the art of divination by means of a sieve. The word comes from κόσκινον, cribrum, a sieve, and μαντεία, divination. The sieve being suspended, a formula of words is rehearsed, after which it is taken between two fingers only, and the names of the parties suspected repeated; when he at whose name the sieve turns, trembles, or shakes, is reputed guilty of the evil in question.

This is a very ancient species of divination; for Theocritus, in his third Idyllion, mentions a woman who was very skilful in coscinomancy. It was also sometimes practised by suspending the sieve by a thread, or fixing it to the points of a pair of sheers, giving it room to turn, and naming, as before, the parties suspected; in which last manner coscinomancy is still employed in some parts of England. It appears from Theocritus that it was not only used to find out persons unknown, but also to discover the secrets of those who were known.