Haruspicy

Haruspicy is a means of divination, whereby in order to foretell the future the adept closely examines the entrails of a sacrificed animal. It was a practice much followed in Ancient Rome.

Interestingly the gentleman with the thistle-down hair is familiar with it, and mentions it to Stephen as one of several methods he has used in his search to discover Stephen's true name [30].*

For more information see here .

Notes

*. It does appear from his allusion to its use — "Out of my dear love for you, Stephen, I have...prised dripping, bloody guts out of dying men to discover your future" — that he has used it upon human and not animal victims [30]. The moral difference would not be readily apparent to him.