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Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites,〔Kenney, Andrew. "(Grave Hunters )," ''The Herald'' 29 July 2009, p. 1.〕 and many other objects and materials without the use of scientific apparatus. Dowsing is considered a pseudoscience, and there is no scientific evidence that it is any more effective than random chance.〔 via 〕〔Regal, Brian. (2009). ''Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia''. Greenwood Press. pp. 55-57. ISBN 978-0-313-35507-3〕 Dowsing is also known as divining (especially in reference to interpretation of results),〔(''Discovering Dowsing and Divining'', p. 5 ), Peter Naylor〕 doodlebugging (particularly in the United States, in searching for petroleum) or (when searching specifically for water) water finding, water witching (in the United States) or water dowsing. A Y- or L-shaped twig or rod, called a dowsing rod, divining rod (Latin: virgula divina or baculus divinatorius), a "vining rod" or witching rod is sometimes used during dowsing, although some dowsers use other equipment or no equipment at all. Dowsing appears to have arisen in the context of Renaissance magic in Germany, and it remains popular among believers in Forteana or radiesthesia.〔As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active dowsers in Germany ''alone'' can generate a conservatively-estimated annual revenue of more than 100 million DM (US$50 million)". (GWUP-Psi-Tests 2004: Keine Million Dollar für PSI-Fähigkeiten ) (in German) and (English version ).〕 The motion of dowsing rods is nowadays generally attributed to the ideomotor effect.〔Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989). ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. pp. 105-110. ISBN 978-0-805-80507-9〕〔Novella, Steve; Deangelis, Perry. (2002). ''Dowsing''. In Michael Shermer. ''The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience''. ABC-CLIO. pp. 93-94. ISBN 1-57607-654-7 "Despite widespread belief, careful investigation has demonstrated that the technique of dowsing simply does not work. No researcher has been able to prove under controlled conditions that dowsing has any genuine divining power... A more likely explanation for the movement of a dowser's focus is the ideomotor effect, which entails involuntary and unconscious motor behavior."〕 ==History== Dowsing as practiced today may have originated in Germany during the 15th century, when it was used in attempts to find metals. As early as 1518 Martin Luther listed dowsing for metals as an act that broke the first commandment (''i.e.'', as occultism).〔''Decem praecepta Wittenbergensi populo praedicta'', Martin Luther〕 The 1550 edition of Sebastian Münster's ''Cosmographia'' contains a woodcut of a dowser with forked rod in hand walking over a cutaway image of a mining operation. The rod is labelled "Virgula Divina – Glück rüt" (Latin: divine rod; German "Wünschelrute": fortune rod or stick), but there is no text accompanying the woodcut. By 1556 Georgius Agricola's treatment of mining and smelting of ore, ''De Re Metallica'', included a detailed description of dowsing for metal ore.〔William Barrett and Theodore Besterman. ''The Divining Rod: An Experimental and Psychological Investigation.'' (1926) Kessinger Publishing, 2004: p.7〕 In the sixteenth century, German deep mining technology was in enormous demand all over Europe and German miners were licensed to live and work in Elizabethan England〔http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1215〕 particularly in the Stannaries of Devon & Cornwall and in Cumbria. It is thought that the dialect term "dowsing" was introduced at this period〔http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=dowse&allowed_in_frame=0〕 – its origin is unknown but features characteristics of the West Country dialects. In 1662 dowsing was declared to be "superstitious, or rather satanic" by a Jesuit, Gaspar Schott, though he later noted that he wasn't sure that the devil was always responsible for the movement of the rod.〔Michel Eugène Chevreul, ''De La Baguette Divinatoire du pendule dit explorateur at des table tournants au point de vue de l'histoire, de la critique, and de la méthode expérimentale'', Paris, 1854. "''Le père Gaspard Schott (jés.) considère l'usage de la baguette comme superstitieux ou plutôt diabolique, mais des renseignements qui lui furent donnés plus tard par des hommes qu'il considérait comme religieux et probe, lui firent dire dans une notation à ce passage, qu'il ne voudrait pas assurer que le demon fait toujours ''tourner'' la baguette.''" (''Physica Curiosa'', 1662, lib. XII, cap. IV, pag. 1527). See (facsimile ) on Google Books〕 In the South of France in the 17th century it was used in tracking criminals and heretics.〔Vermeir K. 'The physical prophet and the powers of the imagination. Part II: a case-study on dowsing and the naturalisation of the moral, 1685-1710.' Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2005 Mar; 36(1):1-24.〕 Its abuse led to a decree of the inquisition in 1701, forbidding its employment for purposes of justice. An epigram by Samuel Sheppard, from ''Epigrams theological, philosophical, and romantick'' (1651) runs thus: :''Virgula divina''. :"Some Sorcerers do boast they have a Rod, :Gather'd with Vowes and Sacrifice, :And (borne about) will strangely nod :To hidden Treasure where it lies; :Mankind is (sure) that Rod divine, :For to the Wealthiest (ever) they incline." Dowsing was conducted in South Dakota in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to help homesteaders, farmers, and ranchers locate water wells on their property.〔Grace Fairchild and Walker D. Wyman, Frontier Woman: The Life of a Woman Homesteader on the Dakota Frontier (River Falls: University of Wisconsin-River Falls Press, 1972), 50; Robert Amerson, From the Hidewood: Memories of a Dakota Neighborhood (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1996), 290-98.〕 In the late 1960s during the Vietnam War, some United States Marines used dowsing to attempt to locate weapons and tunnels.〔FIX ME (could not access entire article) 〕 As late as in 1986, when 31 soldiers were taken by an avalanche during an operation in the NATO drill Anchor Express in Vassdalen, Norway, the Norwegian army attempted to locate soldiers buried in the avalanche using dowsing as search method. Regardless of the scientific experiments, dowsing is still used by some farmers.〔(California Farmers Hire Dowsers to Find Water )〕〔(The Water Witch of Wyoming )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dowsing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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