This word is supposed to be formed from the Greek ονομα, name; and μαντεια, divination. There is in fact something rather singular in the etymology; for, in strictness, Onomancy should rather signify divination by asses, being formed from oνos, _asinus_ and μαντεια. To signify divination by names it should be Onomatomancy. Footnote 36: PYTHIAN or PYTHIA, in antiquity, the priestess of Apollo, by whom he delivered oracles. She was thus called from the god himself, who was styled _Apollo Pythius_, from his slaying the serpent Python; or as others will have it, αποτου ποδεσδαι, because Apollo, the sun, is the cause of rottenness; or, according to others, from πυνδανομαι, _I hear_, because people went to hear and consult his oracles.—The priestess was to be a pure virgin. She sat on the covercle, or lid, of a brazen vessel, mounted on a tripod; and thence, after a violent enthusiasm, she delivered her oracles; _i. e._ she rehearsed a few ambiguous and obscure verses, which were taken for oracles. All the Pythiæ did not seem to have had the same talent at poetry, or to have memory enough to retain their lesson.—Plutarch and Strabo make mention of poets, who were kept in by Jupiter, as interpreters. The solemn games instituted in honor of Apollo, and in memory of his killing the serpent Python with his arrows, were called Pythia or Pythian games. Footnote 37: The art of knowing the humour, temperament, or disposition of a person, from observation of the lines of the face, and the character of its members or features, is called Physiognomy. Baptist Porta and Robert Fludd, are among the top modern authors, and it has since been revived by Lavater, on this subject. The ancient authors are the Sophist Adamantius, and Aristotle, whose treatise on Physiognomy is translated into Latin by de Lacuna. Footnote 38: When the thoughts are much troubled, and when a person sleeps without the circumstance of going to bed, or putting off his clothes, as when he nods in his chair; it is very difficult, as Hobbes remarks, to distinguish a dream from a reality. On the contrary, he that composes himself to sleep, in case of any uncouth or absurd fancy, easily suspects it to have been a dream.—LEVIATHAN, par. i. c. 1. Footnote 39: For the notion of this threefold soul, read the following verses attributed to Ovid:— Bis duo sunt nomini: MANES, CARO, SPIRITUS, UMBRA: Quatuor ista loci bis duo suscipiunt, Terra legit CARNEM, tumulum circumvolat UMBRA Orcus habet MANES, SPIRITUS astra petit. Footnote 40: Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft, book xv. chap. 39; also Discourse on Devils and Spirits, chap. 28. Footnote 41: Philosophy of Apparitions, by Dr. Hibbert. Footnote 42: