Graduate employability of south asian ethnic minority youths voices from hong kong 1st edition bibi
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Graduate Employability of South Asian Ethnic Minority
Youths Voices from Hong Kong 1st Edition Bibi Arfeen
Graduate Employability of South Asian Ethnic Minority Youths
Through a first-of-its kind qualitative exploratory study, Bibi Arfeen elucidates the multifaceted complexities and dynamics that contribute to successful higher education-to-work transition among South Asian Ethnic Minority (EM) youths in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s recent expansion of higher education has given rise to budding academic and career aspirations amongst South Asian ethnic minority youths hoping to achieve upward social and economic mobility. Yet, existing bodies of scholarly work have yet to conceptualise the key determinants that drive an adaptive transition for these youths. This book challenges the widely held assumption that an undergraduate degree is a panacea to job acquisition and security as transitions are actively shaped by larger social, cultural, and economic trajectories potentially influencing the capabilities of ethnic minority youths. In light of their lived experiences, this book foregrounds the voices of ethnic minority youths to gauge an understanding of their higher education-to-work transitions by placing the job-preparatory and job-seeking stages as the basis of the inquiry.
Suggesting implications for institutional and public policymaking for the inclusion and empowerment of EM youths, this book will appeal to scholars interested in minority studies and graduate
employment, EM youths, university administrators and counsellors, NGOs working with EM communities as well as policymakers.
Bibi Arfeen is an experienced secondary school–level teacher with a doctorate in education and over a decade-long experience teaching South Asian ethnic minority students. She serves as Head of the English Department and School Literacy Leader in Hong Kong.
Education and Society in China
Series Editors: Gerard A. Postiglione and Zhu Zhiyong
China’s economic rise has been breathtaking and unprecedented. Yet educational opportunities remain highly unequal. China has the essential ingredients to build a great system of education, but educational governance needs an overhaul if China is to realise its goal of dramatically boosting its technological output to world-class levels. As more work by established Chinese and overseas scholars becomes accessible in English to the larger global community, myths will be removed and replaced by more accurate and sophisticated analyses of China’s fascinatingly complex educational transformation. This series will provide highly analytical examinations of key issues in China’s education system.
The right of Bibi Arfeen to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademarknotice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
BritishLibrary Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-63110-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-63112-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-63113-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781032631134
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To my parents, Abaji and Ami, to whom I owe everything
3 Lessons from Academic Experiences of Minority Youths
4 Understanding Employability and Employment of Ethnic Minority Graduates
5 Transition Stage I: Forces Shaping the Job Preparatory Stage
6 Transition Stage II: Forces Shaping the Job-Seeking Stage
7 Developing Employability: A New Perspective for Ethnic Minority Graduates
8 Future Directions and Contributions
AppendixIStudyParticipants’Profile
AppendixIIInterviewProtocol Index
Figures
2.1 A summary of potential factors shaping a youth’s S-W transition
2.2 DeLuca et al.’s Person-in-context model
2.3 Theoretical framework for the study
6.1 Job-seeking enablers of EM youths
6.2 Job-seeking barriers of EM youths
7.1 A summary of the individual and contextual factors that shape an adaptive transition
7.2 The three manifestations of resilience at the intersections of each domain that EM youths exercise to overcome structural and contextual constraints
Tables
1.1 Number of working ethnic minorities by sex, ethnicity, and occupation, 2021 (including foreign domestic helpers)
1.2 Median monthly income (HK$) from main employment of working EMs (excluding foreign domestic helpers), 2021
1.3 Ethnic minorities aged 15–24 with post-secondary educational attainment by ethnicity, 2011, 2016, and 2021 (including foreign domestic helpers)
1.4 Summary of study participants
3.1 Educational pathways of Graduates and Final Year Students* to higher education
3.2 Major and minor subjects of EM youths (*Graduate)
4.1 Number of job applications sent out by EM Graduates before receiving the first job offer
4.2 The three most important skills of employability as perceived by Final Year Students prior to seeking jobs
4.3 Job consideration factors of Final Year Students
4.4 Job-seeking methods preferred by EM youths
4.5 Perceived challenges during job-search of Final Year Students
Acknowledgements
I thank the Almighty for His immense blessings and grace in giving me the courage to complete my work successfully. It is with immense pleasure that I acknowledge and express my heartfelt thanks to all those who have played crucial roles in supporting this work.
Foremost, my appreciation extends to my study participants, a batch of young and promising South Asian ethnic minority youths from different walks of life. Thank you for entrusting me with your narratives: imbued with adversities yet emancipating with hope and determination. I hope every one of you has fulfilling future prospects. Second, I would like to thank the community representatives whose rich experience, valuable information, and expertise on the subject matter shed light on many areas of the study. Third, my gratitude also goes to the local ethnic Chinese participants whose academic and work experiences enabled a deeper understanding of the complexities within my study. The completion of this study could not have been possible without the expertise of my esteemed supervisor and book series editor, Professor Gerard Postiglione. His unwavering support and encouragement have helped me to realise my vision. My deepest gratitude towards Dr Jisun Jung for being the guiding light of this work at its inception. I am deeply thankful to her invaluable supervision, support, and tutelage during the course of my research. The completion of this book would have been far from possible were it not for their invaluable suggestions and advice.
I would also like to thank a notable group of academics who have provided input with their balanced advice and practical suggestions at critical stages of my research, including Dr Gao Fang, Dr Tai Chung-Pui, Dr Syed Saad Ul Hassan Bukhari, Dr Khan Adeel, Dr Ullah Rizwan, Dr Chee Wai-Chi, and Dr Gary Harfitt. In particular, I would like to thank and acknowledge Dr Margaret Lo for her deep academic insights and helpful comments on my research. I am honoured to have had such intellectual stimulation and inspiration. I am also thankful to Dr Alice Te and Kazumi Cheng for their pointers on completing this book.
I am also grateful to Katie Peace and Khin Thazin from Routledge for their support and professionalism in facilitating me with the publication of this book.
Above ground, I am indebted to my parents, whose value to me only grows with age. Abaji, my pillar of strength, his everlasting support and belief in my potential is the reason I stand tall today. Ami, thank you for the unconditional love, care, and nurturance. I would also like to thank my siblings, nephews, and nieces for their love and understanding.
My son, Zain, the Sultan of my heart. This journey would have been impossible without his willingness to put up with the most irksome version of his mother. His wit-filled shenanigans and infectious smile kept me going each time when I was about to fall apart. Thank you, young man.
