The _Diving Dress_ is a combination suit which envelops the whole body
from feet to neck. It is made of two layers of tanned twill with pure
rubber between, and is fitted at the neck with a vulcanized
india-rubber collar, or band, with holes punched in it corresponding
to the screws in the breastplate. This collar, when clamped tightly
between the bands and the breastplate by means of the nuts, ensures a
watertight joint. The sleeves of the dress are fitted with vulcanized
india-rubber cuffs, which, fitting tightly round the diver's wrists,
prevent the ingress of water at these parts also.
_Boots._--These are generally made with leather uppers, beechwood
inner soles and leaden outer soles, the latter being secured to the
others by copper rivets. Heavy leather straps with brass buckles
secure the boot to the foot. Each boot weighs about 16 lb. Sometimes
the main part of the boot-golosh, toe and heel, are in one brass
casting, with leather upper part, heavy straps and brass buckles.
_Lead Weights._--These weigh 40 lb. each, and the diver wears one on
his back, another on his chest. These weights and the heavy boots
ensure the diver's equilibrium when under water.
_Belt and Knife and Small Tools._--Every diver wears a heavy
waist-belt in which he carries a strong knife in metal case, and
sometimes other small tools.
_Air Pipe._--The diver's air pipe is of a flexible, non-collapsible
description, being made of alternate layers of strong canvas and
vulcanized india-rubber, with steel or hard drawn metal wire embedded.
At the ends are fitted gun-metal couplings, for connecting the pipe
with the diver's pump and helmet.
_Signal Line._--The diver's signal line (sometimes called life line)
consists of a length of reverse laid Manila rope. In cases where the
telephone apparatus is not used, the diver gives his signals by means
of a series of pulls on the signal line in accordance with a
prearranged code.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Diver's Telephone Communication with the
Surface.
Q, Battery, with switch and bell in case.
R, Attendant's receiver and transmitter.]
_Telephonic Apparatus._--Without doubt one of the most useful adjuncts
to the modern diving apparatus is the loud-sounding telephone (fig.
4), introduced by Siebe, Gorman & Co., which enables the diver to
communicate viva voce with his attendant, and vice versa. In the
British navy the type of submarine telephonic apparatus used is the
Graham-Davis system. This is made on two plans, (1) a single set of
instruments, for communication between one diver and his attendant
direct, (2) an intercommunication set which is used where two divers
are employed. With this type the attendant can speak to No. 1 or No. 2
diver separately, or with both at the same time, and vice versa; and
No. 1 can be put in communication with No. 2 whilst they are under
water, the attendant at the surface being able to hear what the men
are saying. The advantages of such a system are obvious. It is more
particularly useful where two divers are working one either side of a
ship, or where the divers may be engaged upon the same piece of work,
but out of sight of one another, or out of touch. It would prove its
utility in a marked degree in cases where a diver got into
difficulties; a second diver sent down to his assistance could receive
and give verbal directions and thus greatly expedite the work of
rescue.
The telephone instruments in the helmet consist of one or more
loud-sounding receivers placed either in the crown of the helmet, or
one on each side in close proximity to the diver's ears. A transmitter
of a special watertight pattern is placed between the front glass and
one of the side glasses, and a contact piece, which, when the diver
presses his chin against it, rings a bell at the surface, is fitted
immediately below the front glass. A buzzer is sometimes fixed in the
helmet to call the diver's attention when the attendant wishes to
speak, but as a rule the voice is transmitted so loudly that this
device is unnecessary. A connexion, through which the insulated wires
connecting the instruments pass, terminates in contact pieces, and the
telephone cable, embedded in the diver's signal line, is connected
with it. The other end of the signal line is connected to a battery
box at the surface. This box contains, besides the cells, a receiver
and transmitter for the attendant, an electric bell, a terminal box,
and a special switch, by means of which various communications between
diver, or divers, and attendant are made. If, as is sometimes the
case, the diver happens to be somewhat deaf, he can, whilst he is
taking a message, stop the vibration of the outlet valve and the noise
made by the escaping air, by merely pressing his finger on a spindle
which passes through the disk of the valve, and thus momentarily
ensure absolute silence.
_Speaking Tube._--The rubber speaking tube which was the forerunner of
the telephonic apparatus is now practically obsolete, though it is
still used in isolated cases.
_Submarine Electric Lamps._--Various forms of submarine lamps are
used, from a powerful arc light to a self-contained hand lamp, the
former giving about 2000 or 3000 candle-power, and requiring a
steam-driven dynamo to supply the necessary current, the latter (fig.
5) giving a light of about 10 candle-power and having its own
batteries, so that the diver carries both the light and its source in
his hand. These submarine lamps are all constructed on the same
principle, having the incandescent lamps, or carbons as the case may
be, enclosed in a strong glass globe, the mechanism and connexions
being fitted in a metal case above the globe, which is flanged and
secured watertightly to the case.
_Self-contained Diving Dress._--The object of the self-contained diving
dress is to make the diver independent of air supply from the surface.
The dress, helmet, boots and weights are of the ordinary pattern
already described, but instead of obtaining his air supply by means of
pumps and pipes, the diver is equipped with a knapsack consisting of a
steel cylinder containing oxygen compressed to a pressure of 120
atmospheres (= about 1800 lb.) to the square inch, and chambers
containing caustic soda or caustic potash. The helmet is connected to
the chambers by tubes, and the oxygen cylinder is similarly connected
to the chambers. The breath exhaled by the diver passes through a
valve into the caustic soda, which absorbs the carbonic acid, and it
is then again inhaled through another valve. This process of
regeneration goes on automatically, the requisite amount of oxygen
being restored to the breathed air in its passage through the
chambers. This type of apparatus has been used for shallow water work,
but the great majority of divers prefer the apparatus using pumps as
the source of the air supply.
An emergency dress, using this self-contained system for breathing,
has been designed by Messrs Fleuss and Davis, of the firm of Siebe,
Gorman & Co., primarily as a life-saving apparatus, for enabling men
to escape from disabled submarine boats.
The helmet diver is indispensable in connexion with harbour and dock
construction, bridge-building, pearl and sponge fishing, wreck raising
and the recovery of sunken cargo and treasure. Every ship in the
British navy carries one set or more of diving apparatus, for use in
ease of emergency, for clearing fouled propellers, cleaning valves or
ship's hull below the water line, repairing hulls if necessary, and
recovering lost anchors, chains, torpedoes, &c.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Submarine Electric Lamp, with and without
Reflector.
A, Metal case containing electrical fittings.
B, Glass globe and incandescent lamp.
C, Stand, which also protects the globe.
D, Ring for suspending lamp.
E, Reflector.]
_Greatest Depths attained._--The greatest depth at which useful work has
been performed by a diver is 182 ft. From this depth a Spanish diver,
Angel Erostarbe, recovered L9000 in silver bars from the wreck of the
steamer "Skyro," sunk off Cape Finisterre; Alexander Lambert succeeded
in salving L70,000 from the Spanish mail steamer "Alphonso XII," sunk in
162 ft. of water off Las Palmas, Grand Canary; W. Ridyard recovered
L50,000 in silver dollars from the "Hamilton Mitchell," sunk off
Leuconna Reef, China, in 150 ft. There are individual cases where much
larger sums have been recovered, but those mentioned are particularly
notable by reason of the great depth involved and stand out as the
greatest depths at which good work has been done. The sponge fishers of
the Mediterranean work at a maximum depth of about 150 ft., and the
pearl divers of Australia at 120 ft. But submarine operations on the
great majority of the harbour and dock works of the world are conducted
at a depth of from 30 to 60 ft.
The weighted tools employed by divers differ very little from those used
by the workmen on _terra firma_. Pneumatic tools, worked by compressed
air conveyed from the surface through flexible tubes, are great aids,
particularly in rock removal work. With the rock drill the diver bores a
number of holes to a given depth, inserts in these the charges of
dynamite or other explosive used, attaches one end of a wire to a
detonator which is inserted in the charge, and then comes to the
surface. The boat from which he works is then moved away from the scene
of operations, paying out the wire attached to the detonators, and when
at a safe distance the free end of the wire is connected to a magneto
exploding machine, which is then set in motion.
A complete set of diving apparatus costs from L75 to L200, varying with
the depth of water for which it is required.
The pay of a diver depends upon the nature of the work upon which he is
engaged, and also upon the depth of the water. On harbour and dock work
the average wage is 2s. to 2s. 6d. per hour; on wreck work from 3s. to
5s. an hour, according to depth; on treasure and cargo recovery so much
per day, with a percentage on the value recovered, generally about 5%.
The pearl fishers of Australia get so much per ton of shell, and the
sponge fishers are also paid by results.
A problem which has been exercising the minds of those engaged in
submarine work is the greatest depth at which it is possible to work,
for, as is well known, many a fine vessel with valuable cargo and
treasure is lying out of reach of the diver owing to the pressure which
he would have to sustain were he to attempt to reach her. Mr Leonard
Hill, and Drs Greenwood and J. J. R. Macleod conducted experiments in
conjunction with Messrs Siebe, Gorman & Co., with a view to solving this
problem, and their efforts have been attended with some considerable
success. Dr J. S. Haldane has also carried out practical experiments for
the British Admiralty, and under his supervision two naval officers have
succeeded in reaching the unprecedented depth of 210 ft., at which depth
the pressure is about 90 lb. to the square inch.
