An irruption of the Scythians into Thrace was presaged by a skirmish between crows and ravens.--Nicetas. Cicero was warned of his approaching death by some ravens fluttering about him just before he was murdered by Popilius Cænas.--Macaulay, _History of St. Kilda_, 176. Alexander Ross says: “Mr. Draper, a young gentleman, and my intimate friend, about four or five years ago had one or two ravens, which had been quarrelling on the chimney, fly into his chamber, and he died shortly after.”--_Arcana Microcosmi._ RHINOCEROS’S HORNS. Cups made of this material will give warning of poison in a liquid by causing it to effervesce. SALT spilt towards a person indicates contention, but the evil may be averted by throwing a part of the spilt salt over the left shoulder. Prodige, subverso casu leviore salino, Si mal venturum conjicis omen; adest. R. Keuchen, _Crepundia_, 215 (1662). SHEARS AND SIEVE (_The_), ordeals by fire, water, etc., single combats, the corsned or cursed morsel, the Urim and Thummim, the casting of lots, were all employed as tests of innocence or guilt in olden times, under the notion that God would direct the lot aright. (See JONAH, i. 7.) SHOES. It was thought by the Romans a bad omen to put a shoe on the wrong foot. Augustus, having b’ oversight, Put on his left shoe for his right, Had like to have been slain that day By soldiers mutin’ing for pay. Butler, _Hudibras_. Auguste ... restoit immobile et consterné lorsqu’il lui arrivoit par mégarde de mettre le soulier droit au pied gauche.--ST. FOIX, _Essais sur Paris_, v. 145. SHOOTING PAINS. All sudden pains are warnings of evil at hand. Timeo quod rerum gesserim hic, ita dorsus totus prurit.--Plautus, _Miles Gloriosus_. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Shakespeare, _Macbeth_ (1606). SNEEZING. Once, a wish, twice, a kiss, thrice, a letter, and oftener than thrice, something better. _Sneezing before breakfast_ is a forecast that a stranger or a present is coming. _Sneezing at night-time_. To sneeze twice for three successive nights denotes a death, a loss, or a great gain. Si duæ sternutationes fiant omni nocte ab aliquo, et illud continuitur per tres noctes, signo est quod aliquis vel aliqua de domo morietur vel aliud damnum domui continget, vel maximum lucrum.--Hornmannus, _De Miraculis Mortuorum_, 163. Eustathius says that sneezing to the left is unlucky, but to the right lucky. Hence, when Themistoclês was offering sacrifice before his engagement with Xerxes, and one of the soldiers on his right hand sneezed, Euphrantīdês, the soothsayer, declared the Greeks would surely gain the victory.--Plutarch, _Lives_ (“Themistoclês”).