NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
85
tions in the bowels of the earth, and the rod being of a light porous
wood gives an easy passage to these particles, which are also very
fine and subtle. The effluvia then being driven forward by those
that follow them, and oppressed at the same time by the atmosphere
incumbent on them, are forced to enter the little interstices at the
fibres of the wood, and by that effort they oblige it to incline or dip
down perpendicularly, and to become parallel with the little columns
which these vapours form in their rise" !!
Now to sum up the whole matter. How can we reconcile our
disbelief in the powers of the Divining-rod with the testimony of those
persons who have either used it themselves or seen it used, and
whose writings have been published from time to time ? The task
is not so difficult, We are quite willing to admit the good faith of
those we have named, and do not for a moment disbelieve the accu-
racy of their facts. We have no doubt that the rods turned and that
the water was found ; we merely refuse to arrive at the conclusion
that the rod turned because there was water below the holder's feet.
The truth is, there is generally water under the soil if we only try for
it, and the ceremony of walking backwards and forwards with a twig
in no way alters the fact. Before we go further, let us hear how
often the rod has failed, let us see whether water cannot be found by
digging where it has not indicated water, and minerals found in
places over which the rod has made no movement.
NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
Badgers in Essex.—A remarkable letter from Mr. B. Morris, of Black-
heath, appeared in "The Standard" of May 17th, which was the occasion of a
"leader" in that paper of the following day. We should be much obliged for
any further information. Mr. Morris's letter was as follows : "Being on a visit
recently at a country house in a village not far from Braintree, in Essex, I was
greatly surprised to learn that quite a large number of badgers had been found
in a wood near the village. I was also more surprised to hear that they had all
been caught, and, if not killed, sent away. One would have thought that such
rare and interesting visitors would have been taken the utmost care of and
strictly preserved. There were no less than eleven. I had imagined that the
badger was nearly extinct—at least, in so thickly populated a part of the country
as that I speak of. The small wood in which the earths were situated is close to
a much-frequented high road, within a stone throw of the village and church.
The squire of the parish is a capital sportsman, and I cannot understand how he
could have allowed such vandalism. I may add that there was lots of woodland
country round for them had they been left alone ; at all events, the fact of there
being such a rare species of wild animal as the badger in Essex ought to have