Caacrinolaas : According to Wierius (q.v.) Grand President of Hell also known as Caasimolar and Glasya. He is figured in the shape of a god with the wings of a griffon. He is supposed to Inspire knowledge of the liberal arts, and to incite homicides. It is this fiend who can render man invisible. He commands thirty-six legions.

Cabiri, or more properly Cabeiri : A group of minor deities of Greek origin, of the nature and worship of whom very little is known. The name appears to be of Semitic origin, signifying the "great gods," and the Cabiri seem to have been connected in some manner with the sea, protecting sailors and vessels. The chief seats of their worship were Lemnos, Samothrace, Thessalia and Boeotia. They were originally only two in number -the elder identified with Dionysus, and the younger identified with Hermes, who was also known as Cadmilus. Their worship was at an early date amalgamated with that of Demeter and Ceres, with the result that two sets of Cabiri came into being-Dionysus and Demeter, and Cadmilus and Ceres. A Greek writer of the second century B.C. states that they were four in number-Axisros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, and Casmilus, corresponding, he states to Demeter, Persephone, Hades and Hermes. The Romans identified the Cabiri with the Penates. In Lemnos a festival of these deities was held annually and lasted nine days, during which all domestic and other fires were extinguished, and sacred fire was brought, from Dabs. From this fact it has been judged that the Cabiri may have been volcanic demons; but this view has latterly been abandoned. It was in Samothracia that the cult of the Cabiri attained its widest significance, and in this island as early as the fifth century B.C. their mysteries were held with great eclat, and attracted almost universal attention. Initiation into these was regarded as a safeguard against misfortune of all kinds, and persons of distinction exerted all their influence to become initiates. In 1888 interesting details as to the bacchanal cult of the Cabiri were obtained by the excavation of their temple near Thebes. Statues of a deity called Cabeiros were found, attended by a boy cup-bearer. His attributes appear to be bacchic.

The Cabiri are often mentioned as powerful magicians, and Herodotus and other writers speak of the Cabiri as sons of Vulcan. Cicero, however, regards them as the children of Proserpine; and Jupiter is often named as their father. Strabo, on the other hand, regards them as the ministers of Hecate and Bochart recognises in them the three principal infernal deities, Pluto, Proserpine, and Mercury. It is more than likely that they were originally of Semitic or Egyptian origin-more probably the former; but we find a temple of Memphis consecrated to them in Egypt. It is not unlikely, as Herodotus supposes, that the cult is Pelasgian in origin, as it is known thatt the Pelasgians occupied the island of Samothrace, and established there certain mysteries, which they afterwards carried to Athens. There are also traditions that the worship of the Cabiri originally came from the Troad, a Semitic centre. Kenrick in his Egypt before Herodotus brings forward the following conclusions concerning the Cabiri :

"1. The existence of the worship of the Cabiri at Memphis under a pigmy form, and its connection with the worship of Vulcan. The coins of Thessalonica also establish this connection those which bear the legend Kabeiros' having a figure with a hammer in his hand, the pileus and apron of Vulcan, and sometimes an anvil near the feet.

"2. The Cabiri belonged also to the Phoenician theology. The proofs are drawn from the statements of Herodotus. Also the coins of Cossyra, a Phoenician settlement, exhibit a dwarfish figure with the hammer and short apron, and sometimes a radiated head, apparently allusive to the element of fire, like the star of the Dioscuri.

"3. The isle of Lemnos was another remarkable seat of the worship of the Cabiri and of Vulcan, as representing the element of fire. Mystic rites were celebrated here over which they presided, and the coins of the island exhibit the head of Vulcan, or a Cabirus, with the pileus, hammer and forceps. It was this connection with fire, metallurgy, and the most remarkable product of the art, weapons of war, which caused the Cabiri to be identified with the Cureks of Etolia, the Idaei Dactyli of Crete, the Corybantes of Phrygia, and the Telchines of Rhodes. They were the same probably in Phoenician origin, the same in mystical and orgiastic rites, but different in number. genealogy, and local circumstances, and by the mixture of other mythical traditions, according to the various countries in which their worship prevailed. The fable that one Cabirus had been killed by his brother or brothers was probably a moral mythus representing the result of the invention of armour and analogous to the story of the mutual destruction of the men in brazen armour, who sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus and Jason. It is remarkable that the name of the first fratricide signifies a 'lance,' and in Arabic a 'smith.'

"4. The worship of the Cabiri prevailed also in Imbros, near the entrance of the Hellespont, which makes it probable that the great gods in the neighbouring island of Samothrace were of the same origin. The Cabiri, Curetes, and Corybantes appear to have represented air as well as fire. This island was inhabited by Pelasgi, who may have derived from the neighbouring country of Thrace and Phrygia, and with the old Pelasgic mysteries of Ceres. Hence the various explanations given of the Samothracan deities, and the number of them so differently stated, some making them two, some four, some eight, the latter agreeing with the number of early Egyptian gods mentioned by Herodotus. It is still probable that their original number was two, from their identification with the Dioscuri and Tyndaridae, and from the number of the Pateeci on Phoenician vessels. The addition of Vulcan as their father or brother made them three, and a fourth may have been their mother Cabira.

"5. The Samothracian divinities continued to be held in high veneration in late times, but are commonly spoken of in connection with navigation, as the twin Dioscuri or Tyndaridae; on the other hand the Dioscuri are spoken of as the Curetes or Corybantes. The coins of Tripolis exhibit the spears and star of the Dioscuri, with the legend' Cabiri.'

"6. The Roman Penates have been identified with the Dioscuri, and Dionysius states that he had seen two figures of ancient workmanship, representing youths armed with spears, which, from an antique inscription on them, he knew to be meant for Penates. So, the 'Lares' of Etruria and Rome.

"7. The worship of the Cabiri furnishes the key to the wanderings of AEneas, the foundation of Rome, and the War of Troy itself, as well as the Argonautic expedition. Samothrace and the Troad were so closely connected in this worship, that it is difficult to judge in which of the two it originated, and the gods of Lavinium, the supposed colony from Troy, were Samothracian. Also the Palladium, a pigmy image, was connected at once with AEneas and the Troad, with Rome, Vesta, and the Penates, and the religious belief and traditions of several towns in the south of Italy. Mr. Kenrick also recognises a mythical personage in AEneas, whose attributes were derived from those of the Cabiri, and continues with some interesting observations on the Homeric fables. He concludes that the essential part of the War of Troy originated in the desire to connect together and explain the traces of ancient religion. It fine, he notes one other remarkable circumstance, that the countries in which the Samothracian and Cabiriac worship prevailed were peopled either the Pelasgi, or by the AEolians, who of all the tribes comprehended under the general name Hellenes, approach the most nearly in antiquity and language to the Pelasgi, 'We seem warranted, then (our author observes), in two conclusions first that the Pelasgian tribes in Italy, Greece and Asia were united in times reaching high above the commencement of history, by community of religious ideas and rites, as well as letters, arts, and language ; an( secondly, that large portions of what is called the hero history of Greece, are nothing else than fictions devise to account for the traces of this affinity, when time an the ascendancy of other nations had destroyed the primitive connection, and rendered the cause of the similarly obscure. The original derivation of the Cabiriac system from Phoenicia and Egypt is a less certain, though still highly probable conclusion.

"8. The name Cabiri has been very generally deduce the Phoenician 'mighty' and this etymology is in accordance with the fact that the gods of Samothrace were called ' Divi potes.' Mr. Kenrick believes, however, that the Phoenicians used some other name which the Greek translated' Kabeiros,' and that it denoted the two element of fire and wind'."

Pococke in his India in Greece will have it that the Cabiri are the 'Khyberi" or people of the " Khyber," or a Buddhist tribe - totally unlikely origin for them.

In the Generations of Sanconiathon, the Cabiri an claimed for the Phoenicians, though we understand the whole mystically. The myth proceeds thus. Of the Wind and the Night were born two mortal men, AEon and Protogonus. The immediate descendants of these were, 'Genus and 'Genea,' man and woman To Genus were born their mortal children, Phos, Pur, and Phlox, who discovered fire, and these again begat "sons of vast bulk and height whose names were given to the mountains in which they dwelt, Cassiul, Libanus, Antilibanus, and Brathu. The issue of these giant men by their own mothers were Meinrumus, Hypsuranius, and Usous. Hypsuranius inhabited Tyre; and Usous becoming a huntsman, consecrated two pillars to fire and the wind, with the blood of the wild beasts that he captured. In times long subsequent to these, the race of Hypsuranius gave being to Agreus and Halieus, inventors, it is said, of the arts of hunting and fishing. From these descended two brothers, one of whom was Chrysor or Hephaestus; in words, charms and divinations; he also invented boats, and was the first that sailed. His brother first built walls with bricks, and their descendants in the second generation seem to have completed the invention of houses, by the addition of courts, porticos, and crypts. They are called Aletae and Titans, and in their time began husbandry and hunting with dogs. From the Titans descended Amynus, a builder, and Magus, who taught men to construct villages and tend flocks; and of these two were begotten Misor (perhaps Mizraim), whose name signifies Well-freed; and Sydic, whose name denotes the Just; these found the use of salt. We now come to the important point in this line of wonders. From Misor descended Taautus (Thoth, Athothis, or Hermes Trismegistus), who invented letters and from Sydic descended the Dioscuri, or Cabiri, or Corybantes, or Samothraces. These, according to Sanconiathon, first built a complete ship, and others descended from them who discovered medicine and charms. All this dates prior to Babylon and the gods of Paganism, the elder of whom are next introduced in the' Generations.' Finally, Sanconiathon settles Poseidon (Neptune) and the Cabiri at Berytus ; but not till circumsision, the sacrifice of human beings. and the portrayal of the gods had been introduced. In recording this event, the Cabiri are called husbandmen and fishermen, which leads to the presumption that the people who worshipped those ancient gods were at length called by their name. But little is known regarding the methods of initiation:-

"The candidate for initiation was crowned with a garland of olive, and wore a purple band round his loins. Thus attired, and prepared by secret ceremonies (probably mesmeric), he was seated on a throne brilliantly lighted, and the other initiates then danced round him in hieroglyphic measures. It may be imagined that solemnities of this nature would easily degenerate into orgies of the most immoral tendency, as the ancient faith and reverence for sacred things perished, and such was really the case. Still, the primitive institution was pure in form and beautiful in its mystic signification, which passed from one ritual to another, till its last glimmer expired in the freemasonry of a very recent period. The general idea represented was the passage through death to a higher life, and while the outward senses were held in the thrall of magnetism, it is probable that revelations, good or evil, were made to the high priests of these ceremonies."

It is extremely difficult to arrive at any scientific conclusion regarding the origin of the Cabiri, but, to summarise, they were probably of Semitic origin, arriving in Greece through Phoenician influence; and that they approximated in character to the gods with whom the Greeks identified them is extremely likely. (See Strabo,L. 10; Varro, DeLinguaLatina, L. 4; Herodotus, L. 3, c. 37; Eusebius, Praep Evang; Pausanius, L. 9; Bryant, Antient Mythology, Vol.III.)

Cacodaemons : Deities of inferior rank, one of whom it was believed by many was attached to each mortal from his birth as a constant companion, and were capable of giving impulses, and acting as a sort of messenger between the gods and men. The cacodaemons were of a hostile nature, as opposed to the agathodaemons who were friendly. It is said that one of the cacodaemons who appeared to Cassius was a man of huge stature, and of a black hue. The belief in these daemons is probably traditional, and it is said that they are the rebellious angels who were expelled from heaven for their crimes. They tried, but in vain, to obtain a settlement in various parts of the universe; and their final abode is believed to be all the space between the earth and the stars. There they abide, hated by all the elements, and finding their pleasure in revenge and injury. Their king was called Hades by the Greeks, Typhon by the Egyptians, and Ahrimanes by the Persians and Chaldaeans.

Cacodemon : The name given by the ancients to an evil spirit. He changed his shape so frequently that no one could tell in what guise he most generally appeared to man. Each person was also supposed to have a good and bad genius, the evil being the cacodemon. The astrologers also called the twelfth house of the sun, which is regarded as evil, that of cacodemon.

Cactomite : A marvellous stone, said to possess occult properties, which was known to the ancients, and which was probably the cornelian. Any one wearing it was supposed to be assured of victory in battle.

Caer : The daughter of Ethal Anubal, Prince of the Danaans of Connaught, and mentioned in Irish myths. It was said that she lived year about in the form of a maiden and of a swan. She was beloved by Angus Og, who also found himself transformed into a swan; and all who heard the rapturous song of the swan-lovers were plunged into a deep sleep, lasting for three days and nights.

Caetulum : (See Lithomancy.)

Cagliostro : one of the greatest occult figures of all time. It was the fashion during the latter half of the XIXth century to regard Cagliostro as a charlatan and impostor, and this point of view was greatly aided by the savage attack perpetrated on his memory by Carlyle, who alluded to him as the " Prince of Quacks." Recent researches, however, and especially those made by Mr. W. R. H. Trowbridge in his Cagliostro : the Splendour and Misery of a Master of Magic (1910), go to show that if Cagliostro was not a man of unimpeachable honour, he was by no means the quack and scoundrel that so many have made him out to be. In the first place it will be well to give a brief outline of his life as known to us before Mr. Trowbridge's examination of the whole question placed Cagliostro's circumstances in a different light, and then to check the details of his career in view of what may be termed Mr. Trowbridge' s discoveries.

We find that Carlyle possessed a strong prejudice in regard to Cagliostro, and that he made no allowance for the flagrant mendacity of the documentary evidence regarding the so-called magician; and this leads up to the fact that although documents and books relating to Cagliostro abound, they possess little or no value. An account compiled from all these sources would present the following features

Cagliostro's father whose name is alleged to have been Peter Balsamo, a person of humble origin, died young, and his mother, unable to support him, was glad to receive assistance for this purpose from one of her brothers; but from infancy he showed himself averse to proper courses, and when placed in an religious seminary at Palermo, he more than once ran away from it, usually to be recaptured in undesirable company. Sent next to a Benedictine convent, where he was under the care of a Father Superior, who quickly discovered his natural aptitude, he became the assistant of an apothecary attached to the convent, from whom he learned the principles of chemistry and medicine; but even then his desire was more to discover surprising and astonishing chemical combinations than to gain more useful knowledge. Tiring of the life at last, he succeeded in escaping from the convent, and betook himself to Palermo where he associated with rascals and vagabonds. He was constantly in the hands of the police, and his kind uncle who tried to assist him was rewarded by being robbed of a considerable sum. Engaged in every description of rascality, he was even said to have assisted in the assassination of a wealthy canon. At this time it is asserted that he was only fourteen years of age, but, later, becoming tired of lesser villainies he resolved upon a grand stroke, upon which to lay the foundations of his fortunes.

At Palermo resided an avaricious goldsmith named Marano, a stupid, superstitious man who believed devoutedly in the efficacy of magic. He became attracted to Cagliostro, who at the age of seventeen posed as being deeply versed in occultism, and had been seen evoking spirits. Marano made his acquaintance and confided to him that he had spent a great deal of money upon quack alchemists; but that he was convinced that in meeting him (Cagliostro) he had at last chanced upon a real master of magic. Cagliostro willingly ministered to the man's superstitions, and told him as a profound secret that in a field at no great distance from Palermo lay a buried treasure which, by the aid of magic ceremonies he could absolutely locate. But the operation necessitated some expensive preliminaries-at least 60 oz. of gold would be required in connection with it. To this very considerable sum Marano demurred, and Cagliostro cooly asserted that he would enjoy the vast treasure alone. But the credulity of Marano was too strong for his better sense, and at length he agreed to furnish the necessary funds.