_Diving Bells._--Every one is familiar with the experiment of placing an
inverted tumbler in a bowl of water, and seeing the water excluded from
the tumbler by the air inside it. Perhaps it was to some such experiment
as this that the conception of the diving bell was due. As is well
known, the pressure of water increases with the depth, and for all
practical purposes this pressure can be taken at 4-1/4 lb. to every 10 ft.
The following table shows the pressure at different depths below the
surface of the water:--
Depth. Pressure.
20 ft. 8-1/2 lb to the sq. in.
40 " 17-1/4 " "
80 " 34-3/4 " "
120 " 52-1/2 " "
160 " 69-3/4 " "
200 " 87 " "
If a diving bell be sunk to a depth of, say, 33 ft., the air inside it
will be compressed to about half its original volume, and the bell
itself will be about half filled with water. But if a supply of air be
maintained at a pressure equal to the depth of water at which the bell
is submerged, not only will the water be kept down to the cutting edge,
but the bell will be ventilated and it will be possible for its
occupants to work for hours at a stretch.
Tradition gives Roger Bacon, in 1250, the credit for being the
originator of the diving bell, but actual records are lost in antiquity.
Of the records preserved to us, probably one of the most trustworthy is
an account given in Kaspar Schott's work, _Technica curiosa_, published
in the year 1664, which quoted from one John Taisnier, who was in the
service of Charles V. This account describes an experiment which took
place at Toledo, Spain, in the year 1538, before the emperor and some
thousands of spectators, when two Greeks descended into the water in a
large "kettle," suspended by ropes, with its mouth downwards. The
"kettle" was equipoised by lead fixed round its mouth. The men came up
dry, and a lighted candle, which they had taken down with them, was
still burning.
Francis Bacon, in the _Novum Organum_, lib. ii., makes the following
reference to a machine, or reservoir, of air to which labourers upon
wrecks might resort whenever they required to take breath:--
"A hollow vessel, made of metal, was let down equally to the surface
of the water, and thus carried with it to the bottom of the sea the
whole of the air which it contained. It stood upon three feet--like a
tripod--which were in length something less than the height of a man,
so that the diver, when he was no longer able to contain his breath,
could put his head into the vessel, and having filled his lungs again,
return to his work."
But it was to Dr Edmund Halley, secretary of the Royal Society, that
undoubtedly the honour is due of having invented the first really
practical diving bell. This is described in the _Philosophical
Transactions_, 1717, in a paper on "The Art of Living Under Water by
means of furnishing air at the bottom of the sea in any ordinary depth."
Halley's bell was constructed of wood, and was covered with lead, which
gave it the necessary sinking weight, and was so distributed as to
ensure that it kept a perpendicular position when in the water. It was
in the form of a truncated cone, 3 ft. in diameter at the top, 5 ft. at
the bottom and 8 ft. high. In the roof a lens was introduced for
admitting light, and also a tap to let out the vitiated air. Fresh air
was supplied to the bell by means of two lead-lined barrels, each
having a bung-hole in the top and bottom. To the hole in the top was
fixed a leathern tube, weighted in such a manner that it always fell
below the level of the bottom of the barrel so that no air could escape.
When, however, the tube was turned up by the attendant in the bell, the
pressure of the water rising through the hole in the bottom of the
barrel, forced the air through the tube at the top and into the diving
bell. These barrels were raised and lowered alternately, with such
success that Halley says that he, with four others, remained at the
bottom of the sea, at a depth of 9 to 10 fathoms, for an hour and a half
at a time without inconvenience of any sort.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Ordinary Diving Bell.]
This type of bell was used by John Smeaton in repairing the foundations
of Hexham Bridge in 1778, but instead of weighted barrels, he introduced
a force pump for supplying the necessary air. To Smeaton too we are
indebted for the first diving bell plant in the form with which we are
familiar to-day, that celebrated engineer having designed a square bell
of iron, for use on the Ramsgate harbour works, in 1788. This bell,
which measured 4-1/2 ft. in length, 3 ft. in width and 4-1/2 ft. in height,
and weighed 2-1/2 tons, was made sufficiently heavy to sink by its own
weight. It afforded room enough for two men to work, and was supplied
with air by a force pump worked from a boat at the surface.
Though the diving bell has been largely superseded by the modern diving
apparatus, it is still used on certain classes of work the magnitude of
which justifies the expense entailed, for it is not only a question of
the cost of the bell, but of the powerful steam-driven crane which is
needed to lower and raise it, and also of the gantry on which the crane
travels. Sometimes a barge or other vessel is used for working the bell.
At the present day, two types of diving bell are employed--the ordinary
bell, and the air-lock bell, which, however, is not so largely used.
