In India, where the records of the early ages of civilization go back
hundreds of years, omens are considered of great importance.

Later, in Greece, the home of the greatest and highest culture and
civilization, we find, too, omens regarded very seriously, while to-day
there are vast numbers of persons of intellect, the world over, who
place reliance upon omens.

That there is some good ground for belief in some omens seems
indisputable. Whether this has arisen as the result of experience, by
the following of some particular event close upon the heels of signs
observed, or whether it has been an intuitive science, in which
provision has been used to afford an interpretation, is not quite
clear. It seems idle to attempt to dismiss the whole thing as mere
superstition, wild guessing, or abject credulity, as some try to do,
with astrology and alchemy also, and other occult sciences; the fact
remains that omens have, in numberless instances, given good warnings.

To say that these are just coincidences is to beg the question. For
the universe is governed by law. Things happen because they must, not
because they may. There is no such thing as accident or coincidence. We
may not be able to see the steps and the connections. But they are there
all the same.

In years gone by many signs were deduced from the symptoms of sick
men; the events or actions of a man's life; dreams and visions; the
appearance of a man's shadow; from fire, flame, light, or smoke; the
state and condition of cities and their streets, of fields, marshes,
rivers, and lands. From the appearances of the stars and planets, of