At midnight they sought the field where it was supposed the treasure was hid. Cagliostro proceeded with his incantations and Marano, terrified at their dreadful nature, fell prostrate on his face, in which position he was unmercifully belaboured by a number of scoundrels whom Cagliostro had collected for that purpose. Palermo rang with the affair, but Cagliostro managed to escape to Messina, where he adopted the title of " Count."

It was in this town that he first met with the mysterious Althotas. He was walking one day in the vicinity of the harbour when he encountered a person of singular dress and countenance. This man, apparently about fifty years of age, was dressed as an oriental, with caftan and robes, and was accompanied by an Albanian greyhound. Attracted by his appearance Cagliostro saluted him, and after some conversation the stranger offered to tell the pseudo-count the story of his past, and to reveal what was actually passing in his mind at that moment. Cagliostro was interested and made arrangements for visiting the stranger, who pointed out to him the house in which he resided, requesting him to call a little before midnight, and to rap twice on the knocker, then three times more slowly, when he would be admitted. At the time appointed Cagliostro duly appeared and was conducted along a narrow passage lit by a single lamp in a niche of the wall. At the end of this was a spacious apartment illuminated by wax candles, and furnished with everything necessary for the practice of alchemy. Althotas expressed himself as a believer in the mutability of physical law rather than of magic, which he regarded as a science having fixed laws discoverable and reducible to reason. He proposed to depart for Egypt, and to carry Cagliostro thither with him-a proposal which the latter joyfully accepted. Althotas acquainted him with the fact that he possessed no funds, and upon Cagliostro's expressing some annoyance at this circumstance laughed at him, telling him that it was an easy matter for him to make sufficient gold to pay the expenses of their voyage. Authorities differ greatly regarding the personality of Althotas; but we will leave this part of the Cagliostro mystery for the moment.

Embarking upon a Genoese ship they duly came to Alexandria where Althotas told his comrade that he was absolutely ignorant regarding his birth and parentage, and said that he was much older than he appeared to be, but that he was in possession of certain secrets for the preservation of strength and health. "Nothing" he said "astonishes me; nothing grieves me, save the evils which I am powerless to prevent; and I trust to reach in peace the term of my protracted existence." His early years had been passed near Tunis on the coast of Barbary, where he had been the slave of a wealthy Mussulman pirate. At twelve years of age he spoke Arabic fluently, studied botany, and read the Koran to his master, who died when Althotas was sixteen. Althotas now found himself free and master of a very considerable sum which had been bequeathed him by his late owner.

Accompanied by Cagliostro he penetrated into Africa and the heart of Egypt, visiting the Pyramids, making the acquaintance of the priests of different temples, and receiving from them much hidden knowledge. (The slightest acquaintance with Egyptian history would have saved the author of this statement from making such an absurd anachronism). Following upon their Egyptian tour, however, they visited the principal kingdoms of Africa and Asia, and they are subsequently discovered at Rhodes pursuing alchemical operations. At Malta they assisted the Grand-master Pinto, who was infatuated with alchemical experiments, and from that moment Althotas completely disappears-the memoir of Cagliostro merely stating that during their residence in Malta he passed away. Cagliostro on the death of his comrade repaired to Naples. He was in funds, for Pinto had well provided him before he left Malta. In Naples he met with a Sicilian prince, who conceived a strong predilection for his society, and invited him to his castle near Palermo. This was dangerous ground but Cagliostro was nothing if not courageous, and besides he was curious to revisit the haunts of his youth. He had not been long in Palermo when one day he travelled to Messina where he encountered by chance one of his confederates in the affair of Marano the goldsmith. This man warned him strongly not to enter the town of Palermo, and finally persuaded him to return to Naples to open a gambling-house for the plucking of wealthy foreigners. This scheme the pair carried out, but the Neapolitan authorities regarded them with such grave suspicion that they betook themselves to the Papal States. Here they parted company, and regarding this time the alleged memoir of Cagliostro is not very clear. It however leads us to believe that the so-called Count had no lack of dupes, and from this obscurity he emerges' at Rome where we find him established as an empiric, retailing specifics for all the diseases that flesh is heir to. Money flowed in upon him, and he lived in considerable luxury.

It was at this time that he met the young and beautiful Lorenza Feliciani, to whom he proposed marriage; her father dazzled by Cagliostro's apparent wealth and importance consented, and the marriage took place with some ceremony. All biographers of Cagliostro agree in stating that Lorenza was a thoroughly good woman, honest, devoted and modest. The most dreadful accusations have been made concerning the manner in which Cagliostro treated his wife, and it has been alleged that he thoroughly ruined her character and corrupted her mind. But we shall discover later that this account has been coloured by the unscrupulous imagination of the Jesuitical writers of the Roman Inquisition. All biographers agree that Cagliostro hastened his wife's ruin, but it is difficult to know how they came by their data; and in any case they disagree substantially in their details. Cagliostro's residence now became the resort of card-sharpers and other undesirables. and it is said that he himself assumed the title and uniform of a Prussian colonel; but he and his confederates quarrelled and with his wife he was forced to quit Rome with a so-called Marquis D'Agriata. They took the road to Venice, and reached Bergamo, which through their rogueries they had speedily to leave. They then made the best of their way through Sardinia and Genoa, and indeed spent several years in wandering through Southern Europe. At last they arrived in Spain by way of Barcelona, where they tarried for six months. proceeding afterwards to Madrid and Lisbon. From Lisbon they sailed to England, where Cagliostro lived upon his wits, duping certain foreigners.. An English life of Cagliostro gives an account of his adventures in London, and tells how he was robbed of a large sum in plate, jewels and money; how he hired apartments in Whitcomb Street, where he spent most of his time in studying chemistry and physics, giving away much money and comporting himself generously and decently on all sides.

In 1772 he returned to France with his wife and a certain Duplaisir. At this time it is said that Duplaisir eloped with Lorenza, and that Cagliostro obtaining an order for her arrest, she was imprisoned in a penitentiary, where she was detained for several months. On her release, it is alleged, an immediate reconciliation occurred between husband and wife. At this time Cagliostro had attracted much attention in Paris by his alchemical successes. It was the period of mystic enthusiasm in Europe, when princes, bishops, and the nobility generally were keen to probe the secrets of nature, and when alchemy and the allied sciences were the pursuits and hobbies of the great. But according to his Italian biographer Cagliostro went too far and raised such hopes in the breasts of his dupes that at last they entertained suspicions of his honesty, so that he was' forced to flee to Brussels, whence he made his way to his native town of Palermo, where he was speedily arrested by the goldsmith Marano. A certain nobleman, however, interested himself on his behalf, and procured his release, and he embarked with his wife who had accompanied him, for Malta. From that island they soon retired to Naples, and from there to Marseilles and Barcelona. Their progress was marked by considerable state, and having cheated a certain alchemist of 100,000 crowns under the pretence of achieving some alchemical secret, they hurried to England.

It was during his second visit to London that the Count was initiated into Masonry, and conceived his great idea of employing that system for his own behoof. With this grand object in view he incessantly visited the various London Lodges, and ingratiated himself with their principals and officials. At this period he is said to have picked up in an obscure London bookstall a curious manuscript which is said to have belonged to a certain George Gaston, concerning whom nothing is known. This document dealt with the mysteries of Egyptian Masonry, and abounded in magical and mystical references. It was from this, it is alleged, that Cagliostro gathered his occult inspirations. He studied it closely and laid his plans carefully. After another and somewhat harassed tour through Holland, Italy and Germany, he paid a visit to the celebrated Count de St. Germain. In his usual eccentric manner, St. Germain arranged their meeting for the hour of two in the morning, at which time Cagliostro and his wife, robed in white garments, and cinctured by girdles of rose colour, presented themselves before the Count's temple of mystery. The drawbridge was lowered, and a man of exceptional height led them into a dimly lighted apartment where folded doors sprang suddenly open, and they beheld a temple illuminated by hundreds of wax lights. The Count of St. Germain sat upon the altar, and at his feet two acolytes swung golden censers. In the Lives of the AIchemystical Philosophers this interview is thus detailed. " The divinity bore upon his breast a diamond pentagram of almost intolerable radiance. A majestic statue, white and diaphanous, upheld on the steps of the altar a vase inscribed, ' Elixir of Immortality,' while a vast mirror was on the wall, and before it a living being, majestic as the statue, walked to and fro. Above the mirror were these singular words'-' Store House of Wandering Souls.' The most solemn silence prevailed in this sacred retreat, but at length a voice, which seemed hardly a voice, pronounced these words'-' Who are you ? Whence come you? What would you?' Then the Count and Countess Cagliostro prostrated themselves, and the former answered after a long pause, ' I come to invoke the God of the faithful, the Son of Nature, the Sire of Truth. I come to demand of him one of the fourteen thousand seven hundred secrets which are treasured in his breast, I come to proclaim myself his slave, his' apostle his' martyr.'

"The divinity did not respond, but after a long silence, the same voice asked :-' What does the partner of thy long wanderings intend?'

"To obey and to serve," answered Lorenza.

"Simultaneously with her words, profound darkness succeeded the glare of light, uproar followed on tranquillity, terror on trust, and a sharp and menacing voice cried loudly :-' Woe to those who cannot stand the tests.'

"Husband and wife were immediately separated to undergo their respective trials, which they endured with exemplary fortitude, and which are detailed in the text of their memoirs. When the romantic mummery was over, the two postulants' were led back into the temple with the promise of admission to the divine mysteries' There a man mysteriously draped in a long mantle cried out to them :- Know ye that the arcanum of our great art is the government of mankind, and that the one means to rule them is never to tell them the truth. Do not foolishly regulate your actions according to the rules of common sense; rather outrage reason and courageously maintain every unbelievable absurdity. Remember that reproduction is the palmary active power in nature, politics and society alike; that it is a mania with mortals' to be immortal, to know the future without under-standing the present, and to be spiritual while all that surrounds' them is material.'

"After this harangue the orator genuflected devoutly before the divinity of the temple and retired. At the same moment a man of gigantic stature led the countess to the feet of the immortal Count de St. Germain who thus spoke

"’Elected from my tenderest youth to the things of greatness, I employed myself in ascertaining the nature of veritable glory. Politics appeared to me nothing but the science of deception, tactics the art of assassination, philosophy the ambitious' imbecility of complete irrationality; physics fine fancies about Nature and the continual mistakes of persons' suddenly transplanted into a country which is utterly unknown to them; theology the science of the misery which results from human pride; history the melancholy spectacle of perpetual perfidy and blundering. Thence I concluded that the statesman was a skilful liar, the hero an illustrious' idiot, the philosopher an eccentric creature, the physician a pitiable and blind man, the theologian an anatical pedagogue, and the historian a word-monger. Then did I hear of the divinity of this temple. I cast my cares upon him, with my in-certitudes and aspirations. When he took possession of my soul he caused me to perceive all objects' in a new light; I began to read futurity. This' universe so limited, so narrow, so desert, was now enlarged. I abode not only with those who are, but with those who were. He united me to the loveliest women of antiquity. I found it eminently delectable to know all without studying anything, to dispose of the treasures of the earth without the solicitations of monarchs', to rule the elements rather than men. Heaven made me liberal; I have sufficient to satisfy my taste; all that surrounds me is rich, loving, predestinated.

When the service was finished the costume of ordinary life was resumed. A superb repast terminated the ceremony. During the course of the banquet the two guests were informed that the Elixir of Immortality was merely Tokay coloured green or red according to the necessities of the case. Several essential precepts were enjoined upon them, among others that they must detest, avoid, and calumniate men of understanding, but flatter, foster, and blind fools, that they must spread abroad with much mystery the intelligence that the Count de St. Germain was' five hundred years old, and that they must make gold, but dupes before all."

There is no good authority for this singular interview, but if it really occurred it only probably served to confirm Cagliostro in the projects he had mapped out for himself.

Travelling into Courland, he and his wife succeeded in establishing several Masonic Lodges according to the rite of what he called Egyptian Freemasonry. Persons of high rank flocked around the couple, and it is even said that he plotted for the sovereignty of the Grand Duchy. Be this as' it may, it is alleged that he collected a very large treasure of presents and money, and ret out for St. Peters-burg, where. he established himself as a physician.

A large number of cures have been credited to Cagliostro throughout his' career, and his' methods have been the subject of considerable controversy. But there is' little doubt that the basis of them was a species' of mesmeric influence. It has' been said that he trusted simply to the laying on of hands; that he charged nothing for his service; that most of his' time was occupied in treating the poor, among whom he distributed vast amounts of money. The source of this wealth was' said to have been derived from the Masonic Lodges', with whose assistance and countenance he had undertaken this work.

Returning to Germany he was received in most of the towns' through which he passed as a benefactor of the human race. Some regarded his cures as' miracles, others' as' sorceries, while he himself asserted that they were effected by celestial aid.

For three years Cagliostro remained at Strasburg, feted and lauded by all. He formed a strong friendship with the famous Cardinal-archbishop, the Prince de Rohan who was' fired by the idea of achieving alchemical successes. Rohan was' extremely credulous, and leaned greatly to the marvellous. Cagliostro accomplished supposed transmutations under his eyes, and the Prince delighted with the seeming successes lavished immense sume upon the Count. He even believed that the elixir of life was known to Cagliostro and built a small house in which he was to undergo a physical regeneration. When he had sucked the Prince almost dry, Cagliostro repaired to Bordeaux, proceeding afterwards' to Lyons', where he occupied himself with the foundation of headquarters' for his Egyptian Masonic rite. He now betook himself to Paris, where he assumed the role of a master of practical magic, and where it is said he evoked phantoms which he caused to appear at the wish of the enquirer in a vase of clear water, or mirror. Mr. Waite thinks in this connection that fraud was an impossibility, and appears to lean to the theory that the visions evoked by Cagliostro were such as occur in crystal-gazing, and that no one was more astonished than the Count himself at the results he obtained. Paris' rang with his name and he won the appellation of the "Divine Cagliostro." Introduced to the Court of Louis' XVI. he succeeded in evoking apparitions in mirrors before many spectators-these including many deceased persons specially selected by those present. His residence was' isolated and surrounded by gardens, and here he established a laboratory. His wife affected great privacy, and only appeared in a diaphanous costume at certain hours, before a very select company. This' heightened the mystery surrounding them, and the elite of Parisian society vied with one another to be present at their magic suppers', at which the evocation of the illustrious' dead the principal amusement. It is even stated that deceased statesmen, authors and nobles took their seats at Cagliostro's supper-table.

But the grand object of Cagliostro appears to have been the spread of his Egyptian Masonic rite. The lodges which he founded were androgynal, that is they admitted both men and women; the ladies being instructed by the Master's' wife, who figured as the Grand Mistress' of the Order-her husband adopting the title of Grand Copt. There is little doubt that a good deal of money was subscribed by the neophytes of the various lodges: the ladies who joined, each sacrificing on the altar of mysticism no less than 100 louis; and Cagliostro's immense wealth, which has' never been doubted by any authority on his life, in the strictest probability found its' source in the numerous gifts which showered in upon him from the powerful and wealthy for the purpose of furthering his masonic schemes.

But although he lived in considerable magnificence, Cagliostro by no means led a life of abandoned luxury; for there is the best evidence that he gave away vast sums to the poor and needy, that he attended the sick hand and foot, and in short played the part of healer and reformer at one and the same time.

