virgula divina'' or ''baculus divinatorius''), vining rod, or witching rod—are sometimes used during dowsing, although some dowsers use other equipment or no equipment at all. The motion of such dowsing devices is generally attributed to the ideomotor phenomenon,Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989). ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. pp. 105–110. Novella, Steve; Deangelis, Perry. (2002). ''Dowsing''. In Michael Shermer. ''The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience''. ABC-CLIO. pp. 93–94. "Despite widespread belief, careful investigation has demonstrated that the technique of dowsing simply does not work. No researcher has been able to prove under controlled conditions that dowsing has any genuine divining power... A more likely explanation for the movement of a dowser's focus is the ideomotor effect, which entails involuntary and unconscious motor behavior."Lawson, T. J; Crane, L. L. (2014). ''Dowsing Rods Designed to Sharpen Critical Thinking and Understanding of Ideomotor Action''. '' Teaching of Psychology'' 41 (1): 52–56. a psychological response where a subject makes motions unconsciously. Put simply, dowsing rods respond to the user's accidental or involuntary movements. The

scientific evidence Scientific evidence is evidence that serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis, although scientists also use evidence in other ways, such as when applying theories to practical problems. "Discussions about empirical ev ...

is that dowsing is no more effective than

random chance In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual rand ...

. via Regal, Brian. (2009). ''Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia''. Greenwood Press. pp. 55–57. It is therefore regarded as a

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

History

Early divination and religion

Dowsing originated in ancient times, when it was treated as a form of

. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, however, banned the practice completely.Inglis (1986) pp. 246–247. Reformer

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

perpetuated the Catholic ban, in 1518 listing divining for metals as an act that broke the first commandment (i.e., as

occultism The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

).''Decem praecepta Wittenbergensi populo praedicta'', Martin Luther Old texts about searching for water do not mention using the divining twig, and the first account of this practice was in 1568. Sir William F. Barrett wrote in his 1911 book ''Psychical Research'' that: In 1662, divining with rods was declared to be "

superstitious A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...

, or rather

satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

ic" by a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, Gaspar Schott, though he later noted that he was not sure that the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

was always responsible for the movement of the rod.

Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and le ...

, ''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). Se
facsimile
on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

In southern France in the seventeenth century it was used in tracking criminals and

heretics Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

. Its abuse led to a decree of the

inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

in 1701, forbidding its employment for purposes of justice. An

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mill ...

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

Modern dowsing

Despite religious disapproval, dowsing was practiced in Germany during the sixteenth century much as it is practiced today, when it was used in attempts to find

metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

s. The 1550 edition of

Sebastian Münster Sebastian Münster (20 January 1488 – 26 May 1552) was a German cartographer and cosmographer. He also was a Christian Hebraist scholar who taught as a professor at the University of Basel. His well-known work, the highly accurate world map, ' ...

's '' Cosmographia'' contains a

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...

of a dowser with forked rod in hand walking over a cutaway image of a mining operation. The rod is labeled in Latin and German; "''Virgula Divina – Glück-Rüt''" (Rod Divine, Luck-Rod), but there is no text accompanying the woodcut. By 1556, Georgius Agricola's treatment of mining and

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...

of ore, '' De Re Metallica'', included a detailed description of dowsing for metal ore.William Barrett and

Theodore Besterman Theodore Deodatus Nathaniel Besterman (22 November 1904 – 10 November 1976) was a Polish-born British psychical researcher, bibliographer, biographer, and translator. In 1945 he became the first editor of the ''Journal of Documentation''. From ...

. ''The Divining Rod: An Experimental and Psychological Investigation.'' (1926) Kessinger Publishing, 2004: p. 7 In the sixteenth century, German deep mining technology was in enormous demand all over Europe. German miners were licensed to live and work in England; particularly in the Stannaries (tin mines) of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

and

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

and in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

. In other parts of England, the technique was used in the royal mines for

calamine Calamine, also known as calamine lotion, is a medication used to treat mild itchiness. This includes from sunburn, insect bites, poison ivy, poison oak, and other mild skin conditions. It may also help dry out skin irritation. It is applied ...

