Jacques Aymar-Vernay, a French peasant of Dauphiny, a pretended diviner, born at St. Veran, Sept. 8,1662; time of death unknown. He was originally a mason, but early abandoned that occupation, and began using the divining rod, employing it at first in discovering springs, mines, and hidden treasures, and finally in reclaiming stolen property and in detecting the thief. He acquired a great reputation in this way, and at length in 1692, a vintner and his wife having been murdered at Lyons, he was employed to follow up the murderer, and finally charged the crime upon a hunchback in the jail at Beaucaire, who confessed his complicity and was broken on the wheel. The country rang with these events, and innumerable pamphlets were written on the subject in 1692 and 1693. Aymar was invited to Paris by the prince de Conde to display his skill, but failed completely in everything he attempted, and at length admitted that he was an impostor. The mystery of the hunchback was never entirely cleared up.