A great deal of mystery surrounded the doings of the Egyptian Masonry in its headquarters in the Faubourg Saint Honor, and the seances for initiation took place at midnight. Figuier and the Marquis de Luchet have both given striking accounts of what occurred during the female initiations:-

"On entering the first apartment," says Figuier, "the ladies were obliged to disrobe and assume a white garment, with a girdle of various colours. They were divided into six groups, distinguished by the tint of their cinctures A large veil was also provided, and they were caused to enter a temple lighted from the root and furnished with thirty-six arm-chairs covered with black satin Lorenza clothed in white, was seated On a species of throne, supported by two tall figures, 50 habited that their sex could not be determined. The light was lowered by degrees till surrounding objects could scarcely be distinguished, when the Grand Mistress commanded the ladies to uncover their left legs as far as the thigh, and raising the right arm to rest it on a neighbouring pillar. Two young women then entered sword in hand, and with silk ropes bound all the ladies together by the arms and legs. Then after a period of impressive silence, Lorenza pronounced an oration, which is given at length, but on doubtful authority, by several biographers, and which preached fervidly the emancipation of womankind from the shameful bonds imposed on them by the lords of creation.

"These bonds were symbolised by the silken ropes from which the fair initiates were released at the end of the harangue, when they were conducted into separate apartments, each opening on the Garden, where they had the most unheard-of experiences. Some were pursued by men who unmercifully persecuted' them with barbarous solicitations; others encountered less dreadful admirers, who sighed in the most languishing postures at their feet. More than one discovered the counterpart of her own love but the oath they had all taken necessitated the most inexorable inhumanity, and all faithfully fulfilled what was required of them. The new spirit infused into regenerated woman triumphed along the whole line of the six and thirty initiates, who with intact and immaculate symbols re-entered triumphant and palpitating, the twilight of the vaulted temple to receive the congratulations of the sovereign priestess.

"When they had breathed a little after their trials, the vaulted roof opened suddenly, and, on a vast sphere of gold, there descended a man, naked as the unfallen Adam, holding a serpent in his hand, and having a burning star upon his head.

"The Grand Mistress announced that this was the genius of Truth, the immortal, the divine Cagliostro, issued without procreation from the bosom of our father Abraham, and the depositary of all that hath been, is, or shall be known on the universal earth. He was there to initiate them into the secrets of which they had been fraudently deprived. The Grand Copt thereupon commanded them to dispense with the profanity of clothing, for if they would receive truth they must be as naked as itself. The sovereign priestess setting the example unbound her girdle and permitted her drapery to fall to the ground, and the fair initiates following her example exposed themselves in all the nudity of their charms to the magnetic glances of the celestial genius, who then commenced his revelations.

"He informed his daughters that the much abused magical art was the secret of doing good to humanity. It was initiation into the mysteries of Nature, and the power to make use of her occult force?. The visions which they had beheld in the Garden where so many had seen and recognised those who were dearest to their hearts, proved the reality of hermetic operations. They had shewn themselves worthy to know the truth; he undertook to instruct them by gradations therein. It was enough at the outset to inform them that the sublime end of that Egyptian Freemasonry which he had brought from the very heart of the Orient was the happiness of mankind. This happiness was illimitable in its nature, including material enjoyments as much as spiritual peace, and the pleasures of the understanding.

The Grand Copt at the end of this harangue once more seated himself upon the sphere of gold and was borne away through the roof; and the proceedings ended, rather absurdly in a ball. This sort of thing was of course as the breath of his nostrils to Cagliostro, who could not have existed without the atmosphere of theatrical mysticism, in which he perfectly revelled.

It was at this period that Cagliostro became implicated in the extraordinary affair of the Diamond Necklace. He had been on terms of great intimacy with the Cardinal de Rohan. A certain Countess de Lamotte had petitioned that prince for a pension on account of long aristocratic descent. De Rohan was greatly ambitious to become First Minister of the Throne, but Marie Antoinette, the Queen, disliked him and stood in the way of such an honour. Mm. Lamotte soon discovered this, and for purposes of her own told the Cardinal that the Queen favoured his ambitions, and either forged, or procured someone else to forge, letters to the Cardinal purporting to come from the Queen, some of which begged for money for a poor family in which her Majesty was interested. The letters continued of the begging description, and Rohan, who was himself heavily in debt, and had misappropriated the funds of various institutions, was driven into the hands of money-lenders. The wretched Countess de Lamotte met by chance a poor woman whose resemblance to the Queen was exceedingly marked. This person she trained to represent Marie Antoinette, and arranged nightly meetings between her and Rohan, in which the disguised woman made all sorts of promises to the Cardinal. Between them the adventuresses mulcted the unfortunate prelate in immense sums. Meanwhile a certain Bahmer, a jeweller, was very desirous of selling a wonderful diamond necklace in which, for over ten years he had locked up his whole fortune. Hearing that Mme. de Lamotte had great influence 'with the Queen, he approached her for the purpose of getting her to induce Marie Antoinette to purchase it. She at once corresponded with De Rohan on the matter, who came post haste to Paris, to be told by Mme. de Lamotte that the Queen wished him to be security for the purchase of the necklace, for which she had agreed to pay 1,600,000 livres, or £64,000, in four half-yearly installments. He was naturally staggered at the suggestion but however, affixed his signature to the agreement, and Mme. de Lamotte became the possessor of the necklace. She speedily broke it up, picking the jewels from their setting with an ordinary penknife. Matters went smoothly enough until the date when the first installment of 400,000 livres became due. De Rohan, never dreaming that the Queen would not meet it, could not lay his hands on such a sum, and Bahmer noting his anxiety mentioned the matter to one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, who retorted that he must be mad, as the Queen had never purchased the necklace at all. He went at once to Mme. de Lamotte who laughed at him, said he was being fooled, that it had nothing to do with her, and told him to go to the Cardinal. The terrified jeweller did not however take her advice, but went to the King.

The amazed Louis XVI. listened to the story quietly enough, and then turned to the Queen who was present, who at once broke forth in a tempest of indignation. As a matter of fact Bahmer had for years pestered her to buy the necklace, but the crowning indignity was that Do Rohan, whom she cordially detested, should have been made the medium for such a scandalous disgrace in connection with her name, and she at once gave directions that the Cardinal should be arrested. The King acquiesced in this, and shortly afterwards the Countess de Lamotte, Cagliostro and his wife, and others, followed him to the Bastille.

The trial which followed was one of the most sensational and stirring in the annals of French history. The King was greatly blamed for allowing the affair to become public at all, and there is little doubt that such conduct as the evidence displayed as that of aristocrats assisted to hasten the French Revolution.

It was Mme. de Lamotte who charged Cagliostro with the robbery of the necklace, and she did not hesitate to invent for him a terrible past, designating him an empiric, alchemist, false prophet, and Jew. This is not the place to deal with the trial at length, and it will suffice to state that Cagliostro easily proved his complete innocence. But the Parisian public looked to Cagliostro to supply the comedy in this great drama, and assuredly they were not disappointed, for he provided them with what must be described as 'one of the most romantic and fanciful, if manifestly absurd, life stories in the history of autobiography. His account of himself which is worth quoting at length is as follows:-

"I cannot," he says, "speak positively as to the place of my nativity, nor to the parents who gave me birth. All my inquiries have ended only in giving me some great notions, it is true, but altogether vague and uncertain, concerning my family.

"I spent the years of my childhood in the city of Medina in Arabia. There I was brought up under the name of Acharat, which I preserved during my progress through Africa and Asia. I had my apartments in the palace of the Muphti Salahaym. It is needless to add that the Muphti is the chief of the Mahometan religion, and that his constant residence is at Medina.

"I recollect perfectly that I had then four persons attached to my service: a governor, between forty-five and sixty years of age, whose name was Althotas, and three servants, a white one who attended me as "'valet de chambre and two blacks, one of whom was constantly about me night and day.

"My governor always told me that I had been left an orphan when only about three months old, that my parents were Christians and nobly born; but he left me absolutely in the dark about their names and the place of my nativity. Some words, however, which he let fall by chance have induced ms to suspect that I was born at Malta. Althotas, whose name I cannot speak without he tenderest emotion, treated me with great care and all the attention of a father. He thought to develop the talent I displayed for the sciences. I may truly say that he knew them all, from the most abstruse down to those of mere amusement. My greatest aptitude was for the study of botany and chemistry.

"By him I was taught to worship God, to love and assist my neighbours, and to respect everywhere religion and the laws. We both dressed like Mahometans and conformed outwardly to the worship of Islam; but the true religion was imprinted in our hearts.

"The Muphiti, who often visited me, always treated me with great goodness and seemed to entertain the highest regard for my governor. The latter instructed me in most of the Eastern languages. He would often converse with me on the pyramids of Egypt, on those vast subterraneous caves dug out by the ancient Egyptians, to be the repository of human knowledge and to shelter the precious trust from the injuries of time.

"The desire of travelling and of beholding the wonders of which he spoke grew so strong upon me, that Medina and my youthful sports there lost all the allurements I had found in them before. At least, when I was in my twelfth year, Althotas informed me one day that we were going to commence our travels. A caravan was prepared and we set out, after having taken our leave of the Muphti who was pleased to express his concern at our departure in the most obliging manner.

"On our arrival at Mecca we alighted at the palace of the Cherif. Here Althotas provided me with sumptuous apparel and presented me to the Cherif, who honoured me with the most endearing caresses. At sight of this prince my senses experienced a sudden emotion, which it is not in the power of words to express, and my eyes dropped the most delicious tears I have ever shed in my life. His, I perceived, he could hardly contain.

"I remained in Mecca for the space of three years; not a day passed without my being admitted to the sovereign's presence, and every hour increased his attachment and added to my gratitude. I sometimes surprised his gaze riveted upon me, and turned to heaven with every expression of pity and commiseration. Thoughtful, I would go from him a prey to an ever-fruitless curiosity. I dared not question Althotas, who always rebuked me with great severity, as if it had been a crime in me to wish for some information concerning my parents and the place where I was born. I attempted in vain to get the secret from the negro who slept in my apartment. If I chanced to talk of my parents he would turn a deaf ear to my questions. But one night when I was more pressing than usual, he told me that if ever I should leave Mecca I was threatened with the greatest misfortunes, and bid me, above all, beware of the city of Trebizond.

"My inclination, however, got the better of his foreboding. I was tired of the uniformity of life I led at the Cherif's court. One day when I was alone the prince entered my apartment; he strained me to his bosom with more than usual tenderness, bid me never cease to adore the Almighty, and added, bedewing my cheeks with his tears: 'Nature’s unfortunate child, adieu !'

"This was our last interview. The caravan waited only for me and I set off, leaving Mecca never to re-enter it more

"I directed my course first to Egypt, where I inspected these celebrated pyramids which to the eye of the superficial observer only appear an enormous mass of marble and granite. I also got acquainted with the priests of the various temples, who had the complacence to introduce me into such places as no ordinary traveller ever entered before. The next three years of my progress were spent in the principal kingdoms of Africa and Asia. Accompanied by Althotas, and the three attendants who continued in my service, I arrived in 1766 at the island of Rhodes, and there embarked on a French ship bound to Malta.

"Notwithstanding the general rule by which all vessels coming from the Levant are obliged to enter quarantine, I obtained on the second day leave to go ashore. Pinto, the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, gave us apartments in his palace, and I perfectly recollect that mine were near the laboratory.

" The first thing the Grand Master was pleased to do was to request the Chevalier d'Aquino, of the princely house of Caramanica, to bear me company and do me the honours of the island. It was here that I first assumed; European dress and with it the name of Count Cagliostro, nor was it a small matter of surprise to me to see Althotas appear in a clerical dress with the insignia of the Order of Malta.

"I have every reason to believe that the Grand Master Pinto was acquainted with my real origin. He often spoke to me of the Cherif and mentioned the city of Trebizond, but never would consent to enter into further particulars on the subject. Meanwhile he treated me with the utmost distinction, and assured me of very rapid preferment if I would consent to take the cross. But my taste for travelling and the predominant desire of practising medicine, induced me to decline an offer that was as generous as it was honourable.

It was' in the island of Malta that I had the misfortune of losing my best friend and master, the wisest as well as the most learned of men, the venerable Althotas. Some minutes before he expired, pressing my hand, he said in a feeble voice', 'My son, keep for ever before your eyes the' fear of God and the love of your fellow-creatures; you will soon be convinced by experience of what you have been taught by me.

"The spot where I had parted for ever from the friend who had been as a father to me, soon became odious. I begged leave of the Grand Master to quit the island in order to travel over Europe; he consented reluctantly, and the Chevalier d'Aquino was so obliging as to accompany me. Our first trip was to Sicily, from thence we went to the different islands of the Greek Archipelago, and returning, arrived at Naples, the birthplace of my companion.

"The Chevalier, owing to his private affairs, being obliged to undertake a private journey, I proceeded alone to Rome, provided with a letter of credit on the banking house of Signor Bellone. In the capital of the Christian world I resolved upon keeping the strictest incognito. One morning, as I was shut up in my apartment, endeavouring to improve myself in the Italian language, my valet de chambre introduced to my presence the secretary of Cardinal Orsini, who requested me to wait on his Eminence. I repaired at once to his palace and was received with the most flattering civility. The Cardinal often invited me to his table and procured me the acquaintance of several cardinals and Roman' princes, amongst others, Cardinals York and Ganganelli, who was afterwards Pope Clement XIV. Pope Rezzonico, who then filled the papal chair, having expressed a desire of seeing me, I had the honour of frequent interviews with his Holiness.

"I was then (1770) in my twenty-second year, when by chance I met a young lady of quality, Seraphina Fell ciani, whose budding charms kindled in my bosom a flame which sixteen years of marriage have only served to strengthen. It is that unfortunate woman, whom neither her virtues, her innocence, nor her quality of stranger could save from the hardships of a captivity as cruel as it is unmerited."

Cagliostro is reticent regarding his life between the period last dealt with, and the date of his coming to Paris. But .although proved innocent he had through his ver} innocence offended so many persons in high places that he was banished, amidst shouts of laughter from everyone in the court. Even the judges were convulsed, but on his return from the court-house the mob cheered him heartily. If he had accomplished nothing else he had at least won the hearts of the populace by his kindness and the many acts of faithful service he had lavished upon them. and it was partly to his popularity, and partly to the violent hatred of the Court, that he owed the reception accorded to him. He was re-united to his wife, and shortly afterwards took his departure for London where he was received with considerable eclat. Here he addressed a letter to the people of France, which obtained wide circulation and predicted the French Revolution, the demolishment of the Bastille, and the downfall of the monarchy. Following upon this the Courser de l'Europe a French paper published in London, printed a so-called exposure of the real life of Cagliostro from beginning to end. From that moment, however, his descent was headlong; his reputation had Switzerland and Austria, he could find no rest for the sole of his foot. At last he came 'to Rome, whither Lorenza, his wife accompanied him. At first he was well received there, and even entertained by several cardinals, privately studying medicine, and living very quietly: but he made the grand mistake of attempting to further his masonic ideas within the bounds of the Papal States. Masonry was of course anathema to the Roman Church, and upon his attempting to found a Lodge in the Eternal City itself, he was arrested on the 27th September, 1789, by order of the Holy Inquisition, and imprisoned in the Castle of Saint Angelo. His examination occupied his inquisitors for no less than eighteen months, and he was sentenced to death on the 7th April, 1791. He was, however, recommended to mercy, and the Pope commuted his sentence to perpetual imprisonment in the Castle of Saint Angelo. On one occasion he made a desperate attempt to escape: requesting the services of a confessor he attempted to strangle the Brother sent to him, but the burly priest, whose habit he had intended to disguise himself in proved too strong for him, and he was quickly overpowered. After this he was imprisoned in the solitary Castle of San Leo near Montefeltro, the situation of which stronghold is one of the most singular in Europe, where he died and was interred in 1795. The manner of his death is absolutely unknown, but an official commissioned by Napoleon to visit the Italian prisons gives some account of Cagliostro's quarters there.

