to the use of the Divining Rod, which is probably moved
unconsciously by honest 'dowsers'; 'sometimes they believe that they
can hardly hold it'. These are cases of movement of objects in
contact with human muscles, and are therefore not at all mysterious
in origin. A regular case of movement _without_ contact was
reported from Thibet, by M. Tscherepanoff, in 1855. The modern
epidemic of table-turning had set in, when M. Tscherepanoff wrote
thus to the Abeille Russe: {50b} 'The Lama can find stolen objects
by following a table which flies before him'. But the Lama, after
being asked to trace an object, requires an interval of some days,
before he sets about finding it. When he is ready he sits on the
ground, reading a Thibetan book, in front of a small square table,
on which he rests his hands. At the end of half an hour he rises
and lifts his hands from the surface of the table: presently the
table also rises from the ground, and follows the direction of his
hand. The Lama elevates his hand above his head, the table reaches
the level of his eyes: the Lama walks, the table rushes before him
in the air, so rapidly that he can scarcely keep up with its flight.
The table then spins round, and falls on the earth, the direction in
which it falls, indicates that in which the stolen object is to be
sought. M. Tscherepanoff says that he saw the table fly about forty
feet, and fall. The stolen object was not immediately discovered,
but a Russian peasant, seeing the line which the table took,
committed suicide, and the object was found in his hut. The date
was 1831. M. Tscherepanoff could not believe his eyes, and searched
in vain for an iron wire, or other mechanism, but could find nothing
of the sort. This anecdote, if it does not prove a miracle,
illustrates a custom. {51}

As to clairvoyance among savages, the subject is comparatively