On the new national harbour works at Dover, four large diving bells of
the ordinary type (fig. 6) were employed. These bells, in each of
which from four to six men descended at a time, consisted of steel
chambers, open at the bottom, measuring 17 ft. long by 10-1/2 ft. wide by
7 ft. high, and each weighed 35 tons. The ballast, which at once gives
the necessary sinking weight to the bell and maintains its
equilibrium, consisted of slabs of cast iron bolted to the walls of
the bell, inside. Each bell was fitted with loud-sounding telephonic
apparatus, by means of which the occupants could communicate either
with the men attending the crane or the men looking after the air
compressors at the surface. Electric lamps, supplied with current by a
dynamo in the compressor room, gave the necessary light inside the
bell. Seats and foot rails were provided for the men, and there were
racks and hooks for the various tools. Suspended from the roof was an
iron skip into which the men threw the excavated material, which was
emptied out when the bell was brought to the surface. Air was supplied
to the bells by means of steam-driven compressors worked in a house
erected on the gantry. The air was delivered into a steel air
receiver, and thence it passed through a flexible tube connected to a
gun-metal inlet valve in the roof of the diving bell; the pressure of
air was regulated according to the depth at which the bell happened to
be working. The maximum depth on the Dover works was between 60 and 70
ft., = about 25-30 lb. to the square inch. A bell was lowered by
means of powerful steam-driven cranes, travelling on a gantry, to
within a few feet of the water, and the men entered it from a boat.
The bell then continued its descent to the bottom, where the men, with
pick and shovel, levelled the sea bed ready to receive the large
concrete blocks, weighing from 30 to 42 tons apiece. Having completed
one section, the bell was moved along to another. The concrete blocks
were then lowered and placed in position by helmet divers. The bell
divers, clad in thick woollen suits and watertight thigh boots, worked
in shifts of about three hours each, and were paid at the rate of from
1s. to 15d. per hour.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Air-lock Diving Bell.
A, Working chamber.
B, Air-lock.
C, Pulleys and wire ropes for lowering and raising bell.
D, Iron ladder.
E, Tackles suspended from roof for raising and lowering objects.
F, Air supply pipe.]
The cost of an ordinary diving bell, including air compressor,
telephonic apparatus and electric light, is from L600 to L1500,
according to size.
The _Air-lock Diving Bell_ (fig. 7) comprises an iron or steel working
chamber similar to the ordinary diving bell, but with the addition of
a shaft attached to its roof. At the upper end of the shaft is an
airtight door, and about 8 ft. below this is another similar door.
When the bell divers wish to enter the bell, they pass through the
first door and close it after them, and then open a cock or valve and
gradually let into the space between the two doors compressed air from
the working chamber in order to equalize the pressure; they then open
the second door and pass down into the working chamber, closing the
door after them. When returning to the surface they reverse the
operation. It can readily be imagined that, owing to its unwieldy
character, the employment of the air-lock bell is resorted to only in
those cases where the nature of the sea bed necessitates its remaining
on a given spot for some considerable time, as for instance in the
excavation of hard rock to a given depth.
An air-lock bell supplied to the British Admiralty, for use in
connexion with the laying of moorings at Gibraltar, has a working
chamber measuring 15 ft. long by 10-1/2 ft. wide, by 7-1/2 ft. high,
and a shaft 37-1/2 ft. high by 3 ft. in diameter. It is built of steel
plates, with cast-iron ballast, and its total weight is about 46 tons.
The bell is electrically lighted, and is fitted with telephonic
apparatus communicating with the air-compressor room and lifting-winch
room. It is worked through a well in the centre of a specially
constructed steel barge 85 ft. long by 40 ft. beam, having a draught
of 7 ft. 6 in. The wire ropes, for lowering and raising the bell, work
over pulleys which are carried on a superstructure erected over the
well. Two sets of air compressors are fitted on the barge--one set for
supplying air to the bell, the other set for working a pneumatic rock
drill inside the bell. The greatest depth at which this particular
bell will work is 40 ft. The cost of the whole plant, including barge,
was about L14,000.
The diving dress has, however, to a great extent supplanted the diving
bell. This is due not only to the heavier cost of the latter, but more
particularly to the greater mobility of the helmet diver. Bell divers
are naturally limited to the area which their bell for the time being
covers, whereas helmet divers can be distributed over different parts
of a contract and work entirely independently of one another. The use
of the diving bell is, therefore, practically limited to the work of
levelling the sea bed, and the removal of rock.
