Skeptical Science Experiments with Dowsing

This long article was compiled as a review from many past era's of experiments on dowsing, by George P. Hansen. Try to look past the skeptical side and glean those tidbits of truth that couldn't be omitted, that may be useful. I have quoted a few excerpts as an example of separating the wheat to be found among the chaff of decades old verbage.

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Barrett also conducted a number of experiments which supported the psychical theory. Here is a description of one:

<BLOCKQUOTE>A coin was to be hidden in some part of the room in the absence of the dowsers and while all those present in the room looked out of the window, the person hiding the coin was then to leave the room, and one of the dowsers called in to try and find the coin. This was done five times; first the coin was hidden by Sir William Barrett beneath an article lying on a chair in the large Council Room, 45 other chairs being similarly covered. The odds against finding the coin at the first venture were thus 45 to 1, but when Mr. Young was called in he immediately indicated the correct chair. Mr. Young again left the room, accompanied by a guardian, and the coin was hidden under another chair, which was again correctly indicated by Mr. Young. The odds against two such consecutive successes being due to chance coincidence are 2,025 to 1. (Barrett and Besterman, 1926/1968, p. 258). </BLOCKQUOTE>
At the end of five trials, Barrett concluded that the odds against chance occurrence were 80,000,000 to 1.

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When Gross walked over the vein of water, a change of 100 millivolts was noted, which returned to approximately normal after he crossed it. For the nondowsers tested, changes of less than 10 millivolts were generally recorded. In a later set of experiments, Gallay tested a Canadian dowser, Desrosiers. Desrosiers used no dowsing instrument but experienced his dowsing reactions as painful sensations on the soles of his feet and in the small of his back. Changes in skin potential were from 100 to 200 millivolts when he walked over the known water vein. The maximum change noted with a number of non-dowsers was 30 millivolts.

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Tromp noted that persons sensitive to dowsing had much lower skin resistance than those not sensitive, and claimed that non-sensitive persons can be made sensitive for a short time by washing their hands. In other experiments, the skin potential was monitored while a dowser moved the rod over the body of another human. Tromp found differences when the rod was held over the head and when over the feet. There were different changes for men and women.

Hmmm, Washing hands created more sensitivity ?

Read the entire article at: http://www.tricksterbook.com/ArticlesOnline/Dowsing.htm