CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE
'Scientific minds have bent themselves to the problem of water divining. Here is a quotation from Theodore von Karman's Aerodynamics (1954), p. 160,' says Mr. A. E. Boyd, of Hatfield : 'Perhaps the simplest example of a resonance is that of a pendulum whose point of support is kept in oscillating motion with a frequency equal to that of the pendulum. It is easy to show experimentally that in this case the pendulum will go• into large oscilla- tions. The phenomenon of resonance is cleverly used by people predicting hidden processes with a pendulum. They predict, for example, the existence of water or ore beneath the ground. They time the pendulum to the frequency of their pulse, so that the slightest movement of their hand causes the pendulum to oscillate with considerable amplitude.' There are, of course, two sides to the penny, and a friend who lives in Donegal, Mr. F. L. Townsend, writes: 'For over a dozen years I have been dwelling with John McLoughlin, who is official County Council diviner for this Barony of Inishowen.'I have seen him find a buried half-sovereign and mark a stream on a map. He has found 115 wells without any failure.' The layman is left wondering, for the diviners continue to find water and the scien- tists continue to explain away everything but the law of averages.
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