"The galleries," he reports, "which have been cut out of the solid rock, were divided into cells, and old dried-up cisterns had been converted into' dungeons for the worst criminals, and further surrounded by high walls, so that the only possible egress, if escape was attempted, would be by a staircase cut in the rock and guarded night and day by sentinels.

"It was in one of these cisterns that the celebrated Cagliostro was interred in 1791. In recommending the Pope to commute the sentence of death, which the Inquisition had passed upon him, into perpetual imprisonment, the Holy Tribunal took care that the commutation should be equivalent to the death penalty. His only communication with mankind was when his jailers raised the trap to let food down to him. Here he languished for three years without air, movement, or intercourse with his fellow-creatures. During the last months of his life his condition excited the pity of the governor, who had him removed from this dungeon to a cell on the level with the ground, where the curious, who obtain permission to visit the prison, may read on the walls various inscriptions and sentences traced there by the unhappy alchemist. The last bears the date of the 6th of March 1795."

The Countess Cagliostro was also sentenced by the Inquisition to imprisonment for life. She was confined in the Convent of St. Appolonia, a penitentiary for women in Rome, where it was rumoured that she died in 1794, Cagliostro's manuscript volume entitled "Egyptian Freemasonry" fell with his other papers into the hands of the Inquisition, and was solemnly condemned by it as subversive to the interests of Christianity. It was publicly burned, but oddly enough the Inquisition set apart

Cagliostro one of its brethren to write--" concoct" is the better word -some kind of Life of Cagliostro and in this are given several valuable particulars concerning his Masonic method as follows:-

"It may be unnecessary to enter into some details concerning Egyptian Masonry. We shall extract our facts from a book compiled by himself, and now in our possession, by which he owns he was always directed in the exercise of his functions, and from which those regulations and instructions were copied, wherewith he enriched many mother lodges. In this treatise, which is written in French, he promises to conduct his disciples to perfection by means of physical and moral regeneration, to confer perpetual youth and beauty on them, and restore them to that state of innocence which they were deprived of by means of original sin. He asserts that Egyptian Masonry was first propagated by Enoch and Elias, but that since that time it has lost much of its purity and splendour. Common masonry, according to him, has degenerated into mere buffoonery, and women have of late been entirely excluded from its mysteries; but the time was now arrived when the Grand Copt was about to restore the glory of masonry, and allow its benefits to be participated by both sexes.

"The statutes of the order then follow in rotation, the division of the members into three distinct classes, the various signs by' which they might discover each other, the officers who are to preside over and regulate the society, the stated times when the members are to assemble, the erection of a tribunal for deciding all differences that may arise between the several lodges or the particular members of each, and the various ceremonies which ought to take place at the admission of the candidates. In every part of this book the pious reader is disgusted with the sacrilege, the profanity, the superstition, and the idolatry with which it abounds-the invocations in the name of God, the prostrations, the adorations paid to the Grand Master, the fumigations, the incense, the exorcisms, the emblems of the Divine Triad, of the moon, of the sun, of the compass, of the square, and a thousand other scandalous particulars, with which the world is at present acquainted.

"The Grand Copt, or chief of the lodge, is compared to God the Father. He is invoked upon every occasion; he regulates all the actions of the members and all the ceremonies of the lodge, and he is even supposed to have communication with angels and with the Divinity. In the exercise of many of the rites they are desired to repeat the Venii and the Te Deum-nay, to such an excess of impiety are they enjoined, that in reciting the psalm Memento Domine David, the name of the Grand Master is always to be substituted for that of the King of Israel.

People of all religions are admitted into the society of Egyptian Masonry-the Jew, the Calvinist, the Lutheran are to be received into it as well as the Catholic-provided they believe in the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, and have been previously allowed to participate in the mysteries of the common masonry. When men are admitted, they receive a pair of garters from the Grand Copt, as is usual in all lodges, for their mistresses; and when women are received into the society, they are pre-seated by the Grand Mistress with a cockade, which they are desired to give to that man to whom they are most attached.

"We shall here recount the ceremonies made use of on admitting a female.

"The candidate having presented herself, the Grand Mistress (Madame Cagliostro generally presided in that capacity) breathed upon her face from the forehead to the chin, and then said, I breathe upon you on purpose to inspire you with virtues which we possess, so that they may take root and flourish in your heart, I thus fortify your soul, I thus confirm you in the faith of your brethren and sisters. according to the engagements which you have contracted with them. We now admit you as a daughter of the Egyptian lodge. We order that you be acknowledged in that capacity by all the brethren and sisters of the Egyptian lodges, and that you enjoy with them the same prerogatives as with ourselves.'

"The Grand Master thus addresses the male candidate: 'In virtue of the power which I have received from the Grand Copt, the founder of our order, and by the particular grace of God, I hereby confer upon you the honour of being admitted into our lodge in the name of Hellos, Mene, Tetragrammaton.'

"In a book said to be printed at Paris in 1780, it is asserted that the last words were suggested to Cagliostro as sacred and cabalistical expressions by a pretended conjuror. who said that he was assisted by a spirit, and that this spirit was no other than a cabalistical Jew, who by means of the magical art had murdered his own father before the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

"'Common masons have been accustomed to regard St. John as their patron, and to celebrate' the festival of that saint. Cagliostro also adopted him as his protector. and it is not a little remarkable that he was imprisoned at Rome on the very festival of his patron. The reason for his veneration of this great prophet was, if we are to believe himself, the great similarity between the Apocalypse and the rites of his institution.

"We must here observe that when any of his disciples were admitted into the highest class, the following execrable ceremony took place. A young boy or girl, in the state of virgin innocence and purity, was procured, who was called the pupil, and to whom power was given over the seven spirits that surround the throne of their divinity and preside over the seven planets. Their names according to Cagliostro's book are Anael, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel, Zobiachel, and Anachiel. The pupil is then made use of as an intermediate agent between the spiritual and physical worlds, and being clothed in a long white robe, adorned with a red ribbon, and blue silk festoons, he is shut up in a little closet. From that place he gives responses to the Grand Master, and tells whether the spirits and Moses have agreed to receive the candidates into the highest class of Egyptian masons.

"In his instructions to obtain the moral and physical regeneration which he had promised to his disciples, he is exceedingly careful to give a minute description of the operations to which they have to submit. Those who are desirous of experiencing the moral regeneration are to retire from the world for the space of forty days, and to distribute their time into certain proportions. Six hours are to be employed in reflection, three in prayer to the Deity, nine in the holy operations of Egyptian Masonry, while the remaining period is to be dedicated to repose. At the end of the' thirty-three days a visible communication is to take place between the patient and the seven primitive spirits, and on the morning of the fortieth day his soul will be inspired with divine knowledge, and his body be as pure as that of a new-born infant.

"To procure a physical regeneration, the patient is to retire into the country in the month of May, and during forty days is to live according to the most strict and austere rules, eating very little, and then only laxative and sanative herbs, and making use of no other drink than distilled water, or rain that has fallen in the course of the month. On the seventeenth day, after having let blood certain white drops are to be taken, six at night and six in the morning, increasing them two a day in progression. In three days more a small quantity of blood is again to be let from the arm before sunrise, and the patient is to retire to bed till the operation is completed. A grain of the panacea is then to be taken; this panacea is the same as that of which God created man when He first made him immortal. When this is swallowed the candidate loses his speech and his reflection for three entire days, and he is subject to frequent convulsions, struggles, and perspirations. Having recovered from this state, in which however, he experiences no pain whatever, on that day, he takes the third and last grain of the panacea, which causes him to fail into a profound and tranquil sleep; it is then that he loses his hair, his skin, and his teeth. These again are all reproduced in a few hours, and having become a new man, on the morning of the fortieth day he leaves his room, enjoying a complete rejuvenescence, by which he is enabled to live 5557 years, or to such time as he, of his own accord, may be desirous of going to the world of spirits."

To revert to the question of the researches of Mr. Trowbridge, it will appear to any unbiassed reader of his work that he has proved that Cagliostro was not the same as Joseph Balsamo with whom his detractors have identified him. Balsamo was a Sicilian vagabond adventurer, and the statement that he and Cagliostro were one and the same person originally rests on the word of the editor of the Courier de l' Europe, a person of the lowest and most profligate habits, and upon an anonymous letter from Palermo to the Chief of the Paris police. Mr. Trowbridge sees in the circumstance that the names of the Countess Cagliostro and the wife of Balsamo were identical nothing but a mere coincidence, as the name Lorenza Feliciani is a very common one in Italy. He also proves that the testimony of the handwriting experts as to the remarkable similarity between the writing of Balsamo and Cagliostro is worthless, and states that nobody who had known Balsamo ever saw Cagliostro. He also points out that Balsamo, who had been in England in 1771, was "wanted" by the London police: how was it then that six years afterward they did not recognise him in Count Cagliostro who spent four months in a debtors' prison there, for no fault of his own? The whole evidence against Cagliostro's character rests with the editor of the Courier de l'Europe and his Inquisition biographer, neither of whom can be credited for various good reasons. Again, it must be recollected that the narrative of the Inquisition biographer is supposed to be based upon the confessions of Cagliostro under torture in the Castle of St. Angelo. Neither was the damaging disclosure of the editor of the Courier de l'Europe at all topical, as he raked up matter which was at least fourteen years old, and of which he had no personal knowledge whatsoever. Mr. Trowbridge also proves that the dossier discovered in the French archives in 1783, which was supposed to embody the Countess Cagliostro's confessions regarding the career of her husband when she was imprisoned in the Salpetriere prison, is palpably a forgery, and he further disposes of the statements that Cagliostro lived on the immoral earnings of his wife.

It is distinctly no easy matter to get at the bed-rock truth regarding Cagliostro or to form any just estimate of his true character. That he was vain, naturally pompous, fond of theatrical mystery, and of the popular side of occultism, is most probable. Another circumstance which stands out in relation to his personality is that he was vastly desirous of gaining cheap popularity. He was probably a little mad. On the other hand he was beneficent, and felt it his mission in the then king-ridden state of Europe to found Egyptian Masonry for the protection of society in general, and the middle and lower classes in particular. A born adventurer, he was by no means a rogue, as his lack of shrewdness has been proved on many occasions. There is small question either that the various Masonic lodges which he founded and which were patronised by persons of ample means, provided him with extensive funds, and it is a known fact that he was subsidised by several extremely wealthy men, who, themselves dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Europe, did not hesitate to place their riches at his disposal for the purpose of undermining the tyrannic powers which then wielded sway. There is reason to believe that he had in some way and 'at some period of his life acquired a certain working knowledge of practical occultism, and that he possessed certain elementary psychic powers of hypnotism and telepathy. His absurd account of his childhood is almost undoubtedly a plagiarism of that stated in the first manifesto to the public of the mysterious Rosicrucian Brotherhood, (q.v) as containing an account of the childhood of their Chief But on the whole he is a mystery, and in all likelihood the clouds which surround his origin and earlier years will never be dispersed. It is probably better that this should be so, as although Cagliostro was by no means an exalted character, he was yet one of the most picturesque figures in the later history of Europe; and assuredly not the least aid to his picturesque figures is the obscurity in which his origin is involved. Consult-Cagliostro. W. R. H. Trowbridge; Cagliostro and Company. Franz Funck-Brentano; Waite, Lives of the Alchemysts.

Cagnet Bombee of Jonquieres : A song detailing an operation in Mectromancy. (See Alectromaney.)

Cahagnet, Alphonse : A French cabinet-maker who became interested in somnambulic phenomena about the year 1845, and thenceforward recorded and analysed the trance utterances of various somnambules. His Arcanes de la vie future dovoilees, published in January, 1848, contained much information concerning the various spheres, and the conditions under which discarnate spirits lived. This was followed in 1849 by a second volume, describing seances held with Adle Maginot. Through this medium sitters could communicate with their deceased friends or with those who were far away, evidences of clairvoyance, diagnosis and cure of disease were given, and, in short all the phenomena of American-French mediumship were anticipated. A third volume of Arcanes was published later. Cahagnet’s work is notable in many ways. His own good faith was transparent, he took great pains to procure the written testimony of the sitters, and thus the trance utterances of his somnambules are among the best attested of their kind.

Cailleach or Harvest Old Wife: In the Highlands of Scot-land, there is to be found the belief that whoever is last with his harvesting will be saddled with the Harvest Old Wife to keep until the next year.

The first farmer to be done, made a doll of some blades of corn, which was called the "old wife," and sent it to his nearest neighbour. He, in turn, when finished, sent it on to another, and so on until the person last done had the "old woman" to keep. Needless to say this fear acted as a spur to the superstitious Highlanders. (See Scotland.)

Caiumarath, or Kaid-mords : According to the Persians, the first man. He lived a thousand years and reigned five hundred and sixty. He produced a tree, from the fruits of which were born the human race. The devil seduced and corrupted the first couple, who after their fall, dressed themselves in black garments and sadly awaited the 'resurrection, for they had introduced sin into the world.

Cala, Charles : A Calabrian who wrote on the occult in the seventeenth century. He published his Memorie historiche del l'apparitione delle cruce prodigiose," da Carlo Cala at Naples in 1661.

Calatin Clan : A poisonous multiform monster of Irish legend. This creature was composed of a father and his twenty-seven sons, any one. of whose weapons could, by the merest touch, kill a man within nine days. This monstrosity was sent against Cuchulain, who succeeded in .catching its eight-and-twenty spears on his shield. The Clan, however managed to throw him down and ground his face in the gravel. Cuchulain was assisted by the son of an Ulster exile, who cut off the creature's heads while Cuchulain hacked it to pieces.;

Calen : Chilian sorcerers. (See American Indiana.)

Calif, Robert. (See American U.S. , of)

Calmecacs : Training College of Aztec priests. (See Mexico and Central America.)

Calmet_, Dom Augustin : A Benedictine of the congregation of Saint-Vannes, and one of the most diligent and active of his order, who died in 1757 at his abbey of Sesones. He was the author of a Dictionnair de la Bible and of many well-known commentaries on the scriptures. But he is chiefly famous among occultists for his Dissertation sur les apparitions des anger, des demons et des esprits, et sur les revenans et vampires de Hongrie, de Boheme, de Moravie et de Silesie. (Paris 1746, and 1751-the latter being the best edition). It was translated into English in 1750. and is alluded to in the article "Vampire." The greatest faith in the supernatural (some might perhaps stigmatise it as credulity) marks the work. But he notices unfavourable theories equally with those which suit his hypotheses, and if he places too much credence in the classical authors, he is never dull. He became the butt of Voltaire, who wrote beneath his portrait in verse of. questionable quality:

"Des oracles sacres quo Dieu daigna nous rendre

Son travail assidu perca l’obscurite

II fit plus, il lea crut avec simplicite

Et fut, par ses vertus, digne de les entendre."

Calundronius : A magic stone without form or colour which has the virtues' of resisting malign spirits, destroying enchantments, giving to the owner an advantage over his enemies, and of dissipating despair.

