Sir, Dowsing or divining (letters, February 17, etc) is still used throughout the world to locate water. In the UK, many dowsers earn a living by locating water for farms as well as domestic buildings, and foremen on building sites sometimes use dowsing to locate underground pipes and cables.
During the First World War, water divining skills were much sought after when the Royal Engineers recruited young men. Some of the officers of the Royal Engineers subsequently formed a society in 1933 to investigate dowsing.
Today that society, centred in Malvern, has members worldwide and is a registered charity which runs courses as well as arranging lectures. Members travel to places such as Nicaragua, Africa and India, where we teach dowsing as well as financing small, shallow-water schemes for remote villages.
Dowsing seems to be a basic human attribute that most of us are unaware we possess.
Yours faithfully,
BEULAH GARCIN,
(President, British Society of Dowsers, 2000-03),
Brookfield House, Coolbawn, Nenagh.
Co Tipperary, Republic of Ireland.
February 19.