A scarce thesis on dowsing, a form of divination used to locate ground water or buried metals or gemstones, often aided by the use of a so-called divining or dowsing rod. Although there are still practitioners today, it has long since been established that dowsing, or water-witching, is, in fact, a pseudo-science.
The thesis was defended on June 15, 1740, at the the University of Copenhagen by Johannes Bartholomaeus Bluhme (1681-1753), an influential pietist and the first German court chaplain to Danish king Christian VI.
Thesis on dowsing, defended at the University of Copenhagen, 1740
Johannes Bartholomaeus Bluhme (respondent) & Georg Detharding (praeses). Novam scrutationem negotii physico-magici per virgulam vacillantem detegendi occulta.
Hafniae (Copenhagen), Typis Joh. G. Höpffneri, 1740.
4to (19 x 15,2 cm). [2], 46 pp. Disbound with the spine strengthened with a strip of marbled paper. Possibly extracted from a sammelband: it's paginated "1785 - 1832" in manuscript in the upper right hand corner.