See also the article CAISSON DISEASE as regards the physiological
effects of compressed air. (R. H. D.*)
DIVES-SUR-MER, a small port and seaside resort of north-western France on
the coast of the department of Calvados, on the Dives, 15 m. N.E. of
Caen by road. Pop. (1906) 3286. Dives is celebrated as the harbour
whence William the Conqueror sailed to England in 1066. In the porch of
its church (14th and 15th centuries) a tablet records the names of some
of his companions. The town has a picturesque inn, adapted from a
building dating partly from the 16th century, and market buildings
dating from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The coast in the vicinity of
Dives is fringed with small watering-places, those of Cabourg (to the
west) and of Beuzeval and Houlgate (to the east) being practically
united with it. There are large metallurgical works with electric motive
power close to the town.
DIVIDE, a word used technically as a noun in America and the British
colonies for any high ridge between two valleys, forming a
water-parting; a dividing range. For special senses of the verb "to
divide" (Lat. _di-videre_, the latter part of the word coming from a
root seen in Lat. _vidua_, Eng. "widow"), meaning generally to split up
in two or more parts, see DIVISION. In a parliamentary sense, to divide
(involving a separation into two sides, Aye and No) is to take the sense
of the House by voting on the subject before it.
DIVIDEND (Lat. _dividendum_, a thing to be divided), the net profit
periodically divisible among the proprietors of a joint-stock company in
proportion to their respective holdings of its capital. Dividend is not
interest, although the word dividend is frequently applied to payments
of interest; and a failure to pay dividends to shareholders does not,
like a failure to pay interest on borrowed money, lay a company open to
being declared bankrupt. In bankruptcy a dividend is the proportionate
share of the proceeds of the debtor's estate received by a creditor. In
England, the Companies Act 1862 provided that no dividend should be
payable except out of the profits arising from the business of the
company, but, in the case of companies incorporated by special act of
parliament for the construction of railways and other public works which
cannot be completed for a considerable time, it is sometimes provided
that interest may during construction be paid to the subscribers for
shares out of capital. Dividends (excluding occasional distributions in
the form of shares) are ordinarily payable in cash. Most companies
divide their capital into at least two classes, called "preference"
shares and "ordinary" shares, of which the former are entitled out of
the profits of the company to a preferential dividend at a fixed rate,
and the latter to whatever remains after payment of the preferential
dividend and any fixed charges. Before, however, a dividend is paid, a
part of the profits is often carried to a "reserve fund." The dividend
on preference shares is either "cumulative" or contingent on the profits
of each separate year or half year. When cumulative, if the profits of
any one year are insufficient to pay it in full, the deficiency has to
be made good out of subsequent profits. A cumulative preferential
dividend is sometimes said to be "guaranteed," and preferential
dividends payable by all English companies registered under the
Companies Acts 1862 to 1908 are cumulative unless stipulated to be
otherwise. Certain public companies are forbidden by parliament to pay
dividends in excess of a prescribed maximum rate, but this restriction
has been happily modified in some instances, notably in the case of gas
companies, by the institution of a sliding scale, under which a gas
company may so regulate the price of gas to be charged to consumers that
any reduction of an authorized standard price entitles the company to
make a proportionate increase of the authorized dividend, and any
increase above the standard price involves a proportionate decrease of
dividend. Dividends are usually declared yearly or half-yearly; and
before any dividend can be paid it is, as a rule, necessary for the
directors to submit to the shareholders, at a general meeting called for
the purpose, the accounts of the company, with a report by the directors
on its position and their recommendation as to the rate of the proposed
dividend. The articles of association of a company usually provide that
the shareholders may accept the director's recommendation as to dividend
or may declare a lower one, but may not declare a higher one than the
directors recommend. Directors frequently have power to pay on account
of the dividend for the year, without consulting the shareholders, an
"interim dividend," which on ordinary shares is generally at a much
lower rate than the final or regular dividend. An exceptionally high
dividend is often distributed in the shape of a dividend at the usual
rate supplemented by an additional dividend or "bonus." Payment of
dividends is made by means of cheques sent by post, called "dividend
warrants." All dividends are subject to income-tax, and by most
companies dividends are paid "less income-tax," in which case the tax is
deducted from the amount of dividend payable to each proprietor. When
paid without such deduction a dividend is said to be "free of
income-tax." In the latter case, however, the company has to make
provision for payment of the tax before declaring the dividend, and the
amount of its divisible profits and the rate of dividend which it is
able to declare are consequently to that extent reduced. In respect of
consols and certain other securities, holders of amounts of less than
L1000 may instruct the Bank of England or Bank of Ireland to receive and
invest their dividends. With few exceptions, the prices of securities
dealt in on the London Stock Exchange include any accruing dividend not
paid up to the date of purchase. At a certain day, after the dividend is
declared, the stock or share is dealt in on the Stock Exchange, as _ex
dividend_ (or "x. d."), which means that the current dividend is paid
not to the buyer but to the previous holder, and the price of the stock
is lower to that extent. The expression "cum dividend" is used to
signify that the price of the security dealt in includes a dividend
which, in the absence of any stipulation, might be supposed to belong to
the seller of the security. On the New York Stock Exchange the
invariable practice is to sell stock with the "dividend on" until the
company's books are closed, after which it is usually sold "ex
dividend." (S. D. H.)
