His explanation of the power he possesses beyond the ordinary run of his fellow-men is that it is what he would call 'animal electricity,' because at times, after using the rod for a long period, he loses his power with it, and only recovers it after a short rest and refreshment. In the presence of Lady Middleton and the rest of the company he made several interesting experiments--for instance, standing on a china dish, to show that china is a non-conducting agent (the rod ceasing to oscillate even when over water); finding metals hid in the ground, etc." Mrs. Louise Cotton, writing of the operation itself, says: "When a sensitive person who has the power of feeling the existence of water or mineral under the surface of the earth, steps exactly over the course of a spring or running water, or metallic vein, etc., the piece of wood or other medium used turns in the hands--in most cases upwards for water and downwards for minerals. The motion varies according to individual temperaments: in some hands the turning is slow and but slightly felt, or scarcely perceptible by lookers-on; with others it rotates rapidly, and when held tightly by the thumb, the bark of the branch or twig often peels off; and, with very susceptible operators. I have seen the rod fly, out of the hands, or, if very tightly held, break." As yet, however, the majority of people are wholly oblivious to the fact that such psychic faculties exist, and even those who possess them, _i.e._, who have them in something like working efficiency, are conscious of having but an imperfect control over them. Probably it is as suggested by Mr. F. H. Myers, these things are, as yet, imperfectly understood. Genius, far from being a condition bordering on neurosis or other nervous ailments--as Lombroso and Nordau have erroneously taught--is an exaltation of faculty which brings its subject into relations with a plane of life possibly far in advance of one's normal experience; so that while new centres of activity are as yet under imperfect control, the normal functions of the brain and other centres of action are left in neglect. Hence, to the casual observer, the erratic nature of Genius is not distinguishable from some incipent forms of insanity. In just the same way the opening up of new centres of activity in the psychic nature of man is frequently attended by temporary loss of control over the normal brain functions. Loss of memory, hysteria, absentmindedness, unconscious utterance of one's thoughts, illusions and hallucinations, irritability, indifference to one's surroundings, and similar perversions, are among the products of the newly-evolved psychic faculty.