The first chapter serves as the foundation for the rest of this book by discussing the historical and social context of South Asian ethnic minorities (EM) in Hong Kong. Given the ambiguity and incoherence in the global definition of the term ‘ethnic minority’, the book sets the scene by first providing a locally driven interpretation of the term. It then discusses the underappreciated yet pivotal contributions of South Asian EMs historically on account of the fact that they have been one of the key players in the development of Hong Kong fostering its diversity. Backed by relevant empirical research and government statistics, the increase in higher education participation of EM youths is discussed with a focus on the rise in higher education aspirations amongst these youths due to the massification of tertiary education and favourable policy changes in the last decade. Consequently, a growing population of South Asian EM youths with a strong desire to achieve upward and social mobility have taken advantage of these changes. This book addresses these
growing developments by undertaking an exploratory study centred on the voices of an aspiring group of South Asian EM youths in Hong Kong. This chapter also elaborates on the research method adopted in this book and ends with providing an overview.
The Ongoing Debate – Defining ‘Ethnic Minorities’
The glossary of terms used globally to refer to racial and ethnic groups minority in population has been hotly contested with longstanding controversies. The dismal state of affairs is further fuelled by the lack of a unanimous consensus or guidelines on the clear exposition of terms for use within scholarly journals or works (Bhopal, 2004). Although popular terminology may suffice a political or casual conversational discourse, the absence of an accurate definition has propagated immense challenges in comparing studies internationally. Within the social sciences, concepts of race and ethnicity have been used disputably when addressing the identity of a group. The former bases its categorisation on the physical or visible characteristics of a population, while the latter is imprecise and fluid in nature as it entails cultural factors and identities that are inherited, ascribed or adopted (O’Connor, 2018). As such, ‘ethnicity’ is deemed a more appropriate way to address identity as it captures the link between race, migration, religion, language, and nationality (Song, 2003), thus depicting a multifaceted and positive image of a group of population.
Meanwhile, the complex and multidimensional nature of ethnicity should be acknowledged as it is time- and context-bound resulting in differing interpretations across populations. Existing categories or
labels such as ‘minorityethnic’, ‘minoritisedethnic’, or ‘ethnic minority’ are used disparately in literature when addressing minority populations. At a more general level, ‘ethnicminority’ is most commonly used in reference to racial groups that are a minority in the population. With much criticism for its placement of emphasis on ‘ethnic’, the term ‘minorityethnic’ is thus more favoured over ‘ethnic minority’ as it is more inclusive of the notion that all people, including the majority, have an ethnicity and the issues relate to ‘minority’ groups. A more recent and nuanced term, ‘minoritised ethnic’, has gained recognition as it affirms the process of ‘minortisation’ through the social process of dominion and power over mere statistical representations (The Law Society, 2022). Given the diverse terminology, the challenge to recognise them as shorthand for potentially crucial information is further compounded by the pace of social change. Hence, both purpose and context should become prime determinants when applying ethnicity terminologies (Bhopal, 2004). In the Hong Kong context, the term ‘ethnicminority’ has been ambiguously used in reference to people who self-proclaim to be of non-Chinese (NC) ethnicity. This would include all minority populations including white professional expatriates and foreign domestic helpers. Yet, in policymaking, the term characterises working-class locally born South Asian populations suggesting a hint of stigmatisation (Baig, 2012). While acceding to their shortcomings, the extensive adoption of the locally derived term ‘ethnicminorities’ or ‘EM’ in present scholarly works has obligated the study to also undertake both terms within the parameters of the following definition until a more universal term is scholastically adopted.
Spanning from a few generations, more and more South Asians are locally born (around 48% in 2011 to 53% in 2021) reflecting the increase in EMs giving birth and raising children in Hong Kong (CSD, 2022). While it is acknowledged that there is diversity among ethnic groups in Hong Kong, this book focuses solely on South Asian youths (predominantly Indian, Nepalese, Filipino, and Pakistani) born and bred locally and takes the ethnic Chinese (EC) majority as points for comparison for several reasons: (1) South Asians form the largest (around 50%) of all EM groups in Hong Kong (CSD, 2022); (2) the population of South Asians is much younger (median age 33.5) than the whole population (median age 43.5) signifying that they are a good source to replenish the rapidly aging Hong Kong population (CSD, 2022); (3) South Asians account for 40.6% of the impoverished population living under the poverty line (CSD, 2018). A plethora of scholarships (e.g., Cheung et al., 2015; Gu & Patkin, 2013) have identified these issues as closely linked to the ramifications of restricted access to education and employment opportunities constricted by structural inequalities.
Orienting South Asian Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong
Population mobility as a result of globalisation has expedited within and between countries driving various global societies to undergo a historical and radical transition in terms of their ethnic composition (Ball et al., 2002). As a former colony of the United Kingdom, the early history of Hong Kong is reflective of a multicultural convergence with vast contributions of South Asian EMs dating back to the mid-1800s where Indian males were employed to perform the
roles of soldiers and troops. Most British were able to maintain their elite status and high standard of life enabled through Indian soldiers and police officers, thereby instigating segregation between the former and the rest of the population, i.e., the Chinese and Eurasian (Carroll, 2007). The roles of Indian Sikh and Muslim male gradually became affiliated with power and authority as they formed one-third of the police force up until the 1960s. Post-India and Pakistan partition in 1947, the British began to recruit Nepalese Gurkha soldiers for service while allowing the union of their families, thus giving birth to Nepali communities and subsequent generations (O’Connor, 2018). The historical contributions in the form of service and cultural dissemination of South Asian EMs could not be undermined and remains imperative to the making of the city.
Hong Kong today has witnessed a substantial and continuous rise in the population of EMs. According to the 2021 thematic report on Population Census (CSD, 2022), the number of South Asian ethnic minorities had risen from 65,521 in 2011 to 101,969 in 2021, which corresponds to a percentage increase of 56% over the span of a decade. Records show that the EM population is more youthful compared with the overall population of Hong Kong, with 19.6% of them below 15 years and only 5.8% over 65 years (CSD, 2022). Of 40,000 EM youths (15–24 years old) who thrive in the city in 2021 (ibid.), the largest growth was found in South Asians (an 86% increase from 2016 to 2021). In addition, around one-third of South Asians are locally born (around 31% in 2016 and 2021). It could be anticipated that these new generations of local born EMs will become a non-negligible source of human capital for Hong Kong in the future. Under the backdrop of an expanding multicultural
demographic, many public debates have called for a more proactive integration of EMs through education reforms and labour market interventions.
