human
The method of procedure was to cut the twig of a hazel or an apple tree, of twelvemonths' growth, into a forked shape, and to hold this by both hands in a peculiar way, walking across the land until the twig bent, which was taken as an indication of the locality of a lode. The person who generally practices this divination boasts himself to be the seventh son of a seventh son. The twig of hazel bends in his hands to the conviction of the miners that ore is present; but then the peculiar manner in which the twig is held, bringing muscular action to bear upon it, accounts for its gradual deflection, and the circumstance of the strata walked over always containing ore, gives a further credit to the process of divination.
gpt
M. Linnæus, when he was upon his voyage to Scania, hearing his secretary highly extol the virtues of his divining wand, was willing to convince him of its insufficiency, and for that purpose concealed a purse of one hundred ducats under a ranunculus which grew by itself in a meadow, and bid the secretary find it if he could. The wand discovered nothing, and M. Linnæus's mark was soon trampled down by the company who were present; so that when M. Linnæus went to finish the experiment by fetching the gold himself, he was utterly at a loss where to seek it. The man with the wand assisted him, and pronounced it could not lie the way they were going, but quite the contrary, so pursued the direction of his wand, and actually dug out the gold. M. Linnæus adds that such another experiment would be sufficient to make a proselyte of him.
human
Juventus Mundi, says,--
gpt
With respect to the Trident (of Poseidon or Neptune),