Cambions : Offspring of the incubi and succubi (q.v.), according to Bodin and Delamare. Some are more kindly disposed to the human race than others. Luther says of them in his Colloquies that they show no sign of life before seven years of age. He says that he saw one which cried when he touched it. Maiole states, according to Boguet in his Discours des Sorciers (chap. XIV.), that a Galician mendicant was in the habit of exciting public pity by carrying about a Campion. One day, a horseman observing him to be much hampered by the seeming infant in crossing a river, took the supposed child before him on his horse. But he was so heavy that the animal sank under the weight. Some time afterwards the mendicant was taken and admitted that the child he habitually carried was a little demon whom he had trained so carefully that no one refused him alms whilst carrying it.

Cambodia : The Cambodia of today is bounded by French Cochin-China, Annam, Siam and the Gulf of Siam. Of its population of 1,500,000 inhabitants, the main part is composed of the Khmer people, and Chinese, Annamese Malaya and aboriginal elements are also' represented.

Magic.-Magic is mixed up to a' surprising degree with the daily life of this people. They consult sorcerers upon the most trivial matters, and are constantly at great pains to discover whether any small venture is' likely to prove lucky or unlucky. There are two kinds of sorcerers (or sorceresses), the soothsayers (ap thmop) and the medicine-sorcerers (kru). Of these the latter enjoy the highest reputation as healers and exorcists, while the former are less respected, dealing, as they do in charms and philtres

for the sake of gain, or in evil incantations and spells to indulge their spite and hatred. The outcast kru, however, can be ministers of destruction as well as of healing. One of the means used to take the. life of an enemy is the old device favoured by witches.' They make a wax figure 'of the victim, prick it at the spot where they wish to harm him, and thus bring disease and death upon him. Another plan is to take two skulls from which the tops have been removed, place them against each other, and convey them secretly under the bed of a healthy man where they have very evil results. Sometimes by means of spells they transform wood-shavings or grains of' rice into a large. beetle, or into worms, which enter the body of their victim and cause his illness, and, perhaps his death. If the man thus attacked happens to possess the friendship of a more powerful sorcerer, however, the latter may afford him his protection,. and thus undo the mischief,. The more harmless occupations of the wizards consist in making philtres and amulets to insure the admiration of women, the favour of the king, and success at play.

Evil Spirits.-The evil spirits, to whom they ascribe the moat malicious intent, are called pray. Of these the most fearsome variety is the "wicked dead" (khmoc o£ pray), which includes the spirits of women who have died in childbed. From their hiding-place in the trees these spirits torment inoffensive passers-by with their hideous laughter, and shower down stones upon them. These practices arc, of course, calculated either to kill or to drive the unfortunate . recipients of their attentions insane. Among the trees there are also concealed mischievous demons who inflict terrible and incurable diseases upon mankind.

Those. who have suffered a violent death are also greatly to be feared. From the nethermost regions they return, wan and terrible, to demand food from human beings, who dare not deny it to them. Their name beisac signifies "'goblin," and they have the power to inflict all manner of evil on those who refuse their request. So the good Cambodian, to avert such happenings, puts. his offering of rice or other food in the brushwood to appease the goblins. The pray, it may be bald, require to have their offerings laid 'on. the winnowing fan that enters so largely into Cambodian superstition.

Were-wolves, both male and female, strike terror into the hearts of the natives. By the use of certain magical rites and formulae, men can become endowed with super-natural powers, such as the ability to swallow dishes, and are thereupon changed to were'-wolves. Women who have been rubbed with oil which a wizard has consecrated are said to lose their reason, and to flee away to the woods They retain their human shape for seven days. If during that time a man shall undergo the same process .of being rubbed with consecrated oil, and shall follow the toman to the woods, and strike her on the head with a heavy bar-then, the Cambodians say, she shall recover her reason and may return' home. If, on the other hand, no such drastic remedy is to be found, at the end of seven days the woman shall turn into a tigress. In order to cure men who have the powers of a were-wolf, one must strike them on the shoulder with a hook.

The Cambodians believe that ghosts issue from dead bodies during the process of decomposition. When this ceases the ghosts are no longer seen, and the remains are changed into owls and other nocturnal birds.

Most hideous of all the evil spirits in Cambodia, are the srei ap or ghouls, who, represented only by head and alimentary canal, prowl nightly in search of their gruesome orgies. They are known by their terrible and blood-shot eyes, and are much feared, since even their wish to harm can inflict injury. When anyone is denounced as a ghoul she is treated with great severity, either by the authorities, who may sentence her to banishment or death, or by the villagers, who sometimes take the law into their own hands and punish the supposed offender.

Astrology, etc.-The science of astrology is not without its votaries in Cambodia. Astrologers, or, as they are called, horas, are attached to the court, and their direct employment by the king gives them some standing in the country. At the beginning of each year they make a calendar, which contains, besides the usual astronomical information, weather and other predictions. They are consulted by the people on all sorts of subjects, and are believed to be able to avert the calamities they predict.

It is not surprising that in such a country, where good and evil powers are ascribed so lavishly, much attention should be paid to omens, and much time spent in rites to avert misfortune. The wind, the fog, the trees, are objects of fear and awe, and must be approached with circumspection lest they send disease and misfortune, or withhold some good. For instance, trees whose roots grow under a house bring ill-luck to it. The bamboo and cotton-plant are also dangerous when planted near a house, for should they grow higher than the house, they would wish, out ,of a perverted sense of gratitude, to provide a funeral cushion and matting for the occupants.

Animals receive their share of superstitious veneration. Tigers are regarded as malevolent creatures, 'whose whiskers are very poisonous. Elephants are looked upon as sacred, and particularly so white elephants, Monkeys they 'will on no account destroy. Should a butterfly enter the house, it is considered extremely unlucky, while a grasshopper, on the contrary, indicates coming good fortune.

There are other superstitions relating to household objects, customs, etc., which do not differ greatly from those of other countries.

LITERATURE.-E. Aymonier, Le Cambodge, Paris, 1900-02. A. Leclerc, Le Buddhisme Cambodge, Paris, 1899; Cambodge, Contes et Legendes, Paris, 1894.

Camuz, Philippe : A Spanish writer of romances who lived in the sixteenth century. To him is attributed a life of Robert the Devil, La Vida de Roberto el Diablo, published at Seville in 1629.

Candelabrum : (See Necromancy.)

Candles Burning Blue : There is a superstition that candles and other lights burn blue at the apparition of spirits, probably because of the sulphurous atmosphere accompanying the spectres.

Candles, Magical: (See Magic.)

Capnomancy : Was the observation of smoke, which consisted in two principal methods. The more important was the smoke of the sacrifices, .which augured well if it rose lightly from the altar, and ascended straight to the clouds; but the contrary if it hung about. Another method was to throw a few jasmine or poppy seeds upon burning coals. There was yet a third practice by breathing the smoke of the sacrificial fire.

Caqueux or Cacoux: Formerly a caste of rope-makers dwelling in Brittany, who in some of the cantons of that country were treated as pariahs, perhaps because the ropes they manufactured were to the people the symbols of slavery and death by hanging. Be that as it may, they were interdicted from entering the churches, and were regarded as sorcerers. They did not hesitate to profit by this evil reputation, but dealt in talismans which were supposed to render their wearers invulnerable, and also acted as diviners. They were further credited with the ability to raise and sell winds and tempests like the sorcerers of Finland It is said that they were originally of Jewish origin, separated like lepers from other folk. Francois II, Duke of Brittany, enacted that they should wear a mark composed of red cloth on a part of their dress where it could be readily seen. (See Cambry, Voyage dans le Finistere, t.3, p.146).

Carbuncle : The ancients supposed this stone to give out a native light without reflection, and they ranked it fifth in order after diamonds, emeralds, opal, and pearls. It is among the gems ruled by the sun, and is both male and female-the former distinguished by the brightness which appears as if burning within it, while the latter throws it out. It takes no colour from any other gem, applied to it, but imparts its' own. The virtue of the carbuncle is to drive away poisonous air, repress luxury, and preserve the health of the body. It also reconciles differences among friends.

Cardan, Jerome : A so-called magician, who lived about the end of the fifteenth, or the beginning of the sixteenth, century. He was contemporary with Faustus and Paracelsus, to whom, as to the other necromancers of his age, he was entirely dissimilar. He has left in his Memoirs a frank and detailed analysis of a curiously .complicated and abnormal intellectuality, sensitive, intense, and not altogether free from the taint of insanity. He declares himself subject to strange fits of abstraction and exaltation, the intensity of which became at length so intolerable that he was forced to inflict on himself severe bodily pain as a means of banishing them. He would, he tells us, talk habitually of those things which were most likely to be distasteful to the company; he would argue on any side of a 'question, quite irrespective of whether he believed it right or wrong, and he had an extraordinary passion for gambling. He tells us of three peculiarities, in winch we may trace the workings of a diseased imagination, and in the third, at least, that abnormal delicacy of perception which characterised him. The first was the faculty of projecting his spirit outside his body, to the accompaniment of strange physical sensations. The second was the ability to perceive sensibly anything he desired to perceive. As a child, he explains, he saw these images involuntarily and without the power of selection, but when he reached manhood he could control them to suit his choice. The third of his peculiar qualities was, that before every event of moment in his .life, he had a dream which warned him of it. Indeed, he himself has written a commentary of considerable length on Synesius's treatise on dreams, in which he advances the theory that any virtuous person can acquire the faculty of interpreting dreams, that, in fact, anyone can draw up for himself a code of dream-interpretations by merely studying carefully his own dreams. We cannot put much faith in Cardan's wonderful. dreams, however. His is not the type of mind to. which we would go for an accurate statement concerning mental phenomena, but such significant dreams as he may have had,. were probably, as has already been suggested, the result of his abnormal sub-conscious perceptiveness.' In one instance at least, his prediction was not entirely successful. He foretold the date of his own death, and, at the age of seventy-five, was obliged to abstain from food in order to die at the time he had predicted.

Carpenter : (See Spiritualism.)

Carpoeratlans : A sect of Gnostics founded by Carpocrites of Alexandria. It taught that Christ derived the mysteries of his religion from the Temple. of Isis in Egypt, where he had studied for six years, and that he taught them to his 'apostles, who transmitted them to Carpocrites. This body used theurgic incantations, and had grips, signs and words, symbols and degrees. It is believed to have endured for some centuries. (See Gnostics.)

Carrahdls : A class of native priests in New South Wales,. Australia.

Carver, Jonathan, Narrative of : (See Divination.)

Cassaptu, Babylonian Witch : (See Semites.)

Castle of the Interior Man, The : The mystical name given to the seven stages of the soul's ascent towards the Divinity. These seven processes of psychic evolution are briefly as follows: (x) The state of prayer, being concentration on God; (2) The state of mental prayer, in which one seeks to discover the mystic significance of all things ; (3) The obscure night, believed to be the most difficult, in which self must be utterly renounced; (4) The prayer of quietism, complete surrender to the will of God; (5) The state of union, in which the will of man and the will of God become identified ; (6) The state of ecstatic prayer, in which the soul is transported with joy, and love enters into it; (7) The state of ravishment, which is the mystic marriage, the perfect union, and the entrance of God and Heaven into the interior man.

Catabolignes: Demons who bore men away, killed them, and broke and crushed them having this power over them. We are told that a certain Campester wrote a book wherein it is related how these demons treated their agents, the magicians and sorcerers.

Catalepsy : A condition involving the sudden suspension of sensation and volition, and the partial suspension of the vital functions. The body assumes a rigid and statuesque appearance, sometimes mistaken for death, and the patient remains unconscious throughout the attack. On occasion, the cataleptic state may be marked by symptoms of intense mental excitement. and by apparently volitional speech and action. Sometimes the symptoms are hardly distinguishable from those of hysteria. The period covered by the attack may vary from a few minutes to several days, though the latter only in exceptional cases; it may, however, recur on trifling provocation in the absence of resistance from the will-power of the patient. The affection is caused by a pathological condition of the nervous system, generally produced by severe or prolonged mental emotion, and it must not be confused with the hypnotic trance. The belief that it may occur in a perfectly healthy person is, on the whole, fallacious. There is some reason to suppose that catalepsy, like ecstacy and mediumistic faculties, may at times prove contagious. Dr. Petetin, in his Electricite Animale (1808) makes mention of as many as eight cases met with in a restricted area, although catalepsy is in ordinary circumstances of rare occurrence. Petetin also mentions certain strange phenomena witnessed by him in connection with the state of spontaneous catalepsy (see Stomach, seeing with). which would seem to show that persons in this condition are, amenable to suggestion in a high degree. The true physical reasons for catalepsy are still practically unknown to science. But there seem to be good reasons for believing that it can be self-induced in certain cases. Many Eastern fakirs have been known to cast themselves into cataleptic sleep lasting for months and cases have even been known where they permitted themselves to be buried, being exhumed when the grass had grown over their graves.       (See Dendy, Philosophy of Mystery.)

Cathari : (See Gnostics.)

Catoptromancy, or Enoptromaney : is a species of divination by the mirror, which Pausanius describes : "Before the Temple of Ceres at Patras, there was a fountain, separated from the temple by a wall, and there was an oracle, very truthful, not for all events, but for the sick only. The sick person let down a mirror, suspended by a thread, till its base touched the surface of the water, having first prayed to the goddess and offered incense. Then looking in the mirror, he saw the presage of death or recovery, according as the face appeared fresh and healthy, or of a ghastly aspect." Another method of using the mirror was to place it at the back of a boy's or girl's head, whose eyes were bandaged. In Thessaly, the response appeared in characters of blood on the face of the moon, probably represented in the mirror. The Thessalian sorceresses derived their art from the Persians, who always endeavoured to plant their religion and mystic rites in the countries they invaded.

Cats, Elfin : These are to be found in the Scottish Highlands, and arc said to be of a wild breed, as large as dogs, black in colour, with a white spot on the breast, and to have arched backs' and erect bristles. By some, these cats are said to be witches in disguise.

Cauldron, Devil’s : An abyss at the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe. A stone cast into the gulf resounds as though a copper vessel were being struck by a huge hammer, and on this account its name has been bestowed on it by the Spaniards. The natives of the Island are persuaded that the infernal regions are there, where dwell for ever the souls of the wicked.

Causimomancy : Divination by fire. It is a happy presage when combustible objects cast into the fire do not burn.

Cazotte, Jacques: (1720-1792) : A French romance writer, and the reputed author of the famous Prophetie de Cazotte, concerning the Revolution. His sympathies were not with the revolutionary party. His letters were seized, and he and his daughter Elizabeth thrown into prison. During the September massacres, Elizabeth saved his life by flinging herself between him and the cut-throats who sought to kill him. He escaped, but was arrested, condemned, and beheaded. He was the author of the celebrated occult romance Le Diable Amoureux.

Celestial Light : The sacred light of all the ages, which is' "as the lightning which shineth from the west to the east." It is the halo which surrounds certain visions of a mystical character, but can only be seen by those who have lived ascetically, when respiration is feeble, and life has almost left the body.