. By 1638 German miners were recorded using the technique in silver mines in Wales. The

Middle Low German Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...

name for a forked stick (Y-rod) was ''Schlag-Ruthe'' ("striking rod"). This was translated in the sixteenth century Cornish dialect to ''duschen'' (''duschan'' according to William Barrett) (

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...

, to "strike" or fall). By the seventeenth century the English term "dowsing" was coming into common use. In the lead-mining area of the

Mendip Hills The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, England in the seventeenth century the natural philosopher

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders ...

, inspired by the writings of Agricola, watched a practitioner try to find "latent veins of metals". Boyle saw the hazel divining rod ("''virgula divinatoria''") stoop in the hands of the diviner, who protested that he was not applying any force to the twig; Boyle accepted the man's genuine belief but himself remained unconvinced. Towards the end of the century, in 1691 the philosopher

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of ...

, who was born in the English

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

, used the term ''deusing-rod'' for the

Old Latin Old Latin, also known as Early Latin or Archaic Latin (Classical la, prīsca Latīnitās, lit=ancient Latinity), was the Latin language in the period before 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin. It descends from a common Proto-Italic ...

name ''virgula divina''. So, ''dowse'' is synonymous with ''strike'', hence the phrases: to ''dowse''/''strike'' a light, to ''dowse''/''strike'' a sail. Dowsing was conducted in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to help

homesteaders The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of ...

, farmers, and ranchers locate water wells on their property.Grace Fairchild and Walker D. Wyman, Frontier Woman: The Life of a Woman Homesteader on the Dakota Frontier (River Falls: University of Wisconsin-River Falls Press, 1972), 50; Robert Amerson, From the Hidewood: Memories of a Dakota Neighborhood (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1996), 290–298. The military have occasionally resorted to dowsing techniques. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Gallipoli campaign,

sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparin ...

Kelly became well known for finding water for the British troops. In the late 1960s during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, some

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

used dowsing when locating weapons and tunnels.FIX ME (could not access entire article) As late as in 1986, when 31 soldiers were taken by an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and ea ...

during an operation in the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

drill Anchor Express in Vassdalen, Norway, the

Norwegian army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

attempted to locate soldiers buried in the avalanche using dowsing as a search method. Dowsing is still used by some farmers and by water engineers in Britain, however many of the United Kingdom's water utilities have since tried to distance themselves from the practice.California Farmers Hire Dowsers to Find Water
, ABC newsScientist finds UK water companies use 'magic' to find leaks
BBC Oxford, 21 November 2017. (retrieved 21 November 2017)Matthew Weaver
UK water firms admit using divining rods to find leaks and pipes
''The Guardian'', 21 November 2017.Camila Domonoske
U.K. Water Companies Sometimes Use Dowsing Rods To Find Pipes
The Two-Way, NPR, 21 November 2017.

Postulated mechanisms

Early attempts at an 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'': A study towards the end of the nineteenth century concluded that the phenomenon was attributed to cryptesthesia, where the practitioner makes unconscious observations of the terrain and involuntarily influences the movement of the rod. Early investigations by members of the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to co ...

endorsed this view.Inglis (1986), pp.254-5. Committed parapsychologist G. N. M. Tyrrell also believed that the action of the rod was caused by involuntary muscular movements and debunked the theory of external influences. However dowsing over maps, prior to visiting the site, was also believed to work, and so some kind of

clairvoyance Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...

was proposed. This was believed to act on the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes ...

, rather than on the muscles directly. These various mechanisms remain in contention among dowsers.

