CATOPTROMANCY, a kind of divination among the ancients; so called, because consisting in the application of a mirror. The word is formed from κατόπτρον, spectulum, "mirror," and ἀναγνώσις, διάνοια, "divination." Paufunias says, it was in use among the Achaeans; where those who were sick, and in danger of death, let down a mirror, or looking-glass fastened by a thread, into a fountain before the temple of Ceres; then, looking in the glass, if they saw a ghastly disfigured face, they took it as a sure sign of death; on the contrary, if the flesh appeared fresh and healthy, it was a token of recovery. Sometimes glasses were used without water, and the images of things future represented in them. See GASTROMANCY.