Cellini, Benvenuto: This celebrated Italian artist and crafts-man had several most interesting adventures with demons and professors of the black art. In his Life he writes as follows:-

"It happened, through a variety of odd accidents, that I made acquaintance with a Sicilian priest, who was a man of genius, and well versed in the ,Latin and Greek author. Happening one day to have some conversation with him, when the subject turned on the subject of necromancy, I, who had a great desire to know something of the matter, told him, that I had all my life felt a curiosity to be acquainted with the mysteries of this art. The priest made answer, 'That the man must be of a resolute and steady temper who enters upon that study.' I replied, 'That I had fortitude and resolution enough, if I could but find an opportunity.' The priest subjoined, 'If you think you have the heart to venture, I will give you all the satisfaction you can desire.' Thus we agreed to enter upon a plan of necromancy. The priest one evening prepared to satisfy me, and desired me to look out for a companion or two. I invited one Vincenzio Romoli, who was my intimate acquaintance: he brought with him a native of Pistoia, who cultivated the black art himself. We repaired to the Colloseo, and the priest, according to the custom of necromancers, began to draw circles upon the ground with the most impressive ceremonies imaginable: he likewise brought hither assafoetida, several precious perfumes and fire, with some compositions also which diffused noisome odour. As soon as he was in readiness, he made an opening to the circle, and having taken us by the hand, ordered the other necromancer, his partner, to throw the perfumes into the fire at the proper time, intrusting the care of' the fire and the perfumes to the rest; and then he began his incantations. This ceremony lasted above an hour and a half, when there appeared several legions of devils a half, when there appeared several legions of devils insomuch that the amphitheatre was quite filled with them. I was busy about the perfumes, when the priest, perceiving there was a considerable number of infernal spirits, turned to me and said, 'Benvenuto, ask them something.' I answered, 'Let them bring me into the company of my Sicilian mistress, Angelica.' That night we obtained no answer of any sort; but I had received great satisfaction in having my curiosity so far indulged. The necromancer told me, it was requisite we should go a second time, assuring me, that I should be satisfied in whatever I asked; but that I must bring with me a pure immaculate boy.

"I took with me a youth who was in my service, of about twelve years of age, together with the same Vincenzio Romoli, who had been my companion the first time and one Agnolino Gaddi, an intimate acquaintance, whom I likewise prevailed on to assist at the ceremony. When we came to the place appointed, the priest having made his preparations as before, with the same and. even more striking ceremonies, placed us within the circle, which he had likewise drawn with a more wonderful art, and in a more solemn manner, than at our former meeting. Thus having committed the care of the perfume and the fire to my friend Vincenzio, who was assisted by Agnolino Gaddi, he put into my hand a pintacula or magical chart, and bid me turn it towards the places that he should direct me; and under the pintacula I held the boy. The necromancer having begun to make his tremendous invocations, called by their names a multitude of demons, who were the leaders of the several legions, and questioned them by the power of the eternal uncreated God, who lives for ever, in the Hebrew language, as likewise in Latin and Greek; insomuch that the amphitheatre was almost in an instant filled with demons more numerous than at the former conjuration. Vincenzio Romoli was busied in making a fire, with the assistance of Agnolino, and burning a great quantity of precious perfumes. I. by the direction of the necromancer, again desired to be in the company of my Angelica. The former thereupon turning to me, said, 'Know, they have declared, that in the space of a month you shall be in her company.

"He then requested me to stand resolutely by him, because the legions were now above a thousand more in number than he had designed; and, besides these were the most dangerous;. so that, after they had answered my question, it behoved him to be civil to them, and dismiss them quietly. At the same time the hay under the pintacula was in a terrible fright, saying, that there were in that place a million of fierce men, who threatened to destroy us; and that, moreover, four armed giants of an enormous stature were endeavouring to break into our circle. During this time, whilst the necromancer, trembling with fear, endeavoured by mild and gentle methods to dismiss them in the best way he could, Vincenzio Romoli, who quivered like an aspen leaf, took care of the perfumes.. Though I was as much terrified as any of them, I did my utmost to conceal the terror I felt; so that I greatly contributed to inspire the rest with resolution; but the truth is, I gave myself over for a dead man, seeing the horrid fright the necromancer was in. The boy placed his head between his knees, and said, ' In this posture I will die; for we shall all surely perish.' I told him that all these demons were under us, and what he saw was smoke and shadows; so I bid him hold up his head and take courage. No sooner did he look up, but he cried out,' The whole amphitheatre is burning, and the fire is just. falling upon us ;' so covering his eyes with his hands, he again exclaimed that destruction was inevitable, and he desired to see no more. The necromancer entreated me to have a good heart, and take care to burn the proper perfumes; upon which I turned to Romoli, and bid him burn all the Most precious perfumes he had. At the same time I cast my eye upon Agnolino Gaddi, who was terrified to such a degree that he could scarce distinguish objects, and seemed to be half-dead. Seeing him in this condition, I said, Agnolino, upon these occasions a man should not yield to fear, but should stir about and give his assistance; so come directly and put on some more of these perfumes.' Poor Agnolino, upon attempting to move, was so violently terrified that the effects of his fear overpowered all the perfumes we were burning. The boy, hearing a crepitation, ventured once more to raise his head, when, seeing me laugh, he began to take courage, and. said, 'That the devils were flying away with a vengeance.

"In this condition we stayed till the bell rang for morning prayer. The boy again told us, that there remained but few devils, and these were at a great distance. When the magician had performed the rest of his ceremonies, he stripped off his gown and took up a wallet full of books which he had brought with him. We all went out of the circle together, keeping as close to each other as we possibly could, especially the boy, who had placed himself in the middle, holding the necromancer by the coat, and me by the cloak. As we were going to our houses in the quarter of Banchi, the boy told us that two of the demons whom we had seen at the amphitheatre, went on before us leaping and skipping, sometimes running upon the roofs of the houses, and sometimes upon the ground. The priest declared, that though he had often entered magic circles, nothing so extraordinary had ever happened to him. As we went along, he would fain persuade me to assist with him at consecrating a book, from which, he said, we should derive immense riches we should then ask the demons to discover to us the various treasures with which the earth abounds, which would raise us to opulence and power; but that those love affairs were mere follies, from whence no good could be expected. I answered, 'That I would readily have accepted his proposal if I understood Latin:' he redoubled his persuasions, assuring me, that the know-ledge of the Latin language was by no means material. He added, that he could have Latin scholars enough, if he had thought it worth while to look out for them; but that he could never have met with a partner of resolution and intrepidity equal to mine, and that I should by all means follow his advice. Whilst we were engaged in this conversation, we arrived at our respective homes, and all that night dreamt of nothing but devils."

Celonitis or Celontes: This wonderful stone is found in the tortoise, and its property is to resist fire. Its healing virtues are two-fold, similar to those of the Asinius. Carried under the tongue on the day of the new moon, and for the fifteen days following, during the lunar ascension, it inspires its fortunate possessor to foretell future events every day from sunrising to six o'clock; and in the decrease during the intervening hours.

Celts: Magic : among the Celtic peoples in ancient times was so closely identified with Druidism that its origin may be said to have been Druidic. That Druidism was of Celtic origin, however, is a question upon which much discussion has been lavished, some authorities, among them Rhys, believing it to have been non-Celtic and even non-Aryan origin. This is to say that the earliest non-Aryan or so-called "Iberian" or Megalithic people of Britain introduced the immigrant Celts to the Druidic religion. An argument in favour of this theory is that the continental Celts sent their neophyte Druid priests to Britain to undergo a special training at the hands of the Druids there, and there is little doubt that this island was regarded as the headquarters of the cult. The people of Cisalpine Gaul, for instance, had no Druidic priesthood. (See Rice Holmes' Caesar's Conquest, pp. 532-536). Caesar has told us that in Gaul Druidic seminaries were very numerous , and that in them severe study and discipline were entailed upon the neophytes, the principal business of whom was to commit to memory countless verses enshrining Druidic knowledge and tradition. That this instruction was astrological and magical we have the fullest proof, and it is with these aspects of the Celtic religion alone that we have to deal in this place.

The Druids were magi as they were hierophants in the same sense that the American-Indian medicine-man is both magus and priest. That is they were medicine-men On a higher-scale, and possessed a larger share of transcendental knowledge than the shamans of more barbarous races. Thus they may be said to be a link between the shaman and the magus of medieval times. Many o: their practices were purely shamanistic, whilst others were more closely connected with medieval magical rite. But they were not the only magicians among the Celts, for we find that magic power is frequently the progression of women and the poetic craft. The art magic of Druidism bad many points of comparison 'with most magical systems, and may be said to have approximated more to that black magic which desires power for the sake of power alone, than to any more transcendental type. Thus it included the power to render oneself invisible, to change the bodily shape, to produce an enchanted sleep, to induce lunacy, and the utterance of spells and charms which caused death. Power over the elements was also claimed, as in the case of Broichan, a Caledonian Druid who opposed Saint Columbia, as we read in Adamnan's Life of that saint as follows

"Broichan, speaking one day to the holy man, says: 'Tell me, Columba, at what time dost thou propose to sail forth? "On the third day,' says the Saint, 'God willing and life remaining, we propose to begin our voyage.' 'Thou wilt not be able to do so,' says Broichan in reply, 'for I can make the wind contrary for thee, and bring dark clouds upon thee.' The Saint says: 'The omnipotence of God rules over all things, in Whose Name all our movements, He Himself governing them, are directed.’ What more need be said? On the same day as he had purposed in his heart the Saint came to the long lake of the river Ness, a great crowd following. But the Druids then began to rejoice when they saw a great darkness coming over, and a contrary wind with a tempest. Nor should it be wondered at that these things can be done by the art of demons, God permitting it, so that even winds and waters are roused to fury.

For it was thus that legions of devils once met the holy bishop Germanus in mid-ocean, what time he was sailing from the Gallican Gulf (the British Channel) to Britain in the cause of man's salvation, and stirred up dangerous storms and spread darkness over the sky and obscured daylight. All which storms, however, were stilled at the prayer of St. Germanus, and, quicker than said, ceased, and the darkness was swept away.

"Our Columba, therefore, seeing the furious elements stirred up against him, calls upon Christ the Lord, and entering the boat while the sailors are hesitating, he with all the more confidence, orders the sail to be rigged against the wind. Which being done, the whole crowd looking on meanwhile, the boat is borne along against the contrary winds with amazing velocity. And after no great interval, the adverse winds veer round to the advantage of the voyage amid the astonishment of all. And thus, throughout that whole day, the blessed man's boat was driven along by gentle favouring breezes, and reached the desired haven. Let the reader, therefore, consider how great and saintly was that venerable man through whom Almighty God manifested His glorious Name by such miraculous powers as have just been described in the presence of a heathen people."

The art of rain-making. bringing down fire from the sky, and causing mists, snow-storms and floods was also claimed by the Druids. Many of the spells probably in nse among the Druids survived until a comparatively late period, and are still in use in some remote Celtic localities-the names of Saints being substituted for those of Celtic deities, -as in Well-worship (q.v.) a possibly Druidic cultus, and certain ritual practices which are still carried out in the vicinity of megalithic structures. In pronouncing incantations, the usual method employed was to stand upon one leg, to point to the person or object on which the spell was to be laid with the fore-finger, at the same time closing an eye, as if to concentrate the force of the entire personality upon that which was to be placed under ban. A manuscript preserved in the Monastery of St. Gall and dating from the eighth or ninth century, has preserved magical formulae for the preservation of butter and the healing of certain diseases in the name of the Irish god Diancecht. These and others bear a close resemblance to Babylonian and Etruscan spells, and this goes to strengthen the hypothesis often put forward with more or less ability that Druidism had an eastern origin. All magical rites were accompanied by spells. Druids often accompanied an army to assist by their magical art in confounding the enemy.

There is little doubt that the conception of a Druidic priesthood has descended down to our own time in a more or less debased condition in British Celtic areas. Thus the existence of guardians and keepers of wells said to possess magical properties, and the fact that certain familiar magical spells and formulae are handed down from one generation to another, is a proof of the survival of Druidic tradition, however feeble. Females are generally the conservators of these mysteries, but that there were Druid priestesses is fairly certain.

There are also indications that to some extent Scottish witchcraft was a survival of Celtic religio-magical practice. (See Witchcraft, Scottish in article Scotland.)

Amulets were extensively worn by the Cells, the principal forms in use being phallic (against the evil eye), coral, the "serpent's egg "-some description of fossil. The person who passed a number of serpents together forming such an "egg" from their collected spume had to catch it in his cloak ere it fell to earth, and then make all speed over a running-stream where he was safe from the reptiles' vengeance. Totemic amulets were also common. (See Scotland and Ireland.)

LITERATURE-H. d'Arbois de Jubainville. Les Druides et les dieux celiques a forme d'arnmaux. Paris, 1906 ; Gomme Ethnology in Folklore, London 1892; T. R. Holmes, Casar's Conquest of Gaul, London 1899, Caesar's Conquest of Britain, 1907; S. Reinach, Cultes, mythes et religions Paris, 1905 J. Rhys, Celtic Britain, London 1882; Celtic Heatendom, London 1888; C. Squire, Mythology of the ancient Britons, London, 1905.

Central America : (See Mexico and Central America.)

Central Association of Spiritualist : (See British National Association of Spiritualists.)

Cepionidus : A stone of many colours, said to reflect the likeness of the beholder.

Ceraunius, or Cerraclus : is described as a pyramidal crystal-line stone, tinged with saffron, and is said to fall from the clouds. It preserves from drowning, from injury by lightning, and gives pleasant dreams.

Ceraunescopy : Divination practised by the ancients by the examination of the phenomena of the. air.

Ceremonial Magic : Ceremonial magic is chiefly occupied with the art of dealing with spirits. Its rites are supposedly religious, and the rituals which contain it partake largely of the nature of religious observances. It is not, as generally supposed, a reversed Christianity or Judaism, nor does it partake of the profanation of religious ritual. It is in effect an attempt to derive power from God for the successful control of evil spirits. In the Grimoires and Keys of Black Magic, the operator is constantly reminded that he must meditate continually on the undertaking in hand, and centre every hope in the infinite goodness of the Great Adonai. The god invoked in Black Magic is not Satan as is so often supposed, but the Jehovah of the Jews, and the Trinity of the Christians. The foundation of practical magic is almost certainly the belief in the power of divine words to compel the obedience of all spirits to those who could pronounce them. Such words and names were supposed to invoke or dismiss the denizens of the spirit world, and these with suitable prayers were used in all magical ceremonies. Again it was thought that it was easier to control evil spirits than to enlist the sympathies of angels.

He who would gain such power over demons is exhorted in the magical texts which exist to observe continence and abstinence, to disrobe as seldom and sleep as little as possible during the period of preparation, to meditate continually on his undertaking and centre all his hopes on the Great Adonai. The fast should be most austere, and human society must be avoided as much as possible. The concluding days of the fast should be additionally strict-sustenance being reduced to bread and water. Daily ablutions are necessary, and these must be made in water which has been previously exorcised according to the ritual: especially must this be observed immediately before the ceremony. Certain periods of the day and night are ruled by certain planets and these are to be found in the book known as the Key of Solomon the King (q.v). (See also Astrology.) The Book of Black Magic taught that the hours of Saturn, Mars and Venus are good for communion with spirits,-the hour of the first named planet for invoking souls in Hell; and that of the second those who have been slain in battle. In fact these hours and seasons are ruled by the laws of astrology. In the preparation of the instruments employed, the ceremonies of purifying and consecrating, must be carefully observed. An aspergillum composed of mint, marjoram, and rosemary should be used for the first and should be contained in a pot of glazed earth. For fumigation a chafing dish should be used filled with freshly kindled coal and perfumed with aloe-wood or mace, benzoin or storax.

