Cicero, by the very terms which he uses to refute the Chaldeans, shows that the result of these ideas was to consider all infirmities and monstrosities that new-born infants exhibited as the inevitable and irremediable consequence of the action of these astral positions.

This being granted, the observation of similar monstrosities gave, as it were, a reflection of the state of the sky; on which depended all terrestrial things; consequently, one might read in them the future with as much certainty as in the stars themselves.

For this reason the greatest possible importance was attached to the teratologic auguries which occupy so much space in the fragments of the great treatise on terrestrial presages which have up to the present time been published." The rendering into English of the account of 62 teratologic cases in the human subject with the prophetic meanings attached to them by Chaldean diviners, after the translation of Opport, is given as follows by Ballantyne, some of the words being untranslatable:-- "When a woman gives birth to an infant-- (1) that has the ears of a lion, there will be a powerful king in the country; (2) that wants the right ear, the days of the master (king) will be prolonged (reach old age); (3) that wants both ears, there will be mourning in the country, and the country will be lessened (diminished); (4) whose right ear is small, the house of the man (in whose house the birth took place) will be destroyed; (5) whose ears are both small, the house of the man will be built of bricks; (6) whose right ear is mudissu tehaat (monstrous), there will be an androgyne in the house of the new-born (7) whose ears are both mudissu (deformed), the country will perish and the enemy rejoice; (8) whose right ear is round, there will be an androgyne in the house of the new-born; (9) whose right ear has a wound below, and tur re ut of the man, the house will be estroyed; (10) that has two ears on the right side and none on the left, the gods will bring about a stable reign, the country will flourish, and it will be a land of repose; (11) whose ears are both closed, sa a au; (12) that has a bird's beak, the country will be peaceful; (13) that has no mouth, the mistress of the house will die; (14) that has no right nostril, the people of the world will be injured; (15) whose nostrils are absent, the country will be in affliction, and the house of the man will be ruined; (16) whose jaws are absent, the days of the master (king) will be prolonged, but the house (where the infant is born) will be ruined.
When a woman gives birth to an infant-- (17) that has no lower jaw, mut ta at mat, the name will not be effaced; (20) that has no nose, affliction will seize upon the country, and the master of the house will die; (21) that has neither nose nor virile member (penis), the army of the king will be strong, peace will be in the land, the men of the king will be sheltered from evil influences, and Lilit (a female demon) shall not have power over them; (22) whose upper lip overrides the lower, the people of the world will rejoice (or good augury for the troops); (23) that has no lips, affliction will seize upon the land, and the house of the man will be destroyed; (24) whose tongue is kuri aat, the man will be spared ( ?); (25) that has no right hand, the country will be convulsed by an earthquake; (26) that has no fingers, the town will have no births, the bar shall be lost; (27) that has no fingers on the right side, the master (king) will not pardon his adversary (or shall be humiliated by his enemies); (28) that has six fingers on the right side, the man will take the lukunu of the house; (29) that has six very small toes on both feet, he shall not go to the lukunu; (30) that has six toes on each foot, the people of the world will be injured (calamity to the troops); (31) that has the heart open and that has no skin, the country will suffer from calamities; (32) that has no penis, the master of the house will be enriched by the harvest of his field; (33) that wants the penis and the umbilicus, there will be ill-will in the house, the woman (wife) will have an overbearing eye (be haughty); but the male descent of the palace will be more extended.
When a woman gives birth to an infant-- (34) that has no well-marked sex, calamity and affliction will seize upon the land; the master of the house shall have no happiness; (35) whose anus is closed, the country will suffer from want of nourishment; (36) whose right testicle ( ?) is absent, the country of the master (king) will perish; (37) whose right foot is absent, his house will be ruined and there will be abundance in that of the neighbor; (38) that has no feet, the canals of the country will be cut (intercepted) and the house ruined; (39) that has the right foot in the form of a fish's tail, the booty of the country of the humble will not be imas sa bir; (40) whose hands and feet are like four fishes' tails (fins), the master (king) shall perish ( ?) and his country shall be consumed; (41) whose feet are moved by his great hunger, the house of the su su shall be destroyed; (42) whose foot hangs to the tendons of the body, there will be great prosperity in the land; (43) that has three feet, two in their normal position (attached to the body) and the third between them, there will be great prosperity in the land; (44) whose legs are male and female, there will be rebellion; (45) that wants the right heel, the country of the master (king) will be destroyed.
When a woman gives birth to an infant-- (46) that has many white hairs on the head, the days of the king will be prolonged; (47) that has much ipga on the head, the master of the house will die, the house will be destroyed; (48) that has much pinde on the head, joy shall go to meet the house (that has a head on the head, the good augury shall enter at its aspect into the house); (49) that has the head full of hali, there will be ill-will toward him and the master (king) of the town shall die; (50) that has the head full of siksi the king will repudiate his masters; (51) that has some pieces of flesh (skin) hanging on the head, there shall be ill-will; (52) that has some branches ( ?) (excrescences) of flesh (skin) hanging on the head, there shall be ill-will, the house will perish; (53) that has some formed fingers (horns ?) on the head, the days of the king will be less and the years lengthened (in the duration of his old age); (54) that has some kali on the head, there will be a king of the land; (55) that has a -- -- of a bird on the head, the master of the house shall not prosper; (56) that has some teeth already through (cut), the days of the king will arrive at old age, the country will show itself powerful over (against) strange (feeble) lands, but the house where the infant is born will be ruined; (57) that has the beard come out, there will be abundant rains; (58) that has some birta on the head, the country will be strengthened (reinforced); (59) that has on the head the mouth of an old man and that foams (slabbers), there will be great prosperity in the land, the god Bin will give a magnificent harvest (inundate the land with fertility), and abundance shall be in the land; (60) that has on one side of the head a thickened ear, the first-born of the men shall live a long time ( ?); (61) that has on the head two long and thick ears, there will be tranquility and the pacification of litigation (contests); (62) that has the figure in horn (like a horn ?)..." As ancient and as obscure as are these records, Ballantyne has carefully gone over each, and gives the following lucid explanatory comments:-- "What 'ears like a lion' (No.

1) may have been it is difficult to determine; but doubtless the direction and shape of the auricles were so altered as to give them an animal appearance, and possibly the deformity was that called 'orechio ad ansa' by Lombroso.

The absence of one or both ears (Nos.