DIVIDIVI, the native and commercial name for the astringent pods of
_Caesalpinia coriaria_, a leguminous shrub of the suborder
_Caesalpinieae_, which grows in low marshy tracts in the West Indies and
the north of South America. The plant is between 20 and 30 ft. in
height, and bears white flowers. The pods are flattened, and curl up in
drying; they are about 3/4 in. broad, from 2 to 3 in. long and of a rich
brown colour. Dividivi was first brought to Europe from Caracas in 1768.
It contains about 30% of ellagitannic acid, whence its value in leather
manufacture.
DIVINATION, the process of obtaining knowledge of secret or future
things by means of oracles, omens or astrology. The root of the word,
_deus_ (god) or _divus_, indicates the supposed source of the
soothsayer's information, just as the equivalent Greek term, [Greek:
mantike], indicates the spiritual source of the utterances of the seer,
[Greek: mantis]. In classical times the view was, in fact, general, as
may be seen by Cicero's _De divinatione_, that not only oracles but also
omens were signs sent by the gods; even the astrologer held that he
gained his information, in the last resort, from the same source. On the
side of the Stoics it was argued that if divination was a real art,
there must be gods who gave it to mankind; against this it was argued
that signs of future events may be given without any god.
Divination is practised in all grades of culture; its votaries range
from the Australian black to the American medium. There is no general
agreement as to the source of the information; commonly it is held that
it comes from the gods directly or indirectly. In the Bornean cult of
the hawk it seems that the divine bird itself was regarded as having a
foreknowledge of the future. Later it is regarded as no more than a
messenger. Among the Australian blacks, divination is largely employed
to discover the cause of death, where it is assumed to be due to magic;
in some cases the spirit of the dead man is held to give the
information, in others the living magician is the source of the
knowledge. We find moreover a semi-scientific conception of the basis of
divination; the whole of nature is linked together; just as the
variations in the height of a column of mercury serve to foretell the
weather, so the flight of birds or behaviour of cattle may help to
prognosticate its changes; for the uncultured it is merely a step to the
assumption that animals know things which are hidden from man.
Haruspication, or the inspection of entrails, was justified on similar
grounds, and in the case of omens from birds or animals, no less than in
astrology, it was held that the facts from which inferences were drawn
were themselves in part the causes of the events which they foretold,
thus fortifying the belief in the possibility of divination.
From a psychological point of view divinatory methods may be classified
under two main heads: (A) autoscopic, which depend simply on some change
in the consciousness of the soothsayer; (B) heteroscopic, in which he
looks outside himself for guidance and perhaps infers rather than
divines in the proper sense.
(A) Autoscopic methods depend on (i.) sensory or (ii.) motor
automatisms, or (iii.) mental impressions, for their results. (i.)
Crystal-gazing (q.v.) is a world-wide method of divining, which is
analogous to dreams, save that the vision is voluntarily initiated,
though little, if at all, under the control of the scryer. Corresponding
to crystal-gazing we have _shell-hearing_ and similar methods, which
are, however, less common; in these the information is gained by hearing
a voice. (ii.) The divining rod (q.v.) is the best-known example of this
class; divination depending on automatic movements of this sort is found
at all stages of culture; in Australia it is used to detect the magician
who has caused the death of a native; in medieval and modern times
water-divining or _dowsing_ has been largely and successfully used.
Similar in principle is _coscinomancy_, or divining by a sieve held
suspended, which gives indications by turning; and the equally common
divination by a suspended ring, both of which are found from Europe in
the west to China and Japan in the east. The ordeal by the Bible and key
is equally popular; the book is suspended by a key tied in with its
wards between the leaves and supported on two persons' fingers, and the
whole turns round when the name of the guilty person is mentioned.
Confined to higher cultures on the other hand, for obvious reasons, is
divination by automatic writing, which is practised in China more
especially. The sand divination so widely spread in Africa seems to be
of a different nature. _Trance speaking_, on the other hand, may be
found in any stage of culture and there is no doubt that in many cases
the procedure of the magician or shaman induces a state of
auto-hypnotism; at a higher stage these utterances are termed oracles
and are believed to be the result of inspiration (q.v.). (iii.) Another
method of divination is by the aid of mental impressions; observation
seems to show that by some process of this sort, akin to clairvoyance
(q.v.), fortunes are told successfully by means of palmistry or by
laying the cards; for the same "lie" of the cards may be diversely
interpreted to meet different cases. In other cases the impression is
involuntary or less consciously sought, as in dreams (q.v.), which,
however, are sometimes induced, for purposes of divination, by the
process known as incubation or temple sleep. Dreams are sometimes
regarded as visits to or from gods or the souls of the dead, sometimes
as signs to be interpreted symbolically by means of dream-books, which
are found not only in Europe but in less cultured countries like Siam.
