Following on from the last post which was an introduction to some of the basics of water divining, here is an account from the BSD journal of 1959, from a water diviner named A.C. Wiliamson. This article begins with a helpful description of the geology of underground water. He then describes his own survey technique, again, using a Y rod, very common at that time. He refers to many \u201cdowsing zones\u201d on each side of the underground flow and how these may trick un unwary dowser. He provides a diagram showing two of these zones which give a reaction, two on each side of the stream. This appears to have some similarity to the reactions described by Applegate, but not exactly the same. Also, Williamson does not speak of the \u201ctrios\u201d. He then goes on to explain how to distinguish between the various reactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For finding the depth of the stream, he mentions the Bishop\u2019s rule in a similar manner to Applegate, but says that when there is a variety of different strata present, and particularly clay, this rule is not reliable. Instead, he uses a method common at the time, devised by a Major Creyke, in which a mumetal rod is inserted directly above the underground stream. Remarkably, this had the effect of creating a number of concentric rings, of different radii, on the surface of the ground, such that when the dowser walked over the ring, they would feel a reaction. The distance of the reaction from the rod, then gave a measure of the depths of the top and bottom of the water bearing strata. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(There is a mention here of someone named Maby. He was a\nscientist, who had taken it upon himself to investigate the physical principles\nunderlying dowsing. This he did from his dowsing laboratory in the Cotswolds,\nwith some financial support from the BSD. He was very much a scientist of his day, in that\nhis explanations where based on physical principles, as we see in this article.\nTo begin with he was much admired for his work and he seemed to provide some helpful\nadvice for field dowsing, and he certainly wrote of some interesting experiments\nin the BSD journal, which we might cover in later posts. But as time\nprogressed, I feel that his work did fall out of favour amongst many members of\nthe BSD.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For an estimation of the flow rate of water, Williamson uses comparison method, whereby he compares the positions of the first reaction bands he encounters, when walking away from the stream, with those obtained over known flows in a similar geology, ie a kind of lookup table approach. It shows the importance of a knowledge of local geology when water divining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
About water quality, he mentions that some dowsers can\ndeduce it, but he remains sceptical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He concludes by mentioning how secretive, or vague, water diviners can be about their practice. But even if they divulged all, it is apparent that many differences would exist between their different methods, even though they might all converge on the same result. This is a particularly intriguing aspect of dowsing, I think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The article \u201cDowsing in East Africa\u201d is here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n