Fraudulent security devices

In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries a number of dowsing-like devices were marketed for modern police and military use, primarily as explosive detectors, such as the

ADE 651 The ADE 651 is a fake bomb detector produced by the British company Advanced Tactical Security & Communications Ltd (ATSC). Its manufacturer claimed it could detect bombs, guns, ammunition, and more from kilometers away. However, it was a sca ...

Sniffex Sniffex and Sniffex Plus are fake explosive detection systems produced by Homeland Safety International, debunked as ineffective. Also availablhere Performance An article in ''The Dallas Morning News'' in April 2007 explained that Sniffex is ...

, and the

GT200 The GT200 is a fraudulent " remote substance detector" that was claimed by its manufacturer, UK-based Global Technical Ltd, to be able to detect, from a distance, various substances including explosives and drugs. The GT200 was sold to a number ...

.Double-Blind Field Evaluation of the MOLE Programmable Detection System

Sandia National Laboratories Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), also known as Sandia, is one of three research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Headquartered in Kirtland Air Force Bas ...

In consequence of these frauds, in 1999 the United States National Institute of Justice issued advice against buying equipment based on dowsing.

Equipment

The device used by a dowser is typically referred to as a dowsing or divining rod, even though it may not be rod-shaped.

Dowsing twig

Agriculture in Britain- Life on George Casely's Farm, Devon, England, 1942 D9817

Traditionally, the most common method used is the dowsing twig, 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 The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

twigs in Europe and

witch-hazel Witch-hazels or witch hazels (''Hamamelis'') are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with three species in North America ('' H. ovalis'', '' H. virginiana'', and '' H. vernalis''), and one each in Japan ('' H.&nb ...

in the United States are traditionally commonly chosen, as are branches from

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

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. The dowser then walks slowly over the places where he suspects the target (for example, minerals or water) may be, and the dowsing rod is expected to dip, incline or twitch when a discovery is made.Inglis (1986) This method is sometimes known as "willow witching." Some dowsers would hang a golden ring on the edge of the dowsing rod, or split the tip to slide in a silver coin.

Pair of rods

Many dowsers today use a pair of 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. The upright arm is often free to rotate inside a tube. When something is "found," the rods move in synchrony. Depending on the dowser, they may cross over or swing apart. If the object is long and straight, such as a water pipe, the rods may point in opposite directions, showing its orientation. The rods may be fashioned from wire coat hangers or wire flags used for locating utilities. Glass or plastic rods have also been accepted. Straight rods are also sometimes used for the same purposes, and were not uncommon in early-nineteenth-century

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Pendulum

pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward th ...

weight on a short cord or thread is the tool of choice for many modern dowsers.Inglis (1986), pp. 245–246 The dowser holds the cord in one hand and allows the pendulum to swing freely. The dowser then observes how the pendulum is swinging and interprets the motion to offer insights.William Bown;
Science: The physics of a dowsing pendulum
, ''New Scientist'', 6 October 1990.

Studies

* Dowsing studies from the early twentieth century were examined by

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

John Walter Gregory in a report for the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

. Gregory concluded that the results were a matter of chance or explained by observations from ground surface clues.Gregory, J. W. (1928)
''Water Divining''
Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution. United States Government Printing Office. pp. 325–348. Mill, Hugh Robert. (1927) ''Belief and Evidence in Water Divining''. ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'' 120: 882–884. * Geologist W. A. MacFadyen tested three dowsers during 1943–1944 in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. The results were entirely negative.MacFadyen, W. A. (1946). ''Some Water Divining in Algeria''. ''

'' 157: 304–305. * A 1948 study in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

by P. A. Ongley tested 75 dowsers' ability to detect water. None of them was more reliable than chance. According to Ongley "not one showed the slightest accuracy." via * Archaeometrist

Martin Aitken Martin Jim Aitken FRS (11 March 1922 – 13 June 2017) was a British archaeometrist. Aitken was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and studied physics at Wadham College, Oxford. He was a fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. He was Professor of Arch ...

tested British dowser P. A. Raine in 1959. Raine failed to dowse the location of a buried kiln that had been identified by a

magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, ...

