Another example is to be found in a report of the well-known
physicist, Ritter[27], of Munich, which appeared during the early
part of the 19th century. Ritter, a man with a bent for natural
philosophy and metaphysics, describes an instrument which was to
replace the divining rod, and which he called "balancier." It was
simple enough, consisting of a metal strip that was balanced
horizontally upon a pivot, and was supposed to be put into motion in
the presence of metals. Ritter used this instrument in his numerous
experiments with the Italian Campetti, a man who had achieved a
measure of fame in Europe for his ability to discover springs and
metals by the use of the divining rod. Carrying the "balancier" on
the tip of the middle finger of his left hand, Campetti--whose
integrity one cannot cavil at--had to touch repeatedly a plate of
zinc or pewter, and had to count aloud the number of touches he
made. The following curious law was found to obtain (that was
probably suggested to the subject by Ritter without his being aware
of it): with the first contact the "balancier" turns to the left,
with the second to the right, and with the third it remains at rest.
At 4 it turns once more to the left, at 5 to the right, at 6 it
remains at rest, etc. It remained immovable only at the so-called
trigonal numbers (3, 6, 9, 15, 21, etc.). Ritter tells us that when
Campetti did not really count or did not think of the number, then
it would not have any influence whatever upon the action of the
instrument. This Ritter ascribes to the agency of electricity (which
in the 18th and 19th centuries was made to play very much the same
role that Satan had played in the 16th and 17th centuries).
The similarity of these two cases and that of Mr. Schillings is
evident. When the questioner of the horse and the bearers of the
"balancier" and of the divining rod are confident of success, they
succeed. When they do not expect success, they fail.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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