84 NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE.
But scientific men who have bestowed any care or examination
of nature regard this alleged power as an unconscious delusion,
ascribing the whole phenomenon to the effect of a strong impression
on the mind acting through the agency of the nerves and muscles.
Let anyone try the experiment. Hold the two branches of the fork
as loosely as possible about 6 inches from the angle. At first one
points over each shoulder, then without clenching the fist turn the
hands till the backs are towards the ground, keeping them about
6 inches apart. It will be seen that, however loosely the twigs are
held, they become a little twisted, and that the slightest movement
of the hands will make the fork fly up and down again at pleasure.
Another method is to hold the small ends in the hands in a position
parallel to the horizon and the upper part at an elevation having an
angle of 70º. The rod must be strongly grasped and steadily held,
and then the operator walks over the ground. When he crosses a
lode or spring, its bending is supposed to indicate the presence
thereof. The position of the hands in holding the rod is a con-
strained one ; it is not easy to describe it, but the result is that the
hands, from the weariness speedily induced in the muscles, grasp
the end of the twig yet more rigidly, and then is produced the
mysterious bending. The phenomena of the rod and table turning
are of precisely the same character, and both are referable to an
involuntary muscular action, resulting from a fixedness of idea.
But, in the opinion of the ancient experts, the operation of the
rod depended upon many special conditions. It was always to be
used after sunset and before sunrise, and only on certain nights,
among which are specified—Good Friday, Epiphany, Shrove Tues-
day, St. John's Day, and the first night of a new moon or that
preceding it. In cutting a rod one must face the east, so that it shall
have caught the first rays of the morning sun, or, as some say, the
eastern or western sun must shine through the fork, otherwise it will
be good for nothing.
It must not be thought that no scientific (so-called) reason has
been given to account for this supposed power. I trust the fol-
lowing may be understood :—
It is stated "that the corpuscles rising from the springs or
minerals entering the rod determine it to bow down in order to
make it parallel to the vertical lines which the effluvia describe in
their rise. In effect the mineral or water particles are supposed to
be emitted by means of the subterraneous heat or of the fermenta-