The experiment of holding converse with spirits should be made in the day and hour of Mercury: that is the 1st or 8th, or the 15th or 22nd (See Necromancy). The Grand Grimoire says that when the night of action has arrived, the operator shall take a rod, a goat-skin, a Wood-stone, two crowns of vervain, and two candlesticks with candles; also a new steel and two new flints, enough wood to make a fire, half a bottle of brandy, incense and camphor, and four nails from the coffin of a dead child. Either one or three persons must take part in the ceremony-on of whom only must address the spirit. The Kabbalistic circle is formed with strips of kid's skin fastened to the ground by the four nails. With the blood-stone a triangle is traced within the circle, beginning at the eastern point. The letters a e a j must be drawn in like manner, as also the Name of the Saviour between two crosses. The candles and vervain crowns are then set in the left and right sides of the triangle within the circle, and they with the brazier are set alight-the fire being fed with brandy and camphor. A prayer is then repeated. The operator must be careful to have no alloyed metal about him except a gold or silver coin wrapped in paper. which must be cast to the spirit when he appears outside the circle. The spirit is then conjured three times. Should the spirit fail to appear. the two ends of the magic rod must be plunged into the flames of the brazier. This ritual is known as the Rite of Lucifuge, and is believed to invoke the demon Lucifuge Rofocale.

For further information concerning the ceremonial of magic. See Necromancy and the articles on the various rituals of magic, such as Arbatel. Key of Solomon, Grimorium Verum, etc. (See Magic.)

Ceroscopy : Divination by wax. The process was as follows. Fine wax was melted in a brass vessel until it became a liquid of uniform consistence. It was then poured slowly into another vessel filled with cold water, in such a way that the wax congealed in tiny discs upon the surface of the water. The magician then interpreted the figures thus presented as he saw fit.

Chagrin or Cagrino : An evil spirit believed in by the Continental Gypsies. It has the form of a hedgehog, is yellow in colour, and is a foot and a half in length and a span in breadth. " I am certain," says Wlislocki, "that this creature is none other than the equally demoniac being called Harginn, still believed in by the inhabitants of North-western India. Horses are the special prey of the Chagrin, who rides them into a state of exhaustion, as does the Guecubu (q.v.) of Chili. The next day they appear sick and weary, with tangled manes and bathed in sweat. When this is observed they are tethered to a stake which has been rubbed with garlic juice. then a red thread is laid on the ground in the form of a cross, or else some of the hair of the animal is mixed with salt, meal and the blood of a bat and cooked to bread, with which the hoof of the horse is smeared. The empty vessel which contained the mixture is put in the trunk of a high tree while these words are uttered:

"Tarry, pipkin, in this tree.

Till such time as full ye be."

Chain, Forming a : In spiritualism, a term denoting the joining of the hands of the sitters round a table, whereby the magnetic current is strengthened and reinforced. The Baron de Guldenstubbe gives the following directions for forming a chain. "In order to form a chain, the twelve persons each place their right hand on the table, and their left hand on that of their neighbour, thus making a circle round the table. Observe that the medium or mediums if there be more than one, are entirely isolated from those who form the chain."

Dr. Lapponi, in his Hypnotism and Spiritism (trans. London, 1906), gives an account of the usual procedure for the formation of a chain. "He (the medium) makes those present choose a table, which they may examine as much as they like, and may place in whatever part of the room they choose. He then invites some of the assistants to place their hands on the table in the following manner:

The two thumbs of each person are to be touching each other, and each little finger is to be in communication with the little finger of the persons on either side. He himself completes the chain with his two hands. The hands of all altogether rest on the edge of the table. (See Planetary Chains.)

Chain-Period : (See Planetary Chains.)

Chakras : These. are, according to theosophists, the sense organs of the etheral body (q.v.) and receive their name from their appearance which resembles vortices. Altogether there are ten chakras-visible only to clairvoyants-but of these it is advisable to use only seven. They are situated, not on the denser physical body, but opposite certain parts of it as follows: (1) the top of the head, (2) between the eyebrows, (3) the throat, (4) the heart, (5) the spleen-(where vitality is indrawn from the sun), (6) the solar plexus, (7) the base of the spine. The remaining three chakras are situated in the lower part of the pelvis and normally are not used, but are brought into play only in Black Magic. It is by means of the chakras that the trained occultist can become acquainted with the astral world. (See Theosophy.)

Chalcedony : A good specific against phantasy and the illusions of evil spirits. It also quickens the power of the body, and renders its possessor fortunate in law. To the latter effect it must be perforated and suspended by hairs from an ass. The black variety prevents hoarseness and clears the voice.

Chams : A race of Indo-Chinese origin, numbering about 130,000 souls, settled in Annam, Siam, Cochin-China, and Cambodia. They have some reputation among the surrounding population as sorcerers; this corruption probably arising from the mythic influence of a conquered race. Their magicians claim to be able to slay at a distance, or to bring ruin and disease by the aid of magical formula. Among' the Cambodian Chams, sorcerers are cordially detested by the common people as they are believed to be the source of all the evil which befalls them, and the majority of them usually end their days by secret assassination. They are nearly always of the female sex, and enter the sisterhood by means of a secret initiation held in the depths of the forest at the hour of midnight. Indeed the actual method of initiation is known to us. The woman who desires to become a sorceress procures the nest of a termite, and sacrifices thereon a cock (See Cook), cutting it in two from the head to the tail, and dancing in front of it in a condition of complete nudity, until by force of her incantations the two halves of the bird approach one another and it becomes once more alive and gives vent to a crow. Sorceresses are said to be known by the tendency of their complexion to alter its hue, and by their swollen and bloodshot eyes. They possess numerous rites for the propitiation of evil spirits, in which, in common with the neighbouring and surrounding populations, they implicitly believe Thus in building a house numerous propitiatory rites must be observed, accompanied by invocation of the protecting deities. They believe in lucky and unlucky days, and are careful not to undertake any-thing of importance unless favoured by propitious omens. They possess many peculiar superstitions. Thus they 'will not disturb grain which has been stored during the day time, as they say it is then asleep, and wait until nightfall before supplying themselves from it. They also have many magical agricultural formulae, such as the "instruction" to, and passing" of, the standing rice-stems in the harvest field before they are cut and garnered, so that they may be worthy to be stored. The Brahmanic Chams believe that the souls of good men betake themselves to the sun, those of women to the moon, and those of the coolie class into clouds, but these are only places of temporary sojourn, until such time as all finally come to reside within the centre of the earth. The belief in metempsychosis is also highly popular. See E. Aymonier, Les Tchames et leur Religions, Paris, 1891; Aymonier Chaton, Dictionnaire Cam-Francaise, Paris, 1906; Cahaton, Nouvelles recherches sur les chams, Paris, 1901.

Changelings : The substitution of a little old mannikin of the elf race, for a young child. There are many tales representative of this ,belief in Scotland. The changeling grows up peevish and misshapen, always crying, and gives many proofs of its origin to those versed in such matters. There are many ways of getting rid of him, such as sticking a knife into him, making him sit on a gridiron with a fire below, dropping him into a river, etc.,-which one would imagine would prove fairly successful The changeling sometimes gives himself away by 'unthinking reference to his age.

Chaomandy : (See Ceraunoscopy.)

Chaos : (See Philosopher's Stone.)

Charcot, Prof. J. M. : (See Hypnotism.)

Charlemagne; or Charles the Great : The greatest of Frankish kings; was the elder son of Pepin the Short, and succeeded his father in 768 A.D. He is included in this work chiefly because of his close connection with the supernatural so far as legend is concerned. Again and again in the pages of French romance, notably in these romances dealing with the adventures of William of Orange, do we find the Emperor visited by angels who are the direct messengers of the heavenly power. This of course is to symbolise his position as the head and front of Christendom in the world. He was its champion and upholder, surrounded as he was on all sides by the forces of paganism,-' the Moors on his southern borders, and the Prussian and Saxons on his flank. Charles was regarded by the Christians of Europe as the direct representative of heaven,, whose mission it was to Christianise Europe and to defend the true faith in every way. No less do we find him and his court connected with the realm of fiery. Notices of the encounters of the fairy folk by his paladins are not so numerous in the original French romances which deal with him and them; but in the hands of Boiardo, Ariosto, and Pulci, they dwelt in an enchanted region where at any moment they might meet with all kinds of supernatural beings. But both in the older and later romances the powers of magic and enchantment are ever present. These are chiefly instanced in magical weapons such as the Sword Durandal of Roland which cannot be shivered; the magical ointments of giant-like Ferragus, which rubbed on their bodies make them invulnerable; the wearing of armour which exercises a similar guardianship on the body of its possessor, and so forth. but we find heroes like Ogier, the Dane, penetrating into fairy land itself, and wedding its queen. This was the fate of a great many medieval heroes, and Ogier finds in the enchanted realm King Arthur. and several other paladins. The analogous cases of Tom-a-Lincolne. Taunhauser and Thomas the Rhymer, will readily occur to the reader. The magical and the marvellous is everywhere in use in the romances which deal with Charlemagne. Indeed in this respect they entirely put in the shade the later romances proper, as distinguished from the Chansons de Geste.

Charm (Carmen) : A magical formula, sung or recited to bring about a supposedly beneficial result, or to confer magical efficacy on an amulet. In popular usage the same word is employed to designate the incantation and the object which is charmed. For the material object (See Amulet:) for the recital (See Spells.)

Charnock, Thomas : Alchemist. (1524 ? - 1581). Comparatively little biographical matter concerning this English alchemist is forthcoming, but it is recorded that he was born somewhere in the Isle of Thanet, Kent; while as to the date, this is revealed inasmuch as one of his manuscripts, dated 1574, is stated by the writer to have been penned in the fifty years of my age." As a young man he travelled all over England in search of alchemistic knowledge, but eventually he fixed his residence at Oxford, and here he chanced to make the acquaintance of a noted scientist. The latter, greatly impressed with the youth's cleverness, straightway appointed him his confidant and assistant in general; and, after working in this capacity for a number of years, Charnock found himself the sole legatee of his patron's paraphernalia. and likewise of the various secrets written in his note-books. Armed thus, he proceeded to devote himself more eagerly than ever to the quest of gold-production; but in 1555, just as he imagined himself on the verge of triumph, his hopes were frustrated by a sudden explosion in his laboratory; while in 1557, when he again thought that success was imminent. the press-gang arrived at his house and laid violent hands on him, being anxious for recruits wherewith to swell the English army then fighting the French. The alchemist was bitterly chagrined on being kidnapped in this wise, and, lest his secrets should be discovered by prying eyes, he set himself to destroy all his precious impedinlenta.

"With my works made such a furious faire

That the gold flew forth in the aire,"-

so he writes concerning this iconoclasm, and, subsequent to this event, he proceeded to France as a soldier, and took part in the disastrous campaign which culminated in the English being worsted at Calais by the Duc de Guise. How Charnock fared during the expedition is not known, and it is likely that he found small pleasure in the rough life; but be that as it may, he returned to England safely, and in 1562 he was married to one Agnes Norton. Thereafter he settled at Stockland, in the county of Somerset, and here he continued to pursue scientific researches, apparently unmolested by further visitations from the military powers. Nor would it seem that the clergy molested him either, or 'looked askance on his alchemistic studies; for on his death, which occurred in 1581, his mortal remains were duly interred at Otterhampton Church, Bridgwater.

That facetious antiquary and historian, Anthony Wood, in his Athenae Oxoniensis, credits Charnock with a considerable amount of writing, and it is possible that several items enumerated are in reality from some other pen than the alchemist's. However, there are certain books which the latter undoubtedly wrote, notably AEnigma ad Alchimiam, issued in 1572; while no less interesting than this is the Breviary of Natural Philosophy, which is couched in verse, was published originally in 1557, and was subsequently reprinted in the Theatrum Chemicum of Elias Ashmole.

Chase, Warren : (See Spiritualism.)

Chazel_, Comte de: (See Rosicrucians.)

Chela: (See Adept.)

Chelidonius : A stone taken out of a swallow; good against melancholy and periodical disorders. To cure fever it must be put in a yellow linen cloth, and tied about the neck.

Chenevix, Richard : (See Spiritualism.)

Cherubim : Certain mystic appearances of the angelic type, often represented as figures wholly' or partly human, and with wings proceeding from the shoulders. "We find the first mention of these beings in connection with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden; and they are frequently spoken of in later biblical history. Sometimes the cherubim have two or more faces, or are of composite animal form.

Chesed : Under this name the Jewish Kabalists signified the attribute of mercy.

Chesme : A cat-shaped well - or fountain-spirit or nymph of the Turks. She inveigles youths to death much in the same manner as the Lorelei.

Chevalier. de l' Enfer : These are demons more powerful than those of no rank, but less powerful than titled demons - counts, marquises, and dukes. They may be evoked from dawn to sunrise, and from, sunset to dark.

Chilan Balam, Books of : (See Mexico and Central America.)

Children in Poltergeist Cases : (See Poltergeist.)

China : Although it can hardly be said that any system of magic worthy of the name ever originated in China, and though magical practice was uncommon, yet instances are not wanting of the employment of magical means in the Celestial Empire, and the belief in a supernatural world peopled by gods, demons and other beings is very strong in the popular Chinese mind.

"Although the Chinese mind possessed under such a constitution but few elements in which magic could strike root and throw out its ramifications and influence, yet we find many traces giving evidence of the instinctive movement of the mind, as well as of magical influence; though certainly not in the manner or abundance that we meet with it in India. The great variety of these appearances is, however, striking, as in no other country are they so seldom met with.

As the King, as it were, microcosmically represents the human races in fortune or misfortune before the divinity so must his eye be constantly directed to those signs in which the will of the Most High is revealed; 'He must observe dreams as much as the phenomena of nature, the eclipses and the positions of the stars; and, when all else is wanting, he must consult the oracle of the tortoise, or the Plant Tsche, and direct his actions accordingly.' He is therefore, as it were, the universal oracle of the people, as the popular mind is relieved from every flight of imagination by a highly remarkable mental compulsion."

"It is easy to understand from these circumstances wherefore we find so few of these phenomena of magic and the visionary and ecstatic state, in other parts of the East so frequent, and therefore they are scattered and uncertain. Accounts are, however, not wanting to show that the phenomena as well as theories of prophecy were known in more remote times. Under the Emperor Hoel Ti, about A.D. 304, a mystical sect arose in China calling themselves the teachers of the emptiness and nothingness of all things. They also exhibited the art of binding the power of the senses, and producing a condition which they believed perfection."

Demonism and Obsession. The Chinese are implicit believers in demons whom they imagine surround them on every hand. Says Peebles "English officials, American missionaries, mandarins and many of the Chinese literati (Confucians, Taoists and Buddhist believers alike) declare that spritism in some form, and under some name, is the almost universal belief of China. It is generally denominated 'ancestral worship.'"

"There is no driving out of these Chinese," says Father Gonzalo, "the cursed belief that the spirits of their ancestors are ever about them, availing themselves of every opportunity to give advice and counsel."

"The medium consulted," remarks Dr. Doolittle, "takes in the hand a stick of lighted incense to dispel ad defiling influences, then prayers of some kind are ,repeated, the body becomes spasmodic, the medium’s eyes are shut, and the form sways about, assuming the walk and peculiar attitude of the spirit when in the body. Then the communication' from the divinity begins, which may be of a faultfinding or a flattering character. . . . Sometimes these Chinese mediums profess to be possessed by some specified historical god of great healing power, and in this condition they prescribe for the sick. It is believed that the ghoul or spirit invoked actually casts himself into the medium, and dictates the medicine."

