Post by .magnarock. on May 16, 2007 19:54:08 GMT
[number three apparently. . .]
Sei entered the library, something hadn’t quite seemed right that night when Dave had introduced him to dowsing. . .
Mostly muggles had thought they could dowse. Why not wizards? And why would he have been in Germany for research when most of Munich was industrial warehouses back then. . .
Perhaps a book would shed some light on the matter.
He scanned the shelves for history books that might help. Eventually he decided on one.
‘Muggle Views- E.S.P their name for magic ’
It seemed likely to have some relevance to what he needed.
He flicked through the pages of the index and found what he was looking for.
‘The most extensive scientific study of dowsing to date was done in Munich, Germany, in 1991 and 1992 and published in 1993. More than 10,000 dowsers participated in more than 500 double-blind tests.
In one series of tests, the dowsers were in a long, movable wagon with no windows. The idea was to recreate conditions as close as possible to the normal working conditions of dowsers — within the limits of scientifically controlled experiments — and to make as few assumptions as possible about the nature of dowsing. The dowsers were asked to identify the position on the floor of the wagon at which they detected a disturbance. The wagon was then moved and they were asked to find the same spot. If they were actually detecting something under the ground, whatever it was and whether or not it was the same thing other dowsers detected, the spot they picked should have been over the same spot on the ground regardless of where the wagon was standing. This setup was remarkable for its generality, although it was too complicated and expensive to be used to test large numbers of dowsers. Within statistical uncertainties, almost all participants failed to show any dowsing ability in this test.
The largest numbers of tests were done in a barn. On the ground floor, water was pumped through a pipe that could be moved in a direction perpendicular to the flow. The participants on the upper floor were asked to determine the position of the pipe. Some 500 dowsers were tested in this way. Of these, the 43 dowsers who seemed to be the best were chosen to undergo more extensive tests. Over two years, a total of 843 single tests were made within this group. This experimental setup and the data obtained from it were generally agreed by the dowsers, the experimenters, and the critics to be scientifically valid and a fair test of dowsing ability.
Of the 43 pre-selected and extensively tested candidates, at least 37 of them obviously showed no dowsing ability. The results from the remaining 6 ranged from slightly better than chance to %100 correct.
Alphabetical order of those with confirmed dowsing abilities in 1993:
Aodhamair, Cahan (47) (#8621)
Dael, Sanneke (62) (#9733)
Galiana, Ava (49) (#132)
Koenraad, Esille (70) (#14)
Tyakess, Raika (21) (#6760)
Zvitter, Franz (66) (#693)
Sei sighed, so it had been a lie. But why?
He shook his head with a sigh and leaned on the desk he was sitting at, perhaps some things just went like that.
Sei entered the library, something hadn’t quite seemed right that night when Dave had introduced him to dowsing. . .
Mostly muggles had thought they could dowse. Why not wizards? And why would he have been in Germany for research when most of Munich was industrial warehouses back then. . .
Perhaps a book would shed some light on the matter.
He scanned the shelves for history books that might help. Eventually he decided on one.
‘Muggle Views- E.S.P their name for magic ’
It seemed likely to have some relevance to what he needed.
He flicked through the pages of the index and found what he was looking for.
‘The most extensive scientific study of dowsing to date was done in Munich, Germany, in 1991 and 1992 and published in 1993. More than 10,000 dowsers participated in more than 500 double-blind tests.
In one series of tests, the dowsers were in a long, movable wagon with no windows. The idea was to recreate conditions as close as possible to the normal working conditions of dowsers — within the limits of scientifically controlled experiments — and to make as few assumptions as possible about the nature of dowsing. The dowsers were asked to identify the position on the floor of the wagon at which they detected a disturbance. The wagon was then moved and they were asked to find the same spot. If they were actually detecting something under the ground, whatever it was and whether or not it was the same thing other dowsers detected, the spot they picked should have been over the same spot on the ground regardless of where the wagon was standing. This setup was remarkable for its generality, although it was too complicated and expensive to be used to test large numbers of dowsers. Within statistical uncertainties, almost all participants failed to show any dowsing ability in this test.
The largest numbers of tests were done in a barn. On the ground floor, water was pumped through a pipe that could be moved in a direction perpendicular to the flow. The participants on the upper floor were asked to determine the position of the pipe. Some 500 dowsers were tested in this way. Of these, the 43 dowsers who seemed to be the best were chosen to undergo more extensive tests. Over two years, a total of 843 single tests were made within this group. This experimental setup and the data obtained from it were generally agreed by the dowsers, the experimenters, and the critics to be scientifically valid and a fair test of dowsing ability.
Of the 43 pre-selected and extensively tested candidates, at least 37 of them obviously showed no dowsing ability. The results from the remaining 6 ranged from slightly better than chance to %100 correct.
Alphabetical order of those with confirmed dowsing abilities in 1993:
Aodhamair, Cahan (47) (#8621)
Dael, Sanneke (62) (#9733)
Galiana, Ava (49) (#132)
Koenraad, Esille (70) (#14)
Tyakess, Raika (21) (#6760)
Zvitter, Franz (66) (#693)
Sei sighed, so it had been a lie. But why?
He shook his head with a sigh and leaned on the desk he was sitting at, perhaps some things just went like that.