The scientific inquirer will find a mass of material in the papers and reports contributed to the numerous.
An altar, furnished with lamps, was placed before the statue; the inquirer, after lighting the lamps and offering incense, placed a coin in the right hand of the god; he then whispered his question into the ear of the statue, and, stopping his own ears, left the market place.
An inquirer who examines the stars with a shilling telescope is not likely to make observations of value, and even a trained astronomer has to allow for his "personal equation" - a point to which even a finished critic rarely attends.
Of all such cases it is enough to say that it is impossible for the serious inquirer to establish any causal connexion between the omen and the event which it is presumed to foreshadow.
On that side, fortunately, there is no possibility of doubt or difficulty to any competent inquirer.