AXINOMANTIA, from ἀξίαν, securis, and μάντις, divinator; an ancient species of divination, or a method of foretelling future events by means of an ax or hatchet.—This art was in considerable repute among the ancients; and was performed, according to some, by laying an agate-stone on a red-hot hatchet; and also by fixing a hatchet on a round stake so as to be exactly poised; then the names of those that were suspected were repeated, and he at whose name the hatchet moved was pronounced guilty.

AXIOM, AXIOMA (from ἀξίαν, I am worthy); a self-evident truth, or a proposition whose truth every person perceives at first sight. Thus, that the whole is greater than a part; that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time; and that from nothing, nothing can arise; are axioms.

AXIOM is also an established principle in some art or science. Thus, it is an axiom in physics, that nature does nothing in vain; that effects are proportional to their causes, &c. So it is an axiom in geometry, that things equal to the same thing are also equal to one another; that if to equal things you add equals, the sums will be equal, &c. It is an axiom in optics, that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection, &c.