Yet, it has been contended in the works of many local scholarships (e.g. Wentling and Waight, 2000; Ip and Chiu, 2015) that the topic of EMs, in general, has been dealt with infinitesimal significance. By referring to this group of population as ‘NC’, South Asian EMs tend to be denied of their contributions to Hong Kong since the 1840s in prevailing narratives (O’Connor, 2018). The continuous diversification of Hong Kong population post-1997 has failed to keep up with the prosperity and well-being of EMs, thereby giving rise to a new identity politics (O’Connor, 2018) that requires an alternative perspective aiming to grasp the implication of a changing demographic. Most South Asians EMs have long remained in disadvantaged socio-economic positions with great disparities found amongst different EM sub-groups in educational attainment and occupational status. Some sub-ethnic groups in general are more educated (e.g., Whites, Japanese, and Koreans) and are more likely to be in managerial or professional positions (Table 1.1). In 2021, over 56% of EMs worked as managers; and professionals or associate professionals while about 37% of the whole population were engaged in these employment categories (CSD, 2022). These findings, nonetheless, were not representative of the realities of all ethnic groups. South Asians such as Pakistanis and Nepalese were in general less educated and more likely to be engaged in elementary occupations (26% and 25%, respectively).
Table 1.1Number ofworking ethnic minorities by (including foreign domes
Excluding domestic helpers, the median monthly income from main employment of working EMs was $20,000 in 2021 (ibid.). This amount was slightly higher than the median of the whole population ($19,500). However, the median monthly income varied notably among different ethnic groups. As shown in Table 1.2, Indians remained in a superior position ($29,620), whereas Filipinos ($16,550), Nepalese ($17,000), and Pakistanis ($15,000) were shown to earn much less than the whole Hong Kong population.
With reference to education, young South Asian EMs had a lower school attainment. At age groups 3–5, 12–17, and 18–24, the school attendance rates in 2021 were 90.7%, 96.2%, and 29.2%, respectively, while those for the whole population were 92.5%,
97.8%, and 51.8% (EOC, 2020). In the group aged 15 or above, however, the proportion of EMs (36.3%) proceeding to postsecondary education level soared and was slightly higher than that of the whole population (34.6%). Alas, these figures may not be reflective of the situation across EM sub-groups. While more than 80% of Japanese, Koreans, and Whites attended post-secondary education, South Asian EMs comparatively were not on par. In Table 1.3, about 60% of Indians attained a postsecondary education in 2021 while the number was considerably lower for Pakistanis, Nepalese, and Filipinos. On the contrary, a closer look within all ethnic groups shows a rise in the number of youths joining post-graduate education from 2011 to 2021. Although the number is less salient when compared to the whole population, there is a considerable increase in the number of Pakistani youths enrolling in tertiary education, i.e., from 1,862 in 2011 to 4,522 in 2021. The case is similar across the Nepalese, Indian, and Filipino ethnic groups, with the latter doubling in number from 38,627 in 2011 to 68,563 in 2021. This strongly reinforces the argument that higher education expansion policy has, to a certain extent, effectively reached some aspects of the EM population with a potential to presumably provide alternative futures and alleviate their existing socio-economic challenges. Taking all the figures above into account, it could be deduced that the educational and occupational attainments of EMs vary greatly across ethnic groups and sexes.
Given the wider access to post-secondary attainment (Table 1.3), there has been little evidence of the massification of higher
education on the impact of the livelihoods of EMs. A recent report (HKSAR Government, 2020) shows that more than 30.5% of the youths aged 25–29 were economically active in the first half of 2019, with at least half (54.1%) possessing a post-secondary educational attainment yet were still living under the poverty line. More precisely, the harsh reality is that the earning capacity of these youths is well below the median monthly income of the whole population (ibid.). A case in point is that only 17% of Indians with a tertiary education qualification engaged as managers or administrators which was much lower than that of the whole population (20%) (CSD, 2017). It could therefore be deduced from these statistics that the possession of a tertiary qualification may not equivocally guarantee an equal opportunity and access to the labour market compared to local ECs. This may be a direct indication that there are several impediments in the way of EM graduates when reaching their true capabilities or actualising their aspirations. These will be discussed in the following section.
Emerging Trends: Education and Employment of EMs
At the forefront of this book is a thriving population that could no longer be disregarded in public discourse. That one might be au fait with the lives and struggles of EMs, it is necessary to delve deeper into their educational and occupational outcomes supported by findings of relevant studies.
Education
Past studies in Hong Kong have identified that in this highly competitive context, for education, EM sub-groups in Hong Kong face particular barriers at each stage of the progression pathway through kindergarten to post-secondary education. These include limited Chinese proficiency (e.g., Gao, 2011; Hong Kong Unison, 2015), racial discrimination (e.g., Crabtree & Wong, 2013; Ku et al., 2016), lack of access to education-related information (e.g., Hong Kong Unison, 2015; Ku & Chan, 2011), and so forth. At the systemic level, for instance, the barriers begin at kindergarten with limited admission of EM children (EOC, 2018), while the least popular lowband mainstream schools most readily opened their doors to EM students, partly to stave off the threat of closure as the overall birth rates in Hong Kong declined. Certain complex issues also seemed to prevail as a consequence of identity, racism, and secondary schooling experiences of EM youths. In the works of Gao (2011 and 2017), it was found that there was a dynamic interplay between ethnicity, class, and school resources in the education experiences of EM youths and that they became more exposed to systemic racism and admissions discrimination that blocked their pursuits of postsecondary education. In addition to familial support, other studies (e.g., Gube & Gao, 2019) have also confirmed that the interdependence of minority members and community support had a part to play in the educational outcomes and the selection and application of universities.
