sufficiently numerous to establish a belief in the existence of a mysterious agency causing the twig to "duck." No doubt originally, with complete innocence and honesty, this mysterious agency was believed to be a sort of magnetic attraction due to a sympathy between the twig and subterranean metal. In later days, without any attempt to give a reason for the change, the same class of people have believed that it was water far below the surface of the earth which was the cause of the attraction, and consequent ducking or dousing of the twig. Let us assume for a moment that the facts are as I have stated, and that the honest "douser" merely finds his forked twig dousing or ducking because his hands are tired by keeping in one position. Then it is evident that no harm would be done, but rather a useful decision leading to action would be determined, by the belief that concealed metal was the cause of the "ducking." Digging must be commenced somewhere, and the dousing-rod would only be tried on likely ground, so that, often, the thing sought for (whether metal or water) would be found after prolonged excavation at the spot indicated by the douser, or near it. If the digging were a failure, the believers in the dousing-rod would say that they had not been able to dig deep enough, or that some hostile agency had intervened and misled the "douser," or that he was in poor health, and so "worked" badly. The successes are remembered and the failures forgotten. So the belief in the dousing-twig as a real guide to subterranean metal and water has been maintained, and all the more securely because there have been, and doubtless are still, many honest, innocent country people who truly believe that they possess an exceptional and mysterious gift in being able to experience the curious ducking action of the twig when they walk with it in their hands in quest of this or that.