If a woman gives birth to a dolphin (?)[148], the house of the [man will be enlarged ?]. If a woman gives birth to a fish-being[149], the rule of the king will prosper, the gods [will return to the land]. If a woman gives birth to a bird[150],... These examples will suffice to show the part played by the supposed resemblance of a new-born infant with one animal or the other in the Babylonian-Assyrian birth-omens; nor is it difficult to see how the thought of such resemblances should arise, for, as a matter of fact, the shape of the head of an infant easily suggests that of a dog or a bird. The ear if unusually large might recall a donkey's ear; a small eye, that of a pig, and a large one, that of a lion[151]. The association of ideas with the various animals no doubt suggests the interpretation in most cases, though in others the interpretation appears to be of a purely conventional type and as a rule favorable. VI Now what does all this mean? Is there any larger significance in these elaborate collections of birth-omens? Do investigations of this character serve any purpose beyond finding out how foolish many millions of people were thousands of years ago, though to be sure it may be some satisfaction to ascertain for oneself that foolishness has so venerable an ancestry. Bouché-Leclercq says at the close of his introduction to his great work on Greek Astrology[152] that 'it is not a waste of time to find out how other peoples wasted theirs'. But there would be small comfort even in such a reflection, if studies in the history of divination did not furnish a larger outlook on the development of human thought--if in short such studies did not have some important bearing on the cultural history of mankind. Let us see whether this is the case.