In the last 20 years, however, various policies and initiatives have been implemented in response to the plight of South Asian EMs. These came in two forms: anti-discrimination laws which focused on
legal actions against any form of prejudice and prevents certain discriminatory behaviours (Blakemore & Brake, 1996), while the other concerned policies that were designed to improve the positions of disadvantaged groups by providing extra resources for education, training, and other social services to facilitate equal opportunity. In 2014, for instance, the ‘designated school’ label was removed, and EM students were allowed to choose a school from a broader selection while schools were granted extra monetary resources for supporting their learning needs. This policy, however, failed to meet its goal as racial segregation within schools was still apparent. It was reported that only eight primary schools accepted over 90% of EM students, defeating the initial purpose of having a more elaborate choice for school selection (Hong Kong Unison, 2015). Furthermore, a rather important policy in the area of Chinese Language Curriculum was implemented in 2014 to provide opportunities for EMs to learn Chinese as a second language with the intention of mitigating problems faced in education and transitions to work. The framework, however, faced major backlash for its lack of clarity in learning objectives and flexibility in pedagogic principles (ibid.).
With respect to easing the university entrance requirements for EMs, alternative Chinese language criteria for admission to publicly funded universities were accepted to replace the mainstream Chinese subject. Similarly, it has been criticised for being inadequate as the IGCSE (Chinese) examination is equivalent to a local primary two local Chinese level whilst local-born EMs needed a higher Chinese proficiency to improve their linguistic repertoire and meet labour market demands. The expansion of higher education and increase in access to education in the last 15 years has led to 40.6%
of EM youths participating in post-secondary in 2021 (CSD, 2022). Policies such as the introduction of multiple pathways for secondary students through the promotion of sub-degree and self-financed programmes and removing the Chinese language subject as a university entrance requirement ameliorated access and simultaneously pervading an aspiring batch of EM youths to adopt the ‘education gospel’ rhetoric (Grubb & Lazerson, 2005). Notwithstanding the enhanced access to higher education for some EM youths, Chee (2018) criticised these programmes for failing to counter hierarchies in education as many EM youths were usually concentrated and accepted in the least competitive programmes consequently shaping their poor employment outcomes. In the higher education scene, as such, it was found that more than 71% of the 186 non-degree programmes required a certain level of Chinese proficiency (Hong Kong Unison, 2015). Akin to most neoliberal regimes, this has reinforced the uncontested belief amongst EM youths that an undergraduate degree was a guarantor of job security and an antidote to all their socio-economic difficulties.
Employment
Within an ever-expanding youth population of 1.2 billion globally aged between 15 and 24 and the youth global literacy rate predicted to rise from 86% in 2000 to 91% in 2020 (UNESCO, 2021), there are some serious implications on the labour market. Rising global youth unemployment, i.e., from 15.5% in 2016 to 17.2% in 2020, attributable to the growing complexities and broader shifts in the labour market, has transformed its nature and entrance requirements. The surge in expectations of a more formal education has prolonged the education period, while the rising trends of
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as it appeared in human affairs, which, however, he concealed from the multitude. (Arist. Rhetoric, lib. vii. c. 5.)
With regard to moral predictions on individuals, many have discovered the future character. The revolutionary predisposition of Cardinal Retz, even in his youth, was detected by the sagacity of Cardinal Mazarine. He then wrote a history of the conspiracy of Fresco, with such vehement admiration of his hero, that the Italian politician, after its perusal, predicted that the young author would be one of the most turbulent spirits of the age! The father of Marshal Biron, even amid the glory of his son, discovered the cloud which, invisible to others, was to obscure it. The father, indeed, well knew the fiery passions of his son. “Biron,” said the domestic Seer, “I advise thee, when peace takes place, to go and plant cabbages in thy garden, otherwise I warn thee thou wilt lose thy head upon the scaffold!”
Lorenzo de Medici had studied the temper of his son Piero; for we are informed by Guicciardini that he had often complained to his most intimate friends that “he foresaw the imprudence and arrogance of his son would occasion the ruin of his family.”
There is a singular prediction of James the first, of the evils likely to ensue from Laud’s violence, in a conversation given by Hacket, which the King held with Archbishop Williams. When the King was hard pressed to promote Laud, he gave his reasons why he intended to “keep Laud back from all place of rule and authority, because I find he hath a restless spirit, and cannot see when matters are well, but loves to toss and change, and to bring things to a pitch of reformation floating in his own brain, which endangers the stedfastness of that which is in a good pass. I speak not at random; he hath made himself known to me to be such a one.” James then relates the circumstances to which he alludes; and at length, when still pursued by the Archbishop, then the organ of Buckingham, as usual, this King’s good nature too easily yielded; he did not, however, without closing with this prediction: “Then take him to you! but on my soul you will repent it!”
The future character of Cromwell was apparent to two of our great politicians. “This coarse, unpromising man,” observed Lord Falkland, pointing to Cromwell, “will be the first person in the kingdom if the nation comes to blows!” And Archbishop Williams
told Charles the First confidentially, that “There was that in Cromwell which foreboded something dangerous, and wished his Majesty would either win him over to him, or get him taken off!”
The incomparable character of Buonaparte, given by the Marquis of Wellesley, predicted his fall when highest in his power. “His eagerness of power,” says this great Statesman, “is so inordinate; his jealousy of independence so fierce; his keenness of appetite so feverish, in all that touches his ambition, even in the most trifling things, that he must plunge into dreadful difficulties. He is one of an order of minds that by nature make for themselves great reverses.”
After the commencement of the French Revolution, Lord Mansfield was once asked when it would end? His Lordship replied, “It is an event without precedent, and therefore without prognostic.” The fact is, however, that it had both; as our own history, in the reign of Charles the First, had furnished us with a precedent; and the prognostics were so plentiful, that a volume of passages might be collected from various writers who had foretold it.
There is a production, which does honour to the political sagacity, as well as to his knowledge of human nature, thrown out by Bishop Butler in a Sermon before the House of Lords, in 1741; he calculated that the unreligious spirit would produce, some time or other, political disorders, similar to those which, in the 17th century, had arisen from religious fanaticism. “Is there no danger,” he observed, “that all this may raise somewhat like that levelling spirit, upon Atheistical principles, which in the last age prevailed upon enthusiastic ones? Not to speak of the possibility that different sorts of people may unite in it upon these contrary principles!” All this has literally been accomplished!
If a prediction be raised on facts which our own prejudice induce us to infer will exist, it must be chimerical. The Monk Carron announces in his Chronicle, printed in 1532, that the world was about ending, as well as his Chronicle of it; that the Turkish Empire would not last many years; that after the death of Charles V. the Empire of Germany would be torn to pieces by the Germans themselves. This Monk will no longer pass for a prophet; he belongs to that class of Chroniclers who write to humour their own prejudices, like a certain Lady-prophetess who, in 1811, predicted that grass was to grow in Cheapside about this time!
