DOWSING FOR OIL
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sm,—Articles have appeared in the papers lately about the test well for oil at Dalkeith, where an apparently successful bore has been made by the Anglo-American Oil Company. It seems that only one paper has mentioned the fact that the licence for boring at this spot was originally granted to Major C. A. Pogson, M.C., an expert dowser, and Mr. E. H. Cunningham-Craig, the well-known geologist, acting jointly under the tide of The Midlothian Petroleum Syndicate.
Mr. Cunningham-Craig for a number of years has publicly voiced his opinion that this place presented the most favourable chances of striking oil in Great Britain, and results have shown that his convictions were justified. Major Pogson, utilising his own methods, was convinced that oil would be found at Dalkeith, and in addition reported unfavourably on several of the bores carried out recently at various places in England, all of which have proved abortive.
The association of a famous geologist and a dowser whose proficiency was such as to earn for him an official Government appointment as water-diviner is of more than passing interest, and it is reasonable to suppose that if the services of an expert dowser were utilised by our oil geologists, results might be of a more successful nature.—I am, Sir, &c., York House, Portugal Street, A. H. BELL (Colonel) Society of Dowsers).
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