.Aitken, M. J. (1959). ''Test for Correlation Between Dowsing Response and Magnetic Disturbance''. Archaeometry 2: 58–59. Feder, Kenneth L. (2010). ''Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to Walam Olum''. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 93. * In 1971, dowsing experiments were organized by British engineer R. A. Foulkes on behalf of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

. The results were "no more reliable than a series of guesses".Foulkes, R. A. (1971). ''Dowsing Experiments''. ''

'' 229: 163–168. * Physicists John Taylor and Eduardo Balanovski reported in 1978 a series of experiments they conducted that searched for unusual

electromagnetic field An electromagnetic field (also EM field or EMF) is a classical (i.e. non-quantum) field produced by (stationary or moving) electric charges. It is the field described by classical electrodynamics (a classical field theory) and is the classical ...

s emitted by dowsing subjects, they did not detect any. * A 1979 review by

Evon Z. Vogt Evon Zartman Vogt, Jr. (August 18, 1918 – May 13, 2004) was an American cultural anthropologist best known for his work among the Tzotzil Mayas of Chiapas, Mexico. Vogt was the author of numerous articles and 19 books. He was a fellow of the A ...

and Ray Hyman examined many controlled studies of dowsing for water, and found that none of them showed better than chance results. * Three British academics Richard N. Bailey, Eric Cambridge and H. Denis Briggs carried out dowsing experiments at the grounds of various churches. They reported successful results in their book ''Dowsing and Church Archaeology'' (1988).Leusen, Martijn Van. (1998). ''Dowsing and Archaeology''. Archaeological Prospection 5: 123–138. Their experiments were critically examined by

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

Martijn Van Leusen who suggested they were badly designed and the authors had redefined the test parameters on what was classified as a "hit" or "miss" to obtain positive results. * A 2006 study of grave dowsing in Iowa reviewed 14 published studies and determined that none of them correctly predicted the location of human burials, and simple scientific experiments demonstrated that the fundamental principles commonly used to explain grave dowsing were incorrect. * A randomized

double-blind In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expec ...

trial in 2012 was carried out to determine whether

homeopaths Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...

were able to distinguish between Bryonia and

placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general ...

by use of a dowsing method. The results were negative.McCarney R, Fisher P, Spink F, Flint G, van Haselen R. (2002)
''Can homeopaths detect homeopathic medicines by dowsing? A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial''
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 95: 189–191.

Kassel 1991 study

A 1990 double-blind studyGWUP-Psi-Tests 2004: Keine Million Dollar für PSI-Fähigkeiten
(in German) an

. was undertaken in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

, Germany, under the direction of the '' Gesellschaft zur Wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften'' (Society for the Scientific Investigation of the Parasciences).

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010 ...

offered a US$10,000 prize to any successful dowser. The three-day test of some thirty dowsers involved plastic pipes through which water flow could be controlled and directed. The pipes were buried 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% success rate. However, the results were no better than chance, and no one was awarded the prize.

Betz 1990 study

In a 1987–88 study in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

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-story 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 and, 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."Wagner, H., H.-D. Betz, and H. L. König, 1990. Schlußbericht 01 KB8602, Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie
As quoted by Jim T. Enright
in the ''

Skeptical Inquirer ''Skeptical Inquirer'' is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle: ''The Magazine for Science and Reason''. Mission statement and goals Daniel Loxton, writing in 2 ...