(B) In heteroscopic divination the process is rather one of inference
from external facts. The methods are very various. (i.) The casting of
lots, _sortilege_, was common in classical antiquity; the Homeric heroes
prayed to the gods when they cast lots in Agamemnon's leather cap, and
Mopsus divined with sacred lots when the Argonauts embarked. Similarly
dice are thrown for purposes of sortilege; the _astragali_ or
knucklebones, used in children's games at the present day, were
implements of divination in the first instance. In Polynesia the
coco-nut is spun like a teetotum to discover a thief. Somewhat different
are the omens drawn from books; in ancient times the poets were often
consulted, more especially Virgil, whence the name _sortes virgilianae_,
just as the Bible is used for drawing texts in our own day, especially
in Germany. (ii.) In _haruspication_, or the inspection of entrails, in
_scapulomancy_ or divination by the speal-bone or shoulder-blade, in
divination by footprints in ashes, found in Australia, Peru and
Scotland, the voluntary element is prominent, for the diviner must take
active steps to secure the conditions necessary to divination. (iii.) In
the case of _augury_ and _omens_, on the other hand, that is not
necessary. The behaviour and cries of birds, and _angang_ or meeting
with ominous animals, &c., may be voluntarily observed, and
opportunities for observation made; but this is not necessary for
success. (iv.) In _astrology_ we have a method which still finds
believers among people of good education. The stars are held, not only
to prognosticate the future but also to influence it; the child born
when Mars is in the ascendant will be war-like; Venus has to do with
love; the sign of the Lion presides over places where wild beasts are
found. (v.) In other cases the tie that binds the subject of divination
with the omen-giving object is sympathy. The name of the life-index is
given to a tree, animal or other object believed to be so closely united
by sympathetic ties to a human being that the fate of the latter is
reflected in the condition of the former. The Polynesians set up sticks
to see if the warriors they stood for were to fall in battle; on
Hallowe'en in our own country the behaviour of nuts and other objects
thrown into the fire is held to prognosticate the lot of the person to
whom they have been assigned. Where, as in the last two cases, the
sympathetic bond is less strong, we find symbolical interpretation
playing an important part.
Sympathy and symbolism, association of ideas and analogy, together with
a certain amount of observation, are the explanation of the great mass
of heteroscopic divinatory formulae. But where autoscopic phenomena play
the chief part the question of the origin of divination is less simple.
The investigations of the Society for Psychical Research show that
premonitions, though rare in our own day, are not absolutely unknown.
Pseudo-premonitions, due to hallucinatory memory, are not unknown; there
is also some ground for holding that crystal-gazers are able to perceive
incidents which are happening at a distance from them. Divination of
this sort, therefore, may be due to observation and experiment of a rude
sort, rather than to the unchecked play of fancy which resulted in
heteroscopic divination.
See also the articles AUGURS, ORACLE, ASTROLOGY, OMEN, &c.
AUTHORITIES.--Bouche Leclercq, _Histoire de la divination dans
l'antiquite_; Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, passim; Maury, "La Magie et
l'astrologie," _Journ. Anth. Inst._ i. 163, v. 436; _Folklore_, iii.
193; Ellis, _Tshi-speaking Peoples_, p. 202; _Dictionnaire
encyclopedique des sciences medicales_, xxx. 24-96; _Journ. of
Philology_, xiii. 273, xiv. 113; Deubner, _De incubatione_; Lenormant,
_La Divination, et la science de presages chez les Chaldeens_; Skeat,
_Malay Magic_; J. Johnson, _Yoruba Heathenism_ (1899). (N. W. T.)
DIVINING-ROD. As indicated in the article MAGIC, _Rhabdomancy_, or the
art of using a divining-rod for discovering something hidden, is
apparently of immemorial antiquity, and the Roman _virgula divina_, as
used in taking auguries by means of casting bits of stick, is described
by Cicero and Tacitus (see also DIVINATION); but the special form of
_virgula furcata_, or forked twig of hazel or willow (see also HAZEL),
described by G. Agricola (_De re metallica_, 1546), and in Sebastian
Munster's _Cosmography_ in the early part of the 16th century, used
specially for discovering metallic lodes or water beneath the earth,
must be distinguished from the general superstition. The "dowsing" or
divining-rod, in this sense, has a modern interest, dating from its use
by prospectors for minerals in the German (Harz Mountains) mining
districts; the French chemist M.E. Chevreul[1] assigns its first mention
to Basil Valentine, the alchemist of the late 15th century. On account
of its supposed magical powers, it may be taken perhaps as an historical
analogue to such fairy wands as the _caduceus_ of Mercury, the golden
arrow of Herodotus's "Abaris the Hyperborean," or the medieval witch's
broomstick. But the existence of the modern water-finder or dowser makes
the divining-rod a matter of more than mythological or superstitious
interest. The _Schlagruthe_ (striking-rod), or forked twig of the German
miners, was brought to England by those engaged in the Cornish mines by
the merchant venturers of Queen Elizabeth's day. Professor W. F.
