Joseph Cecil Maby (1902-1971) was a British biophysicist, dowser and psychical researcher.
Joseph Cecil Maby | |
|---|---|
 Maby dowsing at River Leven, Fife | |
| Born | 1902 |
| Died | 1971 |
| Occupation(s) | Physicist, dowser |
Maby was born in the Colony of Natal and moved to England as a child. He lived near Cheltenham. He believed that he had experienced paranormal events at his family's home. He developed a lifelong interest in psychical research.[1]
With physicist T. Bedford Franklin, Maby wrote the book The Physics of the Dowsing Rod (1939).[2] They postulated that dowsing occurred due to some form of radiation. A review in Nature noted that there is "no direct evidence for such waves and the author's discussion of their polarization cannot be justified on our present physical knowledge."[3] Psychologist Donovan Rawcliffe wrote that claims in the book have no scientific validity.[4]
Maby was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.[5] He was a member of the British Society of Dowsers and Society for Psychical Research.
Publications
editBooks
edit- Walls of Jericho (1932) OCLC 2980019
- By Stygian Waters (1933) OCLC 6717220
- The Physics of the Divining Rod; being an account of an experimental investigation of water and mineral divining (1939, 1978) [with Thomas Bedford Franklin] OCLC 221162635, 2311518
- Co-operative healing: the curative properties of human radiations (1947) [with Leon Ernest Eeman] OCLC 4812229, 559677865
- Confessions of a Sensitive: a critical study of the paranormal and of occult faculties in man (1966) OCLC 6621144
- Physical Principles of Radiesthesia; collected papers: 1944-65 (1966) OCLC 14502425
- A Naturalist at Large: a candid commentary upon modern life and fashions (1967) OCLC 30282781
Papers
edit- Maby, C. (1935). An Experimental Test of Astrological Claims. Journal of the British Astronomical Association 45: 165-166.
- Maby, C. (1936). Micellar Structure of the Tracheide Wall in Certain Woods, in Relation to Morphogenetic and Mechanical Factors. New Phytologist 35 (5): 432-455.
- Maby, C. (1940). Science and the Divining Rod. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 88 (4559): 520-539.
References
edit- ^ Wilson, Neil. (2000). Shadows in the Attic: A Guide to British Supernatural Fiction, 1820-1950. British Library. p. 334. ISBN 0-7123-1074-6
- ^ Gardner, Martin. (1957). Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. Dover Publications. p. 103. ISBN 0-486-20394-8
- ^ Anonymous. (1940). The Physics of the Divining Rod. Nature 146: 150.
- ^ Rawcliffe, Donovan. (1988). Occult and Supernatural Phenomena. Dover Publications. p. 358. ISBN 0-486-25551-4
- ^ "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society". May 8, 1925.
External links
edit- Maby, Joseph Cecil in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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