Divining Science; Copyright; Contents; List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms; Introduction; 1. White Gold on Spitzberg Hill; 2. Magic, Witchcraft, and the Nature of the Rod; 3. Mining Science: Vernacular Knowledge; 4. True Stories of Freiberg Dowsers; 5. The Murderous Matter: Dowsing and New Science; 6. The Electric Rod: Dowsing and the Freiberg Mining Academy; Conclusion; Selected Bibliography; Index of Subjects, Names, and Places
Summary
The patronage of dowsers by mining administrations through the eighteenth century challenges common assumptions about the Enlightenment. Rather than decline in importance like alchemy and astrology, dowsing transformed from a study of mineral vapors into an experimental branch of geophysics
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-212) and index