"Volume, might be written upon the gods, genii and familiar spirits supposed to be continually in communication with this people," writes Dr. John L. Nevius, in his works, China and The Chinese. "The Chinese have a large number of books upon this subject, among the most noted of which is the Liau-chai-chei,' a large work of sixteen volumes. . . . Tu Sein signifies a spirit in the body, and there are a class of familiar spirits supposed to dwell in the bodies of certain Chinese who became the mediums of communication with the unseen world. Individuals said 'to be possessed by these spirits are visited by multitudes, particularly those who have lost recently relatives by death, and wish to converse with them.

Remarkable disclosures and revelations are believed to be made by the involuntary movements of a bamboo pencil, and through a similar method some claim to see in the dark. Persons considering themselves endowed with superior intelligence are firm believers in those and other modes of consulting spirits."

The public teacher in Chen Sin Ling (W. J. Plumb says) " In the district of Tu-ching, obsessions by evil spirits or demons are very common. He further writes that "there are very many cases also in Chang-lo." Again he says:

"When a man is thus afflicted, the spirit (Kwei) takes possession of his body without regard to his being strong or weak in health. It is not easy to resist the demon's power. Though without bodily ailments, possessed persons appear as if ill. When under the entrancing spell of the demon, they seem different from their ordinary selves.

"In most cases the spirit takes possession of a man's body contrary to his will, and he is helpless in the matter. The kwei has the power of driving out the man's spirit, as in sleep or dreams. When the subject awakes to consciousness, he has not the slightest knowledge of what has transpired.

"The actions of possessed persons vary exceedingly. They leap about and toss their arms, and then the demon tells them what particular spirit he is, often taking a false name, or deceitfully calling himself a god, or one of the genii come down to the abodes of mortals. Or, perhaps, it professes to be the spirit of a deceased husband or wife. There are also kwei of the quiet sort, who talk and laugh like other people, only that the voice is changed. Some have a voice like a bird. Some speak Mandarin-the language of Northern China-and some the local dialect; but though the speech proceeds from the mouth of the man, what is said does not appear to come from him. The outward appearance and manner is also changed.

"In Fu-show there is a class of persons who collect in large numbers and make use of incense, pictures, candles and lamps to establish what are called incense tables.' Taoist priests are engaged to attend the ceremonies and they also make use of 'mediums.' The Taoist writes a charm for the medium, who, taking the incense .stick in his hand, stands like a graven image, thus signifying his willingness to have the demon come and take possession of him. Afterward, the charm is burned and the demon-spirit is worshipped and invoked, the priest, in the meanwhile' going on with his chanting. After a while the medium begins to tremble, and then speaks and announces what spirit has descended, and asks what is wanted of him. Then, whoever has requests to make, takes incense sticks, makes prostrations, and asks a response respecting some disease, or for protection from some calamity. In winter the same performances are carried on to a great extent by gambling companies; If some of the responses hit the mark, a large number of people are attracted. They establish a shrine and offer sacrifices, and appoint days, calling upon people from every quarter to come and consult the spirit respecting diseases. .

"There is also a class of men who establish what they call a 'Hall of Revelations.' At the present time there are many engaged in this practice. They are, for the most part, literary men of great ability. The people in large numbers apply to them for responses. The mediums spoken of above are also numerous. All of the above practices are not spirits seeking to possess men; but rather men seeking spirits to possess them, and allowing themselves to be voluntarily used as their instruments.

As to the outward appearance of persons when possessed, of course, they are the same person as to outward form as at ordinary times; but the colour of the countenance may change. The demon may cause the subject to assume a threatening air, and a fierce, violent manner, The muscles often stand out on the face, the eyes are closed, or they protrude with a frightful stare. These demons sometimes prophesy.

"The words spoken certainly proceed from the mouths of the persons possessed; but what is said does not appear to come from their minds or wills, but rather from some other personality, often accompanied by a change of voice. Of this there can be no doubt. When the subject returns to consciousness, he invariably declares himself ignorant of what he has said.

"The Chinese make use of various methods to cast out demons. They are so troubled and vexed by inflictions affecting bodily health, or it may be throwing stones, moving furniture, or the moving about and destruction of family utensils, that they are driven to call in the service of some respected scholar or Taoist priest, to offer sacrifices, or chant sacred books, and pray for protection and exemption from suffering. Some make use of sacrifices and offerings of paper clothes and money in order to induce the demon to go back to the gloomy region of Yan-chow. As to whether these methods. have any effect, I do not know. As a rule, when demons are not very troublesome, the families afflicted by them generally think it best to hide their affliction, or to keep these wicked spirits quiet by sacrifices, and burning incense to them."

An article in the London Daily News gives lengthy extracts from an address upon the Chinese by Mrs. Montague Beaucham, who had spent many years in China in educational work. Speaking of their spiritism, she said, "The latest London craze in using the planchette has been one of the recognized means in China of conversing with evil spirits from time immemorial." She had lived in one of the particular provinces known as demon land, where the natives are bound up in the belief and worship of spirits. "There is a real power," she added, "in this necromancy. They do healings and tell fortunes." She personally knew of one instance that the spirits through the planchette had foretold a great flood. The boxer rising was prophesied by the planchette.. These spirits disturbed family relations, caused fits of frothing at the mouth, and made some of their victims insane. In closing she declared that "Chinese spiritism was from hell," the obsession baffling the power of both Christian missionaries and native priests.

Dr. Nevius sent out a circular communication for the purpose of discovering the actual beliefs of the Chinese regarding demonism through which he obtained much valuable information. Wang Wu-Fang, an educated Chinese wrote:

"Cases of demon possession abound among all classes. They are found among persons of robust health, as well as those who are weak and sickly. In many unquestionable cases of obsession, the unwilling subjects have resisted, but have been obliged to submit themselves to the control of the demon.

"In the majority of cases of possession, the beginning of the malady is a fit of grief, anger or mourning. These conditions seem to open the door to the demons. The outward manifestations are apt to be fierce and violent. It may be that the subject alternately talks and laughs; he walks awhile and then sits, or he rolls on the ground, or leaps about; or exhibits contortions of the body and twistings of the neck. . . . It was common among. them to send for exorcists, who made use of written charms, or chanted verses. or punctured the body with needles These are among the Chinese methods of cure.

"Demons are of different kinds. There are those which clearly declare themselves; and then those who work in secret. There are those which are cast out with difficulty, and others with ease.

"In cases of possession by familiar demons, what is said by the subject certainly does not proceed, from his own will. When the demon has gone out and the subject recovers consciousness, he has no recollection whatever of what he has said or done. This is true almost invariably.

"The methods by which the Chinese cast out demons are enticing them to leave by burning charms and paper money, or by begging and exhorting them, or by frightening them with magic spells and incantations, or driving them away by pricking with needles, or pinching with the fingers, in which case they cry out and promise to go.

"I was formerly accustomed to drive out demons by means of needles. At that time cases of possession by evil spirits were very common in our villages, and my services were in very frequent demand

The Rev. Timothy Richard, missionary, also writing in response to Dr. Nevius’ circular, says:-

"The Chinese orthodox definition of spirit is, 'the soul of the departed;' some of the best of whom are raised to the rank of gods. . . . There is no disease to which the Chinese are' ordinarily subject that may not be caused by demons. In this case the mind is untouched. It is only the body that suffers; and the Chinese endeavour to get rid of the demon by vows and offerings to the gods. The subject in this case is an involuntary one.

"Persons possessed range between fifteen and fifty years of age, quite irrespective of sex. This infliction comes on very suddenly, sometimes in the day, and sometimes in the night. The demoniac talks madly, smashes everything near him, acquires unusual strength, tears his clothes into rags, and rushes into the street, or to the mountains or kills himself unless prevented. After this violent possession, the demoniac calms down and submits to his fate, but under the most heart-rending protests. These mad spells which are experienced on the demon's entrance return at intervals, and increase in frequency, and generally also in intensity, so that death at last ensues from their violence.

"A Chefoo boy of fifteen was going on an errand. His path led through fields where men were working at their crops. When he came up to the men and had exchanged a word or two with them, he suddenly began to rave wildly; his eyes rolled, then he made for a pond near by. Seeing this, the people ran up to him, stopped him from drowning himself and took him home to his parents. When he got home, he sprang up from the ground to such a height as manifested almost a superhuman strength. After a few days he calmed down and became unusually quiet and gentle; but his own consciousness was lost. The demon spoke of its friends in Nan-Kin. After six months this demon departed. He has been in the service of several foreigners in Chefoo since. In this case no worship was offered to the demon.

"Now we proceed to those, who involuntarily possessed, yield to and worship the demon. The demon says he will cease tormenting the demoniac if he will worship him, and he will reward him by increasing his riches. But if not, he will punish his victim, make heavier his torments and rob him of his property. People find that their food is cursed. They cannot prepare any, but filth and dirt comes down from the air to render it uneatable. Their wells are likewise cursed; their wardrobes are set on fire, and their money very mysteriously disappears. Hence arose the custom of cutting off the head of a string of cash that it might not run away. . . . When all efforts to rid themselves of the demon fail, they yield to it, and say

'Hold! Cease thy tormenting and we will worship thee!, A picture is pasted upon the wall, sometimes of a woman, and sometimes of a man, and incense is burned, and prostrations are made to it twice a month. Being thus reverenced, money now comes in mysteriously, instead of going out. Even mill-stones are made to move at the demon's orders, and the family becomes rich at once. But it is said that no luck attends such families, and they will eventually be reduced to poverty. Officials believe these things. Palaces are known to have been built by them for these demons, who, however, are obliged to be satisfied with humbler shrines from the poor.

"Somewhat similar to the above class is another small one which has power to enter the lower regions. There are the opposite of necromancers, for instead of calling up the dead and learning of them about the future. destiny of the individual in whose behalf they are engaged, they lie in a trance for two days, when their spirits are said to have gone to the Prince of Darkness, to inquire how long the sick person shall be left among the living.

"Let us now note the different methods adopted to cast out the evil 'spirits from the demoniacs. Doctors are called to do it. They use needles to puncture the tips of the fingers, the nose, the neck. They also use a certain pill, and apply it in the following manner: the thumbs of the two hands are tied tightly together, and the two big toes are tied together in the same manner. Then one pill is put on the two big toes at the root of the nail, and the other at the root of the thumb nails. At the same instant the two pills are set on fire, and they are kept until the flesh is burned. In the application of the pills, or in the piercing of the needle, the invariable cry is: 'I am going; I am going immediately. I will never dare to come back again. Oh, have mercy on me this once. I'll never return I

"When the doctors fail, they' call on people who practise spiritism. They themselves cannot drive the demon away, but they call another demon to do it. Both the Confucianists and Taoists practise this method. . . . Sometimes the spirits are very ungovernable. Tables are turned, chairs are rattled, and a general noise of smashing is heard, until the very mediums themselves tremble with fear. If the demon is of this dreadful character, they quickly write another charm with the name of the particular spirit whose quiet disposition is known to them. Lu-tsu is a favourite one of this kind. After the burning of the charm and incense, and when prostrations are made, a little frame is procured, to which a Chinese pencil is attached. Two men on each side hold it on a table spread with sand or millet. Sometimes a prescription is written, the pencil moving of its own accord( They buy the medicine prescribed and give it to the possessed. . . . Should they find that burning incense and offering sacrifices fails to ,liberate the poor victim, they may call in conjurors, such as the Taoists, who sit on mats and are carried by invisible power from place to place. They ascend to a height of twenty or fifty feet, and are carried to a distance of four or five Ii (about half a mile). Of this class are those who, in Manchuria call down fire from the sky in those funerals where the corpse is burned.

"These exorcists may belong to any of the three religions in China. The dragon procession. on the fifteenth of the first month, is said by some to commemorate a Buddhist priest's victory over evil spirits. . . . They paste up charms on windows and doors, and on the body of the demoniac, and conjure the demon never to return. The evil spirit answers: ' I'll never return You need not 'take tile trouble of pasting all these charms upon the doors and windows.

"Exorcists are specially hated by the evil spirits. Sometimes they feel themselves beaten fearfully; but no hand is seen. Bricks and stones may fall on them from the sky or housetops. On the road they may without any warning be plastered over from head to foot with mud or filth, or may be seized when approaching a river. and held under the water and drowned."

In his Social Life among She Chinese, Dr. Doolittle says:

"They have invented several ways by which they find out the pleasure of gods and spirits. One of the most common of their utensils is the Ka-pue, a piece of bamboo root, bean-shaped, and divided in the centre, to indicate the, positive and the. negative. The incense lighted, the Ka-pue properly manipulated before the symbol god, the pieces are tossed from the medium's hand, indicating the will of the spirit by the way they fall."

The following manifestation is mental rather than physical:-

"The professional takes in the hand a stick of lighted incense to expel all defiling influences; prayers of some sort are repeated, the fingers interlaced, and the medium's eyes are shut, giving unmistakable evidence of being possessed by some supernatural or spiritual power. The body sways back and forward; the incense falls, and the person begins to step about, assuming the walk and peculiar attitude of the spirit. This is considered as infallible proof that the divinity has entered the' body of the medium. Some-times the god, using the mouth of the medium, gives the supplicant a sound scolding for invoking his aid to obtain unlawful ,or unworthy ends.

"Divination," writes Sir John Burrows, "with many strange' methods of summoning the dead to instruct the living and reveal the future, is of very ancient origin, as is proved by Chinese manuscripts antedating the revelations of the Jewish Scriptures."

An ancient Chinese book called Poh-shi-ching-tsung, consisting of six volumes on the "Source of True Divination,' contains the following preface:

"The secret of augury consists in the study of the mysteries and in communications with gods and demons. The interpretations of the transformations are deep and mysterious. The theory of the science is most intricate, the practice of it most important. The sacred classic says: 'That which is true gives indications of the future.' To know the condition, of the dead, and hold with them intelligent intercourse, as did the ancients, produces a most salutary influence upon the parties But when from intoxication or feasting, or licentious pleasures, they proceed to invoke the gods, what infatuation to suppose that their prayers will move them Often when no response is given. 'or the interpretation is not verified, they lay the blame at the door of the augur, forgetting that their failure is due to their want of sincerity. ., . . It is the great fault of augurs, too, that, from a desire of gain, they use the art of divination as a trap to ensnare' the people."

Peebles adds; "Naturally undemonstrative and secretive, the higher classes of Chinese seek to conceal their full knowledge of spirit intercourse from foreigners, and from the inferior castes of their own countrymen. thinking them not sufficiently. intelligent to rightly use it. The lower orders, superstitious and money-grasping, often prostitute their magic gifts to gain and fortune-telling. These clairvoyant fortune-tellers, surpassing wandering gypsies in 'hitting' the past, infest the temples, streets and toad-sides, promising to find lost property, discover precious metals and reveal the hidden future."

Ghosts.-The Chinese are strong in' the belief that they are surrounded by the spirits of the dead. Indeed ancestor-worship constitutes a powerful feature in the national faith, but as it deals with religion it does not come within the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that the Celestial has ever before him the likelihood and 'desirability of communion with the dead. On the death of a person they make a hole in the roof to permit the soul to 'effect its escape from the house. When a child is at the point of death, its mother will go into the garden and call its name, hoping thereby to bring back its wandering spirit.

"With the Chinese the souls of suicides are specially obnoxious, and they consider that the very worst penalty that can befall a soul is the sight of its former surroundings. This, it is supposed that, in the case of the wicked man, 'they only see their homes as if they were near them: they see their last wishes disregarded, everything upside down, their substance squandered, strangers possess the old estate; in their misery the dead man's family curse him, his children become corrupt, land is gone, the wife sees her husband tortured, the husband