Dowsers often make strong claims to be able to detect water or other material
by means of a hazel twig or a bent steel coat hanger, while other people equally
vigorously deny any such power.
In Chemistry in Britain for August, Brian Malpass relates a dowsing experiment
once carried out in Edinburgh. As part of an annual science festival there,
a large assembly of would-be dowsers gathered in a grassy open area known as
The Meadows, armed with converted metal coat hangers. There was a wide distribution
of age, sex and socio-economic status among the performers, and they included
believers, non-believers and plain doubters. The trial area had been marked
out with two-metre squares to enable the results to be plotted.
When all results had been assembled, they showed a random scatter. The organiser
then revealed that there was a 46cm water main situated in the area, running
at right angles to the line followed by the dowsers. It was clear that an organised
massive dowsing experiment had failed to detect the presence of this major water
pipeline. Sceptics will draw their own conclusions, and I have no doubt that
the believers will continue to believe.