Bodily Functions.
The functions of the body supply many omens. Thus, in Somadeva we read: “My right eye throbbed frequently, as if with joy, and told me that it was none other than she.”142
“When our cheek burns, or ear tingles, we usually say some one is talking of us,” writes Sir Thomas Brown, “a conceit of great antiquity, and ranked among superstitious opinions by Pliny. He supposes it to have proceeded from the notion of a signifying Genius, or Universal Mercury, that conducted sounds to their distant subjects, and taught to hear by touch.” The number of beliefs of this class is infinite and recorded in numerous popular handbooks.