DIVINATION. 



in the north of F.ngUnd, though its application is now 

 confined principally to the discovery of vein* of lead 

 ore, teams of coal, or springs. In order that it may 

 possess the lull virtue for this purpo-c. it -': 'dd be 

 made of haicl. Divination by Virgilian. ll.n.uian, or 

 Bible lots, was formerly very common ; uiul the- last 

 kind i> still practised. The works arc opened by chance. 

 and the words noticed which are covered by the thumb: 

 if they can be interpreted in any respect relating to the 

 person, they are reckoned prophetic. Charles I. used 

 this kind of divination to ascertain his t'.itc. The an- 

 cient Christians were so much addicted to the fortes 

 MJtctoritm, or divining by the Bible, that it was ex- 

 pressly forbidden by a council. 1 )i\ ination by the sprat, 

 or blade bone of a sheep, is used in Scotland. In the 

 Highland* it is called sleina-rracticii, or reading the 

 peal bone. It was very common in Kngland in the 

 time of Dray ton, particularly among the colony of Fle- 

 mings settled in Pembrokeshire. Camden relates of 

 the Irish, that they looked through the bare blade bone 

 of a sheep, and if they saw any -pot in it darker than 

 ordinary, they believed that somebody would be buried 

 out of the house. The Persians used this mode of di- 

 vination. Another kind was by a plant called bache- 

 lort buttons. They were carried in the pockets by the 

 men, and under their apron by the women, and if they 

 continued fresh, good luck in courtship was portended ; 

 but if they soon tiidfil. the reverse. Palmcsti y was one 

 species of divination, which seems to I lave been studied 

 in a very regular manner. The lines of the hand were 

 distinguished into formal lines ; table lines ; the line of 

 fortune; the line of life or the heart; the line of the 

 liver, &c. Names were also given to the fingers. The 

 little finger was called the ear finger, because it was 

 used by our ancestors to clean their ears. Divination 

 by the finger nails was another species; though tins, 

 as well as some of the others we have noticed, do not 

 properly come under the head of divination. From the 

 spot* on the nails, it was supposed not only that the 

 temper might be known, but future events foretold. 

 The divination by sieve and shears, is mentioned by 

 Butler as common in his time. (Hudiliras, part ii. can- 

 to 3, line 569.) This kind is also mentioned by The- 

 ocritus. It was used to discover thieves. The points 

 of the shears were stuck in the wood of the sieve, 

 which was balanced on the fingers of two jrrsons. 

 Some words out of the 50th Psalm were then read, and 

 the name of the suspected thief pronounced. If the 

 ieve turned suddenly round, he was the guilty person. 

 A Bible and key was used for the same purpose, and 

 in the name manner. Divination by onions and fag- 

 gots is a German custom, though it seems also to have 



prevailed in F.ngUnd in the middle of the 1 ?th century, 

 Onions, with the nanu s the fancy applied to them, 

 were put by girl" near the chimney, anil the first that 

 sprouted b'irc the name of the destined liu-'uiul. If 

 alter thi t'lev wished to know Ms di-p-iiion. they 

 went to the wood-Stack and drew a t'n^ot ; if it w di- 

 strait, and without knots, his disposition would U- gentle. 

 Divination by a green ivy leaf, which was laid in wa- 

 ter on new year's eve. It was not to IK- examined till 

 twelfth night. If it were spotted, the person for whom 

 it was laid will be sick next year. It' the -pots were. 

 near the top, the sickne-s will be in the head ; if in the 

 middle, in the heart; if all over, it portend* death. 

 Divination by flowers, was practised in .Sicily in the 

 time of Theocritus ; and Kerwick mentions divination 

 by the daffodil as common in I'.npland in his time. If 

 it hung its head towards a person, his health would de- 

 The divinations re-peeling pulling the bride- 

 rake through the wedding ring, and those practised at 

 Hallow e'en, as described by Burns, are well known. 

 In Wales, men and girls seek an even leafed sprig of 

 ash. The first who succeeds calls out cynivor, which is 

 answered by the first of the other sex that succeeds ; 

 and tlie-e arc to be married. In what is termed a scald- 

 ing of pease, a bean is put into one of the pease ; who- 

 ever gets this is to be married first. Apple p:>r!ngs 

 flung over the head, form the first letter of the name (if 

 a person'.- sweetheart. But one ot' the most singular 

 species of divination used for this puqx>>e was the fol- 

 lowing: (iirls stuck an apple kernel on each cheek, and 

 to each kernel they gave the name of One of their sweet- 

 ; that which fell first, indicated that the person, 

 whose name it bore, was not sincere in his love. On 

 the subject of love and courtship, indeed, various kinds 

 of divination wen- praet!.-ed beside- tiioi-e already de- 

 scribed, with one or two of which we shall conclude 

 this article. Snails were set to crawl on the hearth, 

 and they were supposed to mark in the ashes the ini- 

 tials of the person beloved. This was principally used 

 on May day. On Valentine's day, there Mere different 

 kinds of divination. The night before, five bay 1 

 were to be put under the pillow, and if the sweetheart 

 were dreamt of, the marriage was to take place that 

 year; or an egg was to be l>oilcd hard, the yolk taken 

 out, put into salt, and eat along with the shell, at bed 

 time, without speaking or drinking after it, the dream 

 would in this case point out the sweetheart. By 

 others, the names of their lovers were written on bits 

 of paper, which were rolled up in clay, and put into 

 water ; tile first that rose was to be the valentine. 

 Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. ii. 4to, will supply the 

 curious on this subjectwithmany other particulars, (w.s.) 





DIVING, 



1 HE act of descending to a considerable depth be- 

 neath the surface of water, and continuing in that situa- 

 tion a sufficient time, to collect valuable articles from the 

 bottom of river*, or the sea; such a- |>rarls, s|K>nges, 

 coral, and ether submarine productions ; or to recover 

 goods lost by shipwreck. 



Man does not appear to have been intended by na- 

 ture for diving, or at least for continuing any time 

 under water ; regular respiration In-ing so necessary to 

 Li* life, that, by the greatest inspiration, he cannot carry 

 down u larger quantity of air than will supply him tor 

 two minutes. 1 his we learn from Dr Halley is possible, 



4 



as he observed in a Florida Indian diver at Bermudas; 

 but it is certainly an extreme ca-e. for ordinary persons _ 

 generally begin to feel a danger of suffocation in the Indian di 

 space of half a minute after submersion in water. The ven. 

 Doctor relates, that those who dive in the Archipelago 

 for sponges, have a practice of taking in their mouths 

 ii piece of sponge dipped in oil, with a view, he sup- 

 poses, of inhaling the air which the sponge contains: and Divers hold 

 from this they are enabled to di\e a longer time than Hinges in 

 others who employ no artifice. It is not easy to con- *'' cir . 

 ccive how this can assist the diver's breathing ; for the 

 introduction of any foreign substance into the mouth 