Barrett, F.R.S., the chief modern investigator of this subject, regards
its employment, dating as it does from the revival of learning, as based
on the medieval doctrine of "sympathy," the drooping of trees and
character of the vegetation being considered to give indications of
mineral lodes beneath the earth's surface, by means of a sort of
attraction; and such critical works as Robert Boyle's (1663), or the
_Mineralogia Cornubiensis_ of Pryce (1778), admitted its value in
discovering metals. But as mining declined in Cornwall, the use of the
dowser for searching for lodes almost disappeared, and was transferred
to water-finding. The divining-rod has, however, also been used for
searching for any buried objects. In the south of France, in the 17th
century, it was employed in tracking criminals and heretics. Its abuse
led to a decree of the Inquisition in 1701, forbidding its employment
for purposes of justice.
In modern times the professional dowser is a "water-finder," and there
has been a good deal of investigation into the possibility of a
scientific explanation of his claims to be able to locate underground
water, where it is not known to exist, by the use of a forked hazel-twig
which, twisting in his hands, leads him by its directing-power to the
place where a boring should be made. Whether justified or not, a
widespread faith exists, based no doubt on frequent success, in the
dowser's power; and Professor Barrett (_The Times_, January 21, 1905)
states that "making a liberal allowance for failures of which I have not
heard, I have no hesitation in saying that where fissure water exists
and the discovery of underground water sufficient for a domestic supply
is a matter of the utmost difficulty, the chances of success with a good
dowser far exceed mere lucky hits, or the success obtained by the most
skilful observer, even with full knowledge of the local geology." Is
this due to any special faculty in the dowser, or has the twig itself
anything to do with it? Held in balanced equilibrium, the forked twig,
in the dowser's hands, moves with a sudden and often violent motion, and
the appearance of actual life in the twig itself, though regarded as
mere stage-play by some, is popularly associated with the cause of the
water-finder's success. The theory that there is any direct connexion
("sympathy" or electrical influence) between the divining-rod and the
water or metal, is however repudiated by modern science. Professor
Barrett, who with Professor Janet and others is satisfied that the rod
twists without any intention or voluntary deception on the part of the
dowser, ascribes the phenomenon to "motor-automatism" on the part of the
dowser (see AUTOMATISM), a reflex action excited by some stimulus upon
his mind, which may be either a subconscious suggestion or an actual
impression (obscure in its nature) from an external object or an
external mind; both sorts of stimulus are possible, so that the dowser
himself may make false inferences (and fail) by supposing that the
stimulus is an external object (like water). The divining-rod being thus
"an indicator of any sub-conscious suggestion or impression," its
indications, no doubt, may be fallacious; but Professor Barrett, basing
his conclusions upon observed successes and their greater proportion to
failures than anything that chance could produce, advances the
hypothesis that some persons (like the professional dowsers) possess "a
genuine super-normal perceptive faculty," and that the mind of a good
dowser, possessing the idiosyncrasy of motor-automatism, becomes a blank
or _tabula rasa_, so that "the faintest impression made by the object
searched for creates an involuntary or automatic motion of the
indicator, whatever it may be." Like the "homing instinct" of certain
birds and animals, the dowser's power lies beneath the level of any
conscious perception; and the function of the forked twig is to act as
an index of some material or other mental disturbance within him, which
otherwise he could not interpret.
It should be added that dowsers do not always use any rod. Some again
use a willow rod, or withy, others a hazel-twig (the traditional
material), others a beech or holly twig, or one from any other tree;
others even a piece of wire or watch-spring. The best dowsers are said
to have been generally more or less illiterate men, usually engaged in
some humble vocation.
Sir W. H. Preece (_The Times_, January 16, 1905), repudiating as an
electrician the theory that any electric force is involved, has recorded
his opinion that water-finding by a dowser is due to "mechanical
vibration, set up by the friction of moving water, acting upon the
sensitive ventral diaphragm of certain exceptionally delicately framed
persons." Another theory is that water-finders are "exceptionally
sensitive to hygrometric influences." In any case, modern science
approaches the problem as one concerning which the facts have to be
accepted, and explained by some natural, though obscure, cause.
See for further details Professor Barrett's longer discussion in parts
32 (1897) and 38 (1900) of the _Proceedings of the Society for
Psychical Research_.