Even when the event does not always justify the prediction, the predictor may not have been the less correct in his principles of divination. The catastrophe of human life, and the turn of great events, often turn out accidental. Marshal Biron, whom we have noticed, might have ascended the throne instead of the scaffold; Cromwell and De Retz might have become only the favourite generals, or the ministers of their Sovereigns. Fortuitous events are not included within the reach of human prescience; such must be consigned to those vulgar superstitions which presume to discover the issue of human events, without pretending to any human knowledge. In the science of the Philosopher there is nothing supernatural.
Predictions have sometimes been condemned as false ones, which, when scrutinize may scarcely be deemed to have failed: they may have been accomplished, and they may again revolve on us. In 1749, Dr. Hartley published his “Observations on Man;” and predicted the fall of the existing governments and hierarchies, in two simple propositions; among others—
Prop. 81. It is probable that all the civil governments will be overturned.
Prop. 82. It is probable that the present forms of Church government will be dissolved.
Many indeed were terribly alarmed at these predicted falls of Church and State. Lady Charlotte Wentworth asked Hartley when these terrible things would happen? The answer of the predictor was not less awful: “I am an old man, and shall not live to see them.” In the subsequent revolutions of America and France, and perhaps latterly that of Spain, it can hardly be denied that these predictions have failed.
The philosophical predictor, in foretelling some important crisis, from the appearances of things, will not rashly assign the period of time; for the crisis he anticipates is calculated on by that inevitable march of events which generate each other in human affairs; but the period is always dubious, being either retarded or accelerated by circumstances of a nature incapable of entering into his moral arithmetic. There is, however, a spirit of political vaccination which presumes to pass beyond the boundaries of human prescience, which, by enthusiasts, has often been ascribed to the highest source
of inspiration; but since “the language of prophecy” has ceased, such pretensions are not less impious than they are unphilosophical. No one possessed a more extraordinary portion of this awful prophetic confidence than Knox the reformer: he appears to have predicted several remarkable events, and the fates of some persons. We are informed that when condemned to a galley in Rochelle, he predicted that “within two or three years, he should preach the Gospel at St. Giles’s, in Edinburgh,” an improbable event, which nevertheless happened as he had foretold. Of Mary and Darnley, he pronounced that, “as the King, for the Queen’s pleasure, had gone to mass, the Lord, in his justice, would make her the instrument of his overthrow.” Other striking predictions of the deaths of Thomas Maitland, and of Kirkaldly of Grange, and the warning he solemnly gave to the Regent Murray, not to go to Linlithgow, where he was assassinated, occasioned a barbarous people to imagine that the prophet Knox had received an immediate communication from heaven.
An Almanack-maker, a Spanish friar, predicted, in clear and precise words, the death of Henry the Fourth of France; and Pierese, though he had no faith in the vain science of Astrology, yet, alarmed at whatever menaced the life of a beloved Sovereign, consulted with some of the King’s friends, and had the Spanish almanack before his Majesty, who courteously thanked them for their solicitude, but utterly slighted the prediction: the event occurred, and in the following year the Spanish friar spread his own fame in a new almanack. This prediction of the Spanish friar was the result either of his being acquainted with the plot, or from his being made an instrument for the purposes of those who were. It appears that Henry’s assassination was rife in Spain and Italy before the event occurred.
Separating human prediction from inspired prophecy, we can only ascribe to the faculties of man that acquired prescience which we have demonstrated, that some great minds have unquestionably exercised. Its principles have been discovered in the necessary dependance of effects on general causes, and we have shewn that, impelled by the same motives, and circumscribed by the same passions, all human affairs revolve in a circle; and we have opened the true source of this yet imperfect science of moral and political
prediction, in an intimate, but a discriminative, knowledge of the past. Authority is sacred when experience affords parallels and analogies. If much which may overwhelm, when it shall happen, can be foreseen, the prescient Statesman and Moralist may provide defensive measures to break the waters, whose streams they cannot always direct; and the venerable Hooker has profoundly observed, that “the best things have been overthrown, not so much by puissance and might of adversaries, as through defect of council in those that should have upheld and defended the same[33].”
“The philosophy of history,” observes a late writer and excellent observer, “blends the past with the present, and combines the present with the future; each is but a portion of the other. The actual state of a thing is necessarily determined by its antecedent, and thus progressively through the chain of human existence, while, as Leibnitz has happily expressed the idea, the present is always full of the future. A new and beautiful light is thus thrown over the annals of mankind, by the analogies and the parallels of different ages in succession. How the seventeenth century has influenced the eighteenth, and the results of the nineteenth, as they shall appear in the twentieth, might open a source of PREDICTIONS, to which, however difficult it might be to affix their dates, there would be none in exploring into causes, and tracing their inevitable effects. The multitude live only among the shadows of things in the appearance of the PRESENT; the learned, busied with the PAST, can only trace whence, and how, all comes; but he who is one of the people and one of the learned, the true philosopher, views the natural tendency and terminations which are preparing for the FUTURE.”
FATALISM, OR PREDESTINATION.
Under the name of materialism things very different from those generally understood are designated: it is the same with respect to fatalism. If it be maintained that every thing in the world, and the world itself, are necessary; that all that takes place is the effect of chance or of blind necessity, and that no supreme intelligence is mixed with, nor in fact mixes with existing objects; this doctrine is a kind of fatalism, differing very little from atheism. But this fatalism has nothing in common with the doctrine which establishes the innateness of the faculties of the soul and mind, and their independence upon organization. We cannot, then, under the first consideration, be accused of fatalism.
Another species of fatalism is that which teaches that in truth there exists a Supreme Being, creator of the universe, as well as of all the laws and properties connected with it; but that he has fixed those laws in so immutable a manner, that every thing that happens could not happen otherwise. In this system, man is necessarily carried away by the causes that compel him to act, without any participation whatever of the will. His actions are always a necessary result, without voluntary choice or moral liberty; they are neither punishable or meritorious, and the hope of future rewards vanishes, as well as the fear of future punishment.
This is the fatalism with which superstitious ignorance accuse the physiology of the brain[34] , that is the doctrine relative to the functions of the most noble organization in the world. “I have effectually proved,” says Dr. Gall, “that all our moral and intellectual dispositions are innate; that none of our propensities or talents, not even the understanding and will, can manifest themselves independent of this organization. To which also may be added, that it does not depend upon man to be gifted with organs peculiar to his
species, consequently with such or such propensities or faculties. Must it now be inferred that man is not the master of his actions, that there exists no free will, consequently neither a meritorious nor an unworthy act?”
Before this conclusion is refuted, let us examine with the frankness worthy of true philosophy, how far man is submitted to the immutable laws of his Creator, how far we ought to acknowledge an inevitable necessity, a destiny, or fatalism. To unravel confused ideas, is the best method of placing truth in its clearest point of view.
Man is obliged to acknowledge the most powerful and determined influence of a multitude of things relative to his happiness or misery, and even over his whole conduct, without of himself being able either to add to, or subtract from that influence. No one can call himself to life; no one can choose the time, the climate, or the nation in which he shall be born; no one can fix the manners, laws, customs, form of government, religious prejudices, or the superstitions with which he shall be surrounded from the moment of his birth; no one can say, I will be master or servant, the eldest son or the youngest son; I will have a robust or a debilitated state of health; I will be a man or a woman; I will have such or such a constitution: I will be a fool, an idiot, a simpleton, a man of understanding, or a man of genius, passionate or calm, of a mild or cross nature, modest or proud, stupid or circumspect, cowardly or prone to voluptuousness, humble or independent: no one can determine the degree of prudence or the foolishness of his superiors, the noxious or useful example he shall meet with, the result of his connexions, the fortuitous events, the influence of external things over him, the condition of his father and mother, or his own, or the source of irritation that his desires or passions will experience. The relations of the five senses with external things, and the number and functions of the viscera and members, have been fixed in the same invariable manner; so nature is the source of our propensities, sentiments, and faculties. Their reciprocal influence, and their relations with external objects, have been irrevocably determined by the laws of our organization.
As it does not depend upon ourselves to have or see when objects strikes our ears or our eyes, in the same manner our judgments are necessarily the results of the laws of thought. “Judgment, very rightly,” says Mr. Tracy, “in this sense is independent of the will; it is
not under our controul, when we perceive a real relation betwixt two of our perceptions, not to feel it as it actually is, that is, such as should appear to every being organized as ourselves, if they were precisely in the same situation. It is this necessity which constitutes the certainty and reality of every thing we are acquainted with. For if it only depended upon our fancy to be affected with a great thing as if it were a small one, with a good as if it were a bad one, with one that is true as if it were false, there would no longer exist any thing real in the world, at least for us. There would neither be greatness nor smallness, good nor evil, falsehood nor truth; our fancy alone would be every thing. Such an order of things cannot even be conceived; it implies contradiction.
Since primitive organization, sex, age, constitution, education, climate, form of government, religion, prejudices, superstitions, &c. exercise the most decided influence over our sensations and ideas, our judgments and the determination of our will, the nature and force of our propensities and talents, consequently over the first motives of our actions, it must be confessed that man, in several of the most important moments of his life, is under the empire of a destiny, which sometimes fixes him like the inert shell against a rock; at others, it carries him away in a whirlwind, like the dust.
It is not then surprising that the sages of Greece, of the Indies, China and Japan, the Christians of the east and west, and the Mahomedans, have worked up this species of fatalism with their different doctrines. In all times our moral and intellectual faculties have been made to take their origin from God; and in all times it has been taught that all the gifts of men came from heaven; that God has, from all eternity, chosen the elect; that man of himself is incapable of any good thought; that every difference between men, relative to their faculties, comes from God; that there are only those to whom it has been given by a superior power who are capable of certain actions; that every one acts after his own innate character, the same as the fig tree does not bear grapes, nor the vine figs, and the same that a salt spring does not run in fresh water; lastly, that all cannot dive into the mysteries of nature, nor the decrees of Providence.
It is this same kind of fatalism, this same inevitable influence of superior powers, that has been taught by the fathers of the church. St. Augustine wished this very same doctrine to be preached, to
profess loudly in the belief of the infallibility of Providence, and our entire dependence upon God. “In the same manner, he says, no one can give himself life, no one can give himself understanding.” If some are unacquainted with the truth, it is, according to his doctrine, because they have not received the necessary capacity to know it. He refutes the objections that might be urged against the justice of God: he remarks that neither has the grace of God distributed equally to every one the temporal goods, such as address, strength, health, beauty, wit, and the disposition for the arts and sciences, riches, honors, &c. St. Cyprian at that time had already said, that we ought not to be proud of our qualities, for we possess nothing from ourselves.
If people had not always been convinced of the influence of external and internal conditions relative to the determination of our will, upon our actions, why, in all times and among every people, have civil and religious laws been made to subdue and direct the desires of men? There is no religion that has not ordained abstinence from certain meats and drinks, fasting and mortification of the body. From the time of Solomon the wise down to our own time, we know of no observer of human nature that has not acknowledged that the physical and moral man is entirely dependant on the laws of the creation.
DIVINATION,
Is the art or act of foretelling future events, and is divided by the ancients into artificial and natural.
A D ,
Is that which proceeds by reasoning upon certain external signs, considered as indications of futurity.
Natural Divination,
Is that which presages things from a mere internal sense, and persuasion of the mind, without any assistance of signs; and is of two kinds, the one from nature, and the other by influx. The first is the supposition that the soul, collected within itself, and not diffused, or divided among the organs of the body, has, from its own nature and essence, some foreknowledge of future things: witness what is seen in dreams, ecstasies, the confines of death, &c. The second supposes that the soul, after the manner of a minor, receives some secondary illumination from the presence of God and other spirits.
Artificial divination is also of two kinds; the one argues from natural causes; e. g. the predictions of physicians about the event of diseases, from the pulse, tongue, urine, &c. Such also are those of the politician, O venalem urbem, et mox peuturam, si emptorem inveneris! The second proceeds from experiments and observations arbitrarily instituted, and is mostly superstitious.
The systems of divination reducible under this head, are almost incalculable, e. g. by birds, the entrails of birds, lines of the hand, points marked at random, numbers, names, the motion of a sieve, the air, fire, the Sortes Prænestinæ, Virgilianæ, and Homericæ; with numerous others, the principal species and names of which are as follows:—
A ,
Was an ancient species of divination or method of foretelling future events by means of an axe or hatchet. The word is derived from the Greek, αξινη, securis; μαντεια, divinatio. This art was in considerable repute among the ancients; and was performed, according to some, by laying an agate stone upon a red hot hatchet.
