affects the rod in my hand in the same degree as the cataract of Niagara itself, and that the presence of a stove, a bar of iron, or any other metal--a water or gas pipe, causes it to turn with the same movement as a large mineral deposit; but it is my belief that there is a hidden mode of distinguishing between them all, outside of all questions of personal influence. We know that in what we call the dark age of the world, all unexplained phenomena were referred to personal witchcraft. We, as yet, know little of the many phenomena of electricity, and in the midst of our own intelligent population we find, that, to very many, the working of the electric telegraph itself is ascribed to superhuman agency. Only a few days ago an intelligent telegraph operator and his wife, at Horican, thought the spirits were communicating with him through the wires because they heard the air "Home, Sweet Home" in their vibrations--not knowing that he was receiving a musical message from the newly invented telephone, played at Chicago, many miles distant. I have desired to show that the use of the "divining rod" is at least as old as the Mosaic dispensation; that the knowledge or tradition of its use has been understood, to some extent, by certain "wise" men in all ages, and that in the present age--one of inquiry and research--many have a knowledge of it and make use of it to their own advantage; that there is no superstition in the matter, but that it is governed by fixed laws; that it requires only intelligent research and earnest investigation to understand them thoroughly, and, finally, to arrive at results of the greatest practical benefit to mankind. When we understand that the earth is a great electric ball, giving and receiving electricity with the nature of the conductors which transport or absorb the various currents, we may arrive at more comprehensive and correct theories about natural phenomena. I picked up, a few days since, a periodical containing an admirable article on the Electric Telegraph, describing most vividly the motion of the currents, and I make use of the words of the writer to illustrate how it is possible to bring this subject to a scientific test: