so in use
throughout Babylonia and Chaldaea; but the Grecian oracles possessed
the highest reputation for truthfulness, the most renowned of which
was the Delphic oracle. The precedence of consulting this oracle was
determined by lots; and sacrifices were offered by the inquirers, who
went, with laurel crowns on their heads, and delivered their
questions carefully sealed. There was a secondary class of oracles or
prophetic persons in Greece. One was situated at Oropus, in Attica,
being the shrine of a deified magician. Those who consulted it fasted
a whole day, abstained from wine, sacrificed a ram to Amphiaraus, and
slept on the skin in the temple, where futurity was opened up to them
through dreams. The oracle of Trophonius, which owed its origin to a
deified seer, was given in a cave into which the votary entered,
bathed, and anointed himself, while holding a honeyed cake. He
obtained the desired knowledge by what he saw and heard. Written
oracles existed of the prophecies of celebrated seers, and were
preserved in the acropolis of Athens. Among the Arabs divination was,
and is, greatly practised, and also among the Celtic people. Oracular
answers were usually couched in dark ambiguous terms; and it was
thought that at times the information was given by demons.

Lightfoot proved that the Jews, after their return from Babylon,
gradually abandoned themselves to sorcery and divination. The Talmud
abounds with directions for the due observance of superstitious rites.
Many Jews were highly esteemed, after the destruction of their holy
city, for their pretended skill in magic. Rabbins were trained in the
school of Zoroaster; they interpreted dreams, cured the sick, healed
wounds, and detected thefts, through their intercourse with superior
beings.

Bath-Kool, daughter of the voice, was the name given by the Jews to an
oracle in the second temple, which, according to report, was destined
to supply the defect of the Urim and Thummim, the mysterious oracles
of former and greater days. Of Bath-Kool many stories are related.
When two Rabbins went to consult this oracle concerning the fate of
another Rabbin, they passed before a school, in which they heard a boy
reading: "And Samuel died." On inquiry they subsequently found that
their friend was no longer a dweller among men. Two other Rabbins
went to visit Acha in his sickness, and as they proceeded on their way
they agreed to hear what Bath-Kool would pronounce on the fate o