On the Nature and Law of Waters

...was given to drink to those suspected of adultery original: "de adulterio suspectæ propinabatur." This refers to the "Ordeal of the Bitter Water" described in the Book of Numbers, where a woman suspected of infidelity was made to drink a potion to prove her innocence or guilt., about which Johann Christoph Becmann treats at length and with great learning in his dissertation On the Judgments of God, chapter 2. Some doctors The term "Dd." (Doctores) refers to established scholars or legal authorities. have established that such a drink was a form of physical torture. Job. Otto Tabor, On Torture and the Indications of Crimes, chapter 2, note 13.

§. 21. Among Eastern peoples, for the sake of both health and honor, the feet of guests were washed with cold water. Genesis 18:4, 19:2, 24:32, 43:24; Judges 19:21; 1 Samuel 25:41; 2 Samuel 11:8; Luke 7:38 & 44; John 13:5; 1 Timothy 5:10.

§. 22. To this category are also referred the washings of the Priests (Exodus 29:4, Leviticus 16:4), of the Sacrifices (Leviticus 1:9, 8:21), and of the Unclean (Leviticus 16:26, 15:16, 18, 22, 17:15; Numbers 19:19; Leviticus 14:8-9).

§. 23. The miraculous use of water is described in Exodus 7:20, 2 Kings 2:20, 3:20, 5:14; John 2:9, 5:4, 9:11, etc. These references cover miracles such as the Nile turning to blood, Elisha healing the waters, the healing of Naaman the Syrian, the wine at Cana, and the Pool of Bethesda.

§. 24. The worst abuse of waters is recounted, and simultaneously prohibited, in Canon Law The body of laws governing the Catholic Church. in the chapter Nec mirum, 16. caus. 26. qu. 5., where these words are cited from Isidore's eighth book, chapter 9 Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636 AD), an influential scholar of the early Middle Ages.: Hydromancy Divination by means of water. consists of summoning the shadows of Demons by looking into water, seeing their illusory deceptions, and hearing certain things from them there; it is said that by the application of blood, they even raise the spirits of the dead.

§. 25. Otherwise, of Hydromancy—which was highly valued by the Emperor Andronicus Andronicus I Komnenos, a 12th-century Byzantine Emperor known for his interest in the occult., according to the testimony of Choniates in the second book of his Annals—scholars identify several types. The First is performed by a ring suspended by a thread into water, which strikes the sides of a vessel a certain number of times like a clock. The Second type is done by throwing small stones into still water and observing the circles or ripples that move around the stones. The Third was performed by the various movements of the sea, which the Sicilians and Euboeans used to employ. The Fourth judged by the color of the water and the images appearing within it. Anton. Zara, Anatomy of Wits, Section 2, member 2, page 177; Caspar Peucer, On the Types of Divination, page 301.