8o PHYSICAL SCIENCE BK. n 



3 give indication unless they are sent by God ? Just 

 in the same way as birds give favourable or un 

 favourable omens, though they are not moved on 

 their flight for the express purpose of meeting us. 

 God moves them too, it is urged. You imagine He 

 has so little to do that He can attend to trifles of this 

 sort, if you will have Him arrange visions for one, 

 entrails of victims for another. 



4 Nevertheless, all those things are managed by 

 Divine agency, not, however, in the sense that the 

 wings of birds are immediately directed by God, or 

 the bowels of cattle arranged by Him in certain 

 forms under the priest s axe. It is in far other 

 way that the roll of fate is unfolded ; it sends 

 ahead in all directions intimations of what is to 

 follow, which are in part familiar, in part unknown 

 to us. Everything that happens is a sign of some 

 thing that is going to happen : mere chance occur 

 rences uncontrolled by any rational principle do not 



5 admit of the application of divination. An event 

 that belongs to a series thereby becomes capable of 

 being predicted. But why, then, is the honour 

 conferred upon the eagle of giving omens concern 

 ing great events ? or a similar function assigned to 

 the raven and a very few other birds, while all the 

 rest give no presage by their notes ? The reason 

 simply is that some departments have not yet been 

 brought within the sphere of the art of augury, while 

 some are incapable of ever being brought within it, 

 because our acquaintance with them is too slight. 



6 As a matter of fact, there is no living creature 

 whose movement or meeting with us does not fore 

 tell something. Of course, only some, not all, can 

 be observed. The omen lies in the observation. 

 So it concerns the person who directs his attention 



