Cup, DIVINATION BY

Cup, DIVINATION BY, a mode of foretelling events, practised by the ancient Egyptians, and still surviving, though with but little credit, in some of the rural districts of England and Scotland. One of the eastern methods consisted in throwing in small pieces of gold or silver leaf into a cup of water, in which also were placed precious stones, with certain characters engraved upon them. The infernal powers were then invoked, and returned answer, either in an intelligible voice, or by signs on the surface of the water, or by a representation in the cup of the person inquired about. By the modern method, a person's fortune is foretold by the disposition of the sediment in her teacup after pouring out the last of the liquid.