Before the dawn of history mankind was engaged in the study of dreaming. The wise man among
the ancients was preëminently the interpreter of dreams. The ability to interpret successfully or
plausibly was the quickest road to royal favor, as Joseph and Daniel found it to be; failure to give
satisfaction in this respect led to banishment from court or death. When a scholar laboriously
translates a cuneiform tablet dug up from a Babylonian mound where it has lain buried for five ...