Divining the Enlightenment Public Opinion and Popular Science in Old Regime France

摘要

This essay explores the interconnections between the use of divining rods, a practice known as dowsing or rabdomancy, and the Enlightenment in France. The use of divining rods to find underground waters and minerals underwent considerable scrutiny in the 1690s after Jacques Aymar claimed that the could also track murderers and thieves. The subsequent debate, which engaged astrologers, doctors, theologians, and savants, reveals the tensions in French culture at the dawn of the Enlightenment and outlines the public forums used to address those tensions. Another dowser, Barthelemy Bleton, provoked another debate in the 1780s, this time with more emphasis on good versus bad science than on demons or stars. The varying arguments concerning dowsing illustrate the changing relationship between science and the Enlightenment. Also, the shifting location of the debate uncovers a growing public sphere of scientific activity and a broad range of individuals who participated.