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This is what is supported by the sources. I'm sure a better source can be found, as this is notable enough to have been spoken on by a body representing science in general
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'''Dowsing''', sometimes called '''divining''' or '''water witching''', refers to practices enabling one to detect hidden water, metals, [[gemstones]] or other objects, usually obstructed by land or sometimes located on a [[map]]. Most commonly, detection is made through the movement or vibrations of an apparatus, such as a Y-shaped twig, an L-shaped rod, or a [[pendulum]]. Some practitioners claim to need no apparatus at all.
'''Dowsing''', sometimes called '''divining''' or '''water witching''', refers to practices enabling one to detect hidden water, metals, [[gemstones]] or other objects, usually obstructed by land or sometimes located on a [[map]]. Most commonly, detection is made through the movement or vibrations of an apparatus, such as a Y-shaped twig, an L-shaped rod, or a [[pendulum]]. Some practitioners claim to need no apparatus at all.


While the concept of dowsing is generally not accepted by mainstream scientists, <ref name="enright" />
While the concept of dowsing is not accepted by skeptics, <ref name="enright" />
some scientists believe that they have shown evidence that dowsing is an actual phenomena <ref name="enright">{{cite web
some scientists believe that they have shown evidence that dowsing is an actual phenomena <ref name="enright">{{cite web
| url = http://www.csicop.org/si/9901/dowsing.html
| url = http://www.csicop.org/si/9901/dowsing.html

Revision as of 04:22, 7 April 2007

For the English iconoclast, see William Dowsing.
A dowser, from an 18th century French book about superstitions.

Dowsing, sometimes called divining or water witching, refers to practices enabling one to detect hidden water, metals, gemstones or other objects, usually obstructed by land or sometimes located on a map. Most commonly, detection is made through the movement or vibrations of an apparatus, such as a Y-shaped twig, an L-shaped rod, or a pendulum. Some practitioners claim to need no apparatus at all.

While the concept of dowsing is not accepted by skeptics, [1] some scientists believe that they have shown evidence that dowsing is an actual phenomena [1] and many people do believe in its efficacy.[2]

History of dowsing

Dowsing has existed in various forms for thousands of years.[3] The original may have been for divination purposes — to divine the will of the gods, to foretell the future and divine guilt in trials. Dowsing as practiced today probably originated in Germany during the 15th century, when it was used to find metals. The technique spread to England with German miners who came to England to work in the coal mines. During the Middle Ages dowsing was associated with the Devil. In 1659 dowsing was declared Satanic by the Jesuit Gaspar Schott. In 1701 the Inquisition stopped using the dowsing rod in trials. An extensive book on the history of dowsing was published by Christopher Bird in 1979 under the title of The Divining Hand.

According to the NY Times, the American Marines and Army tried using dowsing to locate weapons and tunnels during the Korean War and the Vietnam War.[citation needed]

Possible explanations

Skeptics of dowsing and many supporters of it[who?] believe dowsing apparatus has no special powers, but simply amplifies small but otherwise imperceptible movements of the hands arising from the expectations of the dowser. This psychological phenomenon is termed the ideomotor effect. Some supporters[who?] agree with this explanation, but maintain that the dowser has a subliminal sensitivity to the environment, perhaps via electroception, magnetoception, or telluric currents.

Some[who?] say dowsing is better classified as a paranormal belief than as pseudoscience. In pseudoscience, scientific-sounding jargon is used and explanations are unable to be supported scientifically. Dowsers however cannot explain the source of their powers apart from magnetic fields and auras, and simply 'believe' they can dowse, making it more a matter of faith than science.[citation needed]

Those who believe in dowsing may do so because they severely under-estimate the probability of finding water at a given location. A charlatan could tell his gullible listeners that water runs underground in narrow streams, when in fact it is contained in strata of porous rock at various depths (hence the name "water table"). Therefore a water-witch who has an apparently high success rate at finding water may not be any better than someone merely guessing. (It should be noted that in some areas underlain by hard rocks, a substantial flow of water might only be obtained if the well intersects a fracture in the otherwise impermeable rock, similar to the common conception of dowsers.)

James Randi

The magician and skeptic James Randi has for years made a standing offer to pay a million dollars to anyone who can prove to his satisfaction that they posess paranormal powers, such as ESP, clairvoyance, or dowsing. He has tested a number of dowsers trying to claim his million dollars, but none have been able to demonstrate dowsing ability under the test conditions devised by Randi. Although Randi does not believe that dowsing works, he describes dowsers as almost invariably honest people who are genuinely puzzled when they fail his dowsing test.[1]

Munich

The most extensive scientific study of dowsing to date was done in Munich, Germany, in 1987 and 1988 and published in 1989.[1] More than 500 dowsers participated in more than 10,000 double-blind tests.

