To determine whether a man had an affection of the lungs or liver, some of his urine was cast upon wheat bran, which was then put aside in a cool place; if worms appeared, he was afflicted, etc.—(Beckherius, “Med. Microcosmus,” p. 62.) From an examination of the feces and urine of the patient to determine his present state of health, and if possible to make a prognosis of his future condition, was, in the minds of ignorant or half-educated men merely the first step in the direction of determining the future of the commonwealth by an inspection of the viscera and the excrement of the victims whose blood smoked upon its altars. The Romans were addicted to this mode of divination, which Schurig incorrectly styles “Anthropomancy.” He relates that Heliogabalus was especially fond of this, and, indeed, he credits that voluptuary with its introduction, and expresses his gratification that he met his deserts in being killed in a privy and left to die in ordure. The Saxons also were given to this method of consulting the future.—(See “Chylologia,” pp. 749, 750.) “Uromantie. ff. (Med. et Divin.), mot formé de “ouron,” urine, et “manteia,” divination, qui signifie l’art de diviner par le moyen des urines l’état présent d’une maladie, et d’en prédire les évènements futurs.”—(“Encyc. ou Dict. Rais. des Sciences,” etc., fol. Neufchatel, 1745, vol. xvii. p. 499, given in personal letter to Captain Bourke from Professor Frank Rede Fowke, South Kensington Museum, London, England.) “_Falstaff._ Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to my water? “_Page._ He said, sir, the water itself was a good healthy water; but for the party that owed it, he might have more diseases than he knew for.”—(Shakspeare, “2 King Henry IV.,” i. 2.) Sir Thomas More was possessed of great wit and a fine flow of spirits, which even the approach of death could not dispel. Upon receiving notification that he had been condemned to death by his master, King Henry VIII., “he called for his urinal, and having made water in it, he cast it and viewed it (as physicians do) a pretty while; at last he sware soberly that he saw nothing in that man’s water but that he might live if it pleased the king.”—(“Ajax,” p. 61.) Thibetan doctors examine the urine of the patient; then churn it and listen to the noise made by the bubbles.—(Mr. W. W. Rockhill.) “How to vex her, And make her cry so much that the physician, If she fall sick upon it, shall want urine To find the same by, and she, remediless, Die in her heresy.” (“Scornful Lady,” v. 1, Beaumont and Fletcher.) The people of Europe did not restrict their examinations to the egestæ of human beings; they were equally careful to scrutinize every day the droppings of the hounds, hawks, and other animals used in the chase.—(See “Ajax.”)