uing dividend not
paid up to the date of purchase. At a certain day, after the dividend is
declared, the stock or share is dealt in on the Stock Exchange, as _ex
dividend_ (or "x. d."), which means that the current dividend is paid
not to the buyer but to the previous holder, and the price of the stock
is lower to that extent. The expression "cum dividend" is used to
signify that the price of the security dealt in includes a dividend
which, in the absence of any stipulation, might be supposed to belong to
the seller of the security. On the New York Stock Exchange the
invariable practice is to sell stock with the "dividend on" until the
company's books are closed, after which it is usually sold "ex
dividend." (S. D. H.)

DIVIDIVI, the native and commercial name for the astringent pods of
_Caesalpinia coriaria_, a leguminous shrub of the suborder
_Caesalpinieae_, which grows in low marshy tracts in the West Indies and
the north of South America. The plant is between 20 and 30 ft. in
height, and bears white flowers. The pods are flattened, and curl up in
drying; they are about 3/4 in. broad, from 2 to 3 in. long and of a rich
brown colour. Dividivi was first brought to Europe from Caracas in 1768.
It contains about 30% of ellagitannic acid, whence its value in leather
manufacture.

DIVINATION, the process of obtaining knowledge of secret or future
things by means of oracles, omens or astrology. The root of the word,
_deus_ (god) or _divus_, indicates the supposed source of the
soothsayer's information, just as the equivalent Greek term, [Greek:
mantike], indicates the spiritual source of the utterances of the seer,
[Greek: mantis]. In classical times the view was, in fact, general, as
may be seen by Cicero's _De divinatione_, that not only oracles but also
omens were signs sent by the gods; even the astrologer held that he
gained his information, in the last resort, from the same source. On the
side of the Stoics it was argued that if divination was a real art,
there must be gods who gave it to mankind; against this it was argued
that signs of future events may be given without any god.

Divination is practised in all grades of culture; its votaries range
from the Australian black to the American medium. There is no general
agreement as to the source of the information; commonly it is held that
it comes from the gods directly or indirectly. In the Bornean cult of
the hawk it seems that the divine bird it