''. Five years after the Munich study was published, Jim T. Enright, a professor of

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...

who emphasized correct data analysis procedure, contended that the study's results are merely consistent with

statistical fluctuations Statistical fluctuations are fluctuations in quantities derived from many identical random processes. They are fundamental and unavoidable. It can be proved that the relative fluctuations reduce as the square root of the number of identical proces ...

and not significant. He believed the experiments provided "the most convincing disproof imaginable that dowsers can do what they claim", stating that the data analysis was "special, unconventional and customized". Replacing it with "more ordinary analyses", he noted that the ''best'' dowser was on average out of closer to a mid-line guess, an advantage of 0.04%, and that the five other "good" dowsers were on average farther than a mid-line guess. Enright emphasized that the experimenters should have decided beforehand how to statistically analyze the results; if they only afterward chose the statistical analysis that showed the greatest success, then their conclusions would not be valid until replicated by another test analyzed by the same method. He further pointed out that the six "good" dowsers did not perform any better than chance in separate tests. Another study published in ''

Pathophysiology Pathophysiology ( physiopathology) – a convergence of pathology with physiology – is the study of the disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is ...

'' hypothesized that such experiments as this one that were carried out in the twentieth century could have been interfered with by man-made radio frequency radiation, as test subjects' bodies absorbed the radio waves and unconscious hand movement reactions took place following the standing waves or intensity variations.

Scientific reception

Ideomotor phenomenon

Science writers such as William Benjamin Carpenter (1877), Millais Culpin (1920), and

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lew ...

(1957) accept the view of some dowsers that the movement of dowsing rods is the result of unconscious muscular action. Carpenter, William Benjamin. (1877). ''Mesmerism, Spiritualism, &c. Historically & Scientifically Considered.'' New York: D. Appleton and Company. pp. 47–53 Culpin, Millais. (1920). ''Spiritualism and the New Psychology: An Explanation of Spiritualist Phenomena and Beliefs in Terms of Modern Knowledge''. London: Edward Arnold. pp. 34–43

Gardner, Martin Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...

. (1957). '' Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science''. Dover Publications. pp. 101–115. This view is widely accepted amongst the

scientific community The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many " sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional activities are als ...

. Hyman, Ray. (2003)
"How People Are Fooled by Ideomotor Action"
Quackwatch. French, Chris. (2013)
"The unseen force that drives Ouija Boards and fake bomb detectors"
The Guardian. The dowsing apparatus is known to amplify slight movements of the hands caused by a phenomenon known as the

ideomotor response The ideomotor phenomenon is a psychological phenomenon wherein a subject makes motions unconsciously. Also called ideomotor response (or ideomotor reflex) and abbreviated to IMR, it is a concept in hypnosis and psychological research. It is der ...

: people's subconscious minds may influence their bodies without consciously deciding to take action. This would make the dowsing rod susceptible to the dowsers' subconscious knowledge or perception; and also to

confirmation bias Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring ...

.Hyman, R; Vogt, E. Z. (1968). ''Psychologists examine the secrets of water witching''. '' Science Digest'' 63 (1): 39–45. Hines, Terence. (2003). ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books. pp. 418–421. Hyman, Ray. (2007). ''Ouija, Dowsing, and Other Selections of Ideomotor Action''. In. S. Della Sala. ''Tall Tales About the Mind & Brain: Separating Fact From Fiction''. Oxford University Press. pp. 411–424"Dowsing (a.k.a. water witching)"
The Skeptic's Dictionary.

Pseudoscience

Dowsing is in all other respects considered to be a

. Regal, Brian. (2009). ''Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia''. Greenwood. pp. 56–57. Pigliucci, Massimo; Boudry, Maarten. (2013). ''Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem''. University Of Chicago Press p. 38. Radford, Benjamin. (2013)
"Dowsing: The Pseudoscience of Water Witching"
Live Science. Psychologist David Marks in a 1986 article in ''

'' included dowsing in a list of "effects which until recently were claimed to be

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

but which can now be explained from within orthodox science." Specifically, dowsing could be explained in terms of

sensory cue Sensory may refer to: Biology * Sensory ecology, how organisms obtain information about their environment * Sensory neuron, nerve cell responsible for transmitting information about external stimuli * Sensory perception, the process of acquiri ...

s, expectancy effects, and

probability Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1, where, roughly speaking, ...

. Science writer Peter Daempfle has noted that when dowsing is subjected to scientific testing, it fails. Daempfle has written that although some dowsers claim success, this can be attributed to the underground

water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

being distributed relatively uniformly in certain areas. Daempfle, Peter. (2013). ''Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience, and Just Plain Bunk: How to Tell the Difference''. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 115. In regard to dowsing and its use in archaeology, Kenneth Feder has written that "the vast majority of archaeologists don't use dowsing, because they don't believe it works." Psychologist Chris French has noted that "dowsing does not work when it is tested under properly controlled conditions that rule out the use of other cues to indicate target location." Water dowsers often achieve good results because random chance has a high probability of finding water in favorable terrain.

Notable dowsers

Otto Edler von Graeve 4786745367 04b089ec26 b

Notable dowsers include: * Jacques Aymar-Vernay *

Moritz Benedikt Moritz Benedikt also spelt Moriz (4 July 1835, in Eisenstadt, Sopron County – 14 April 1920, in Vienna) was a Hungarian-Austrian neurologist who was a native of Eisenstadt. He was an instructor and professor of neurology at the University ...

Manfred Curry Manfred Curry (11 December 1899 – 13 February 1953) was a physician, inventor, sailor and author of American citizenship. He was born in Munich, Germany; his father (Charles) was American and his mother (Adele) Russian. Career An accomplished ...

* Leicester Gataker *

Uri Geller Uri Geller ( ; he, אורי גלר; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other i ...

* A. Frank Glahn * Otto Edler von Graeve *

Henry Gross Henry Gross (born April 1, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his association with the group Sha Na Na and for his hit song, " Shannon". Gross is considered a one-hit wonder artist; none of his other songs reached the Top ...

Ernst Hartmann Ernst Hartmann (born 10 November 1915 in Mannheim, d. 23 October 1992 in Waldkatzenbach, a suburb of Waldbrunn (Odenwald)) in Germany was a German medical doctor, author and publicist. "Hartmann lines", a scientifically unproven grid of in ...

Christopher Hills Christopher Hills (April 9, 1926 – January 31, 1997) was an English-born author, described as the "Father of Spirulina" for popularizing spirulina cyanobacteria as a food supplement. He also wrote 30 books on consciousness, meditation, yog ...

T. C. Lethbridge Thomas Charles Lethbridge (23 March 1901 – 30 September 1971), better known as T. C. Lethbridge, was an English archaeologist, parapsychologist, and explorer. A specialist in Anglo-Saxon archaeology, he served as honorary Keeper of Anglo- ...

* J. Cecil Maby *

Larry R. Marshall Larry R. Marshall is an Australian physicist and entrepreneur who served as the head of the CSIRO, Australia's national scientific research agency. Marshall was appointed to this position on 15 January 2015, succeeding the organisation's f ...

* Michel Moine * Nils-Axel Mörner *

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, h ...

(in his early life) *

Karl Spiesberger Karl Spiesberger (29 October 1904 – 1 January 1992) was a German mystic, occultist, Germanic revivalist and Runosophist. He is most well known for his revivalism and usage of the Sidereal Pendulum for divination and dowsing and for his anti- ...

Ludwig Straniak Ludwig Straniak (1879-1951), was a German mystic, Germanic revivalist and most notably a pendulum dowser. He was an architect and astrologer and was used by the German military in the Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist ...

* Solco Walle Tromp * Ralph Whitlock * Professor Calculus

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Footage of water dowser at work
* George P. Hansen

In: '' Journal of the Society for Psychical Research'', Volume 51, Number 792, October 1982, pp. 343–367
James Randi, "The Matter of Dowsing"
*

' – Includes details of various scientific tests * O

featuring Ray Hyman, November 19, 1997 {{Authority control Pseudoscience