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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
228
In
1659,
the
Jesuit,
Gaspard
Schott,
tells
us
that
this
magic
rod
was
at
this
period
used
in
every
town
in
Germany,
and
that
he
had
frequently
had
opportunities
of
seeing
it
used
in
the
discovery
of
hidden
treasure.
He
further
adds:--"I
searched
with
the
greatest
care
into
the
question
whether
the
hazel
rod
had
any
sympathy
with
gold
and
silver,
and
whether
any
natural
property
set
it
in
motion.
In
like
manner,
I
tried
whether
a
ring
of
metal,
held
suspended
by
a
thread
in
the
midst
of
a
tumbler,
and
which
strikes
the
hours,
is
moved
by
any
similar
force."
But
many
of
the
mysterious
effects
of
these
so-called
divining-rods
were
no
doubt
due
to
clever
imposture.
In
the
year
1790,
Plunet,
a
native
of
Dauphiné,
claimed
a
power
over
the
divining-rod
which
attracted
considerable
attention
in
Italy.
But
when
carefully
tested
by
scientific
men
in
Padua,
his
attempts
to
discover
buried
metals
completely
failed;
and
at
Florence
he
was
detected
trying
to
find
out
by
night
what
he
had
secreted
to
test
his
powers
on
the
morrow.
The
astrologer
Lilly
made
sundry
experiments
with
the
divining-rod,
but
was
not
always
successful;
and
the
Jesuit,
Kircher,
tried
the
powers
of
certain
rods
which
were
said
to
have
sympathetic
influences
for
particular
metals,
but
they
never
turned
on
the
approach
of
these.
Once
more,
in
the
"Shepherd's
Calendar,"
we
find
a
receipt
to
make
the
"Mosaic
wand
to
find
hidden
treasure"
without
the
intervention
of
a
human
operator:--"Cut
a
hazel
wand
forked
at
the
upper
end
like
a
Y.
Peel
off
the
rind,
and
dry
it
in
a
moderate
heat,
then
steep
it
in
the
juice
of
wake-robin
or
nightshade,
and
cut
the
single
lower
end
sharp;
and
where
you
suppose
any
rich
mine
or
hidden
treasure
is
near,
place
a
piece
of
the
same
metal
you
conceive
is
hid,
or
in
the
earth,
to
the
top
of
one
of
the
forks
by
a
hair,
and
do
the
like
to
the
other
end;
pitch
the
sharp
single
end
lightly
to
the
ground
at
the
going
down
of
the
sun,
the
moon
being
in
the
increase,
and
in
the
morning
at
sunrise,
by
a
natural
sympathy,
you
will
find
the
metal
inclining,
as
it
were
pointing,
to
the
places
where
the
other
is
hid."
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