A ,
Is an ancient kind of divination, performed by means of a cock, which was used among the Greeks, in the following manner.—A circle was made on the ground, and divided into 24 equal portions or spaces: in each space was written one of the letters of the alphabet, and upon each of these letters was laid a grain of wheat. This being done, a cock was placed within the circle, and careful observation was made of the grains he picked. The letters corresponding to these grains were afterwards formed into a word, which word was the answer decreed. It was thus that Libanius and Jamblicus sought who should succeed the Emperor Valens; and the cock answering to the spaces ΘΕΟΔ, they concluded upon Theodore, but by a mistake, instead of Theodosius.
A ,
Is a kind of divination or method of foretelling future events, by means of numbers. The Gematria, which makes the first species of the Jewish Cabala, is a kind of Arithmomancy.
B ,
Is a method of divination by means of arrows, practised in the East, but chiefly among the Arabians.
Belomancy has been performed in different manners: one was to mark a parcel of arrows, and to put eleven or more of them into a bag; these were afterwards drawn out, and according as they were marked, or otherwise, they judged of future events. Another way was, to have three arrows, upon one of which was written, God forbids it me; upon another, God orders it me; and upon the third nothing at all. These were put into a quiver, out of which one of the three was drawn at random; if it happened to be that with the second inscription, the thing they consulted about was to be done; if it chanced to be that with the first inscription, the thing was let alone; and if it proved to be that without any inscription, they drew over again. Belomancy is an ancient practice, and is probably that which Ezekiel mentions, chap. xxi. v. 21. At least St. Jerome understands it
so, and observes that the practice was frequent among the Assyrians and Babylonians. Something like it is also mentioned in Hosea, chap. vi. only that staves are mentioned there instead of arrows, which is rather Rhabdomancy than Belomancy. Grotius, as well as Jerome, confounds the two together, and shews that they prevailed much among the Magi, Chaldeans, and Scythians, from whom they passed to the Sclavonians, and thence to the Germans, whom Tacitus observes to make use of Belomancy.
C ,
Is a kind of divination performed by the throwing of dice or little bones; and observing the points or marks turned up.
At Bura, a city of Achaia, was a temple, and a celebrated Temple of Hercules; where such as consulted the oracle, after praying to the idol, threw four dice, the points of which being well scanned by the priests, he was supposed to draw an answer from them.
This word is derived from the Greek κληδων, which signifies two things; viz. rumour, a report, and avis, a bird; in the first sense, Cledonism should denote a kind of divination drawn from words occasionally uttered. Cicero observes, that the Pythagoreans made observations not only of the words of the gods, but of those of men; and accordingly believed the pronouncing of certain words, e. g. incendium, at a meal, very unlucky. Thus, instead of prison, they used the words domicilium; and to avoid erinnyes, said Eumenides. In the second sense, Cledonism should seem a divination drawn from birds; the same with ornithomantia.
C .
As the word implies, is the art of divination by means of a sieve.
C .
The sieve being suspended, after repeating a certain form of words, it is taken between two fingers only; and the names of the parties suspected, repeated: he at whose name the sieve turns, trembles or shakes, is reputed guilty of the evil in question. This doubtless must be a very ancient practice. Theocritus, in his third Idyllion, mentions a woman who was very skilful in it. It was sometimes also practised by suspending the sieve by a thread, or fixing it to the points of a pair of scissars, giving it room to turn, and naming as before the parties suspected: in this manner Coscinomancy is still practised in some parts of England. From Theocritus it appears, that it was not only used to find out persons unknown, but also to discover the secrets of those who were.
C ,
Is a kind of divination by means of smoke, used by the ancients in their sacrifices. The general rule was—when the smoke was thin and light, and ascended straight up, it was a good omen; if on the contrary, it was an ill one.
There was another species of Capnomancy which consisted in observing the smoke arising from poppy and jessamin seed, cast upon burning coals.
C ,
Is another species of divination used by the ancients, performed by means of a mirror.
Pausanias says, that this method of divination was in use among the Achaians; where those who were sick, and in danger of death, let down a mirror, or looking-glass, fastened by a thread, into a fountain before the temple of Ceres; then looking in the glass, if they saw a ghastly disfigured face, they took it as a sure sign of death; but, on the contrary, if the face appeared fresh and healthy, it was a token of recovery. Sometimes glasses were used without water, and the images of future things, it is said, were represented in them.
C ,
Is the art of divining the fate, temperament, and disposition of a person by the lines and lineaments of the hands.
There are a great many authors on this vain and trifling art, viz. Artemidorus, Fludd, Johannes De Indagine, Taconerus, and M. De le Chambre, who are among the best.
M. De le Chambre insists upon it that the inclinations of people may be known from consulting the lines on the hands; there being a very near correspondence between the parts of the hand and the internal parts of the body, the heart, liver, &c. “whereon the passions and inclinations much depend.” He adds, however, that the rules and precepts of Chiromancy are not sufficiently warranted; the experiments on which they stand not being well verified. He concludes by observing, that there should be a new set of observations, made with justness and exactitude, in order to give to Chiromancy that form and solidity which an art of science demands.
D .
This is a sort of divination performed by means of a ring. It was done as follows, viz. by holding a ring, suspended by a fine thread, over a round table, on the edge of which were made a number of marks with the 24 letters of the alphabet. The ring in shaking or vibrating over the table, stopped over certain of the letters, which, being joined together, composed the required answer. But this operation was preceded and accompanied by several superstitious ceremonies; for, in the first place, the ring was to be consecrated with a great deal of mystery; the person holding it was to be clad in linen garments, to the very shoes; his head was to be shaven all round, and he was to hold vervein in his hand. And before he proceeded on any thing the gods were first to be appeased by a formulary of prayers, &c.
The whole process of this mysterious rite is given in the 29th book of Ammianus Marcellinus.
E ,
(From exta and spicere, to view, consider.)
The name of the officer who shewed and examined the entrails of the victims was Extispex.
This method of divination, or of drawing presages relative to futurity, was much practised throughout Greece, where there were two families, the Jamidæ and Clytidæ, consecrated or set apart particularly for the exercise of it.
The Hetrurians, in Italy, were the first Extispices, among whom likewise the art was in great repute. Lucan gives us a fine description of one of these operations in his first book.
G .
This species of divination, practised among the ancients, was performed by means of words coming or appearing to come out of the belly.
There is another kind of divination called by the same name, which is performed by means of glasses, or other round transparent vessels, within which certain figures appear by magic art. Hence its name, in consequence of the figures appearing as if in the belly of the vessels.
G ,
Was performed by means of a number of little points or dots, made at random on paper; and afterwards considering the various lines and figures, which those points present; thereby forming a pretended judgment of futurity, and deciding a proposed question.
Polydore Virgil defines Geomancy a kind of divination performed by means of clefts or chinks made in the ground; and he takes the Persian magi to have been the inventors of it. De invent. rer. lib. 1, c. 23.
⁂ Geomancy is formed of the Greek γη terra, earth; and μαντεια, divination; it being the ancien custom to cast little pebbles on the
ground, and thence to form their conjecture, instead of the points above-mentioned.
H , ὑ ,
The art of divining or foretelling future events by means of water; and is one of the four general kinds of divination: the other three, as regarding the other elements, viz. fire and earth, are denominated Pyromancy, Aeromancy, and Geomancy already mentioned.
The Persians are said by Varro to have been the first inventors of Hydromancy; observing also that Numa Pompilius, and Pythagoras, made use of it.
There are various Hydromantic machines and vessels, which are of a singularly curious nature.
N ,
Is the art of communicating with devils, and doing surprising things by means of their aid; particularly that of calling up the dead and extorting answers from them. (See M .)
O ,
Is the art of interpreting dreams; or a method of foretelling future events by means of dreams.
From several passages of Scripture, it appears that, under the Jewish dispensation, there was such a thing as foretelling future events by dreams; but there was a particular gift or revelation required for that purpose. Hence it would appear that dreams are actually significative of something to come; and all that is wanting among us is, the Oneirocritica, or the art of knowing what: still it is the general opinion of the present day that dreams are mere chimera, induced by various causes, have no affinity with the realization of future events; but having, at the same time, indeed, some relation to what has already transpired.
With respect to Joseph’s dream, “it was possible,” says an old author, “for God, who knew all things, to discover to him what was in the womb of fate; and to introduce that, he might avail himself of a dream; not but that he might as well have foretold it from any other accident or circumstance whatever; unless God, to give the business more importance, should purposely communicate such a dream to Pharoah, in order to fall in with the popular notion of dreams and divination, which at that time was so prevalent among the Egyptians.”
The name given to the interpreters of dreams, or those who judge of events from the circumstances of dreams, was Oneirocritics. There is not much confidence to be placed in those Greek books called Oneirocritics; they are replete with superstition of the times. Rigault has given us a collection of the Greek and Latin works of this kind; one of which is attributed to Astrampsichus; another to Nicephorus, the patriarch of Constantinople; to which are added the treatises of Artimedorus and Achmet. But the books themselves are little else than reveries or waking dreams, to explain and account for sleeping ones.
The secret of Oneirocritism, according to all these authors, consists in the relations supposed to exist between the dream and the thing signified; but they are far from keeping to the relations of agreement and similitudes; and frequently they have recourse to others of dissimilitude and contrariety.
O , or O [35]
,
Is the art of divining the good or bad fortune which will befall a man from the letters of his name. This mode of divination was a very popular and reputable practice among the ancients.
The Pythagoreans taught that the minds, actions, and successes of mankind, were according to their fate, genius, and name; and Plato himself inclines somewhat to the same opinion.—Ausonius to Probus expresses it in the following manner:—
Qualem creavit moribus, Jussit vocari NOMINE Mundi supremus arbiter.
In this manner he sports with tippling Meroe, as if her name told she would drink pure wine without water; or as he calls it, merum mereim. Thus Hippolytus was observed to be torn to pieces by his own coach horses, as his name imported; and thus Agamemnon signified that he should linger long before Troy; Priam, that he should be redeemed out of bondage in his childhood. To this also may be referred that of Claudius Rutilius:—
Nominibus certis credam decurrere mores?
Moribus aut Potius nomina certa dari?
It is a frequent and no less just observation in history, that the greatest Empires and States have been founded and destroyed by men of the same name. Thus, for instance, Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, began the Persian monarchy; and Cyrus, the son of Darius, ruined it; Darius, son of Hystaspes, restored it; and, again, Darius, son of Asamis, utterly overthrew it. Phillip, son of Amyntas, exceedingly enlarged the kingdom of Macedonia; and Phillip, son of Antigonus, wholly lost it. Augustus was the first Emperor of Rome; Augustulus the last. Constantine first settled the empire of Constantinople, and Constantine lost it wholly to the Turks.
There is a similar observation that some names are constantly unfortunate to princes: e. g. Caius, among the Romans; John, in France, England and Scotland; and Henry, in France.
One of the principal rules of Onomancy, among the Pythagoreans, was, that an even number of vowels in a name signified an imperfection in the left side of a man; and an odd number in the right.—Another rule, about as good as this, was, that those persons were the most happy, in whose names the numeral letters, added together, made the greatest sum; for which reason, say they, it was, that Achilles vanquished Hector; the numeral letters, in the former name, amounting to a greater number than the latter. And doubtless it was from a like principle that the young Romans toasted their mistresses at their meetings as often as their names contained letters.
“Nævia sex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur!”
Rhodingius describes a singular kind of Onomantia.—Theodotus, King of the Goths, being curious to learn the success of his wars
against the Romans, an Onomantical Jew ordered him to shut up a number of swine in little stys, and to give some of them Roman, and others Gothic names, with different marks to distinguish them, and there to keep them till a certain day; which day having come, upon inspecting the stys they found those dead to whom the Gothic names had been given, and those alive to whom the Roman names were assigned.—Upon which the Jew foretold the defeat of the Goths.
O , or O .
This kind of divination is performed by means of the finger nails. The ancient practice was, to rub the nails of a youth with oil and soot, or wax, and to hold up the nails, thus prepared, against the sun; upon which there were supposed to appear figures or characters, which shewed the thing required. Hence also modern Chiromancers call that branch of their art which relates to the inspection of nails, O .
O ,
Is a kind of divination, or method of arriving at the knowledge of futurity, by means of birds; it was among the Greeks what Augury was among the Romans.
P ,
A species of divination performed by means of fire.
The ancients imagined they could foretel futurity by inspecting fire and flame; for this purpose they considered its direction, or which way it turned. Sometimes they added other matters to the fire, e. g. a vessel full of urine, with its neck bound round with wool; and narrowly watched the side in which it would burst, and thence took their prognostic. Sometimes they threw pitch in it, and if it took fire instantly, they considered it a favourable omen.