In one series of tests, the dowsers were in a long, movable wagon with no windows. The idea was to recreate conditions as close as possible to the normal working conditions of dowsers — within the limits of scientifically controlled experiments — and to make as few assumptions as possible about the nature of dowsing. The dowsers were asked to identify the position on the floor of the wagon at which they detected a disturbance. The wagon was then moved and they were asked to find the same spot. If they were actually detecting something under the ground, whatever it was and whether or not it was the same thing other dowsers detected, the spot they picked should have been over the same spot on the ground regardless of where the wagon was standing. This setup was remarkable for its generality, although it was too complicated and expensive to be used to test large numbers of dowsers. Within statistical uncertainties, the participants failed to show any dowsing ability in this test.

The largest number of tests were done in a barn. On the ground floor, water was pumped through a pipe that could be moved in a direction perpendicular to the flow. The participants on the upper floor were asked to determine the position of the pipe. Some 500 dowsers were tested in this way. Of these, the 43 dowsers who seemed to be the best were chosen to undergo more extensive tests. Over two years, a total of 843 single tests were made with this group. This experimental setup and the data obtained from it were generally agreed by the dowsers, the experimenters, and the critics to be scientifically valid and a fair test of dowsing ability.

Of the 43 pre-selected and extensively tested candidates, at least 37 of them obviously showed no dowsing ability. The results from the remaining 6 were slightly better than chance. The authors concluded that this result is statistically significant and indicative of a weak but real dowsing ability. A number of scientists[citation needed] have contended that these results are consistent with statistical fluctuations in the absence of any real ability; one calculating the best tester as being 4 millimeters closer over a span of 10 meters, on average, than a midline guess to position (a cumulative 0.0004% advantage.)[citation needed]

Kassel

More recently a scientific[citation needed] study[4] was undertaken in Kassel, Germany, under the direction of the Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP) [Society for the Scientific Investigation of the Parasciences]. The three-day test of some 30 dowsers involved plastic pipes through which a large flow of water could be controlled and directed. The pipes were buried 50 centimeters under a level field. On the surface, the position of each pipe was marked with a colored stripe, so all the dowsers had to do was tell whether there was water running through the pipe. All the dowsers signed a statement agreeing this was a fair test of their abilities and that they expected a 100 percent success rate. However, the results were no better than what would have been expected by chance.

Dowsing equipment

Many dowsers use simple brass rods bent in an "L" shape known as divining rods but many also use the wooden Y-rods and even bent wire coathangers. According to some dowsers who use divining rods, brass allows the rod to attune to magnetic fields emanated by the target without the earth's EM field interfering, as would be the case with a metal such as steel. The end of the rod to be held by the dowser is often encased in a material that provides a constant electrical impedance, to prevent the dowser's own conductivity from interfering with the dowsing process.

Pendulums for divination and dowsing

Pendulums (these may be a crystal suspended on a chain, or a metal weight) can be used in divination and dowsing. In one approach the user will first determine which direction (left-right, up-down) determines "yes" and which "no," before proceeding to ask the pendulum specific questions. In another form of divination, the pendulum is used with a pad or cloth that may have yes and no, but also other words written in a circle. The person holding the pendulum aims to hold it as steadily as possible over the center. An interviewer may pose questions to the person holding the pendulum, and it swings by minute unconscious bodily movement in the direction of the answer. In the practice of radiesthesia a pendulum is used for medical diagnosis.

Prominent pendulum dowsers

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c J. T. Enright (1999). "The Failure of the Munich Experiments". Retrieved 2006-11-14. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessyear=, |month=, |accessmonthday=, and |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ As translated from a preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active dowsers in Germany alone can generate a conservatively-estimated annual revenue of more than 100 million DM (US$50 million)". See Kassel references.
  3. ^ "the earliest sign of its usage dates from a 4500-5000 year old grave inscription in Brittany." Ramsus, Jansson (1999-01-27 (revised)). "Dowsing: Science or Humbug?". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ GWUP-Psi-Tests 2004: Keine Million Dollar für PSI-Fähigkeiten (in German) and English version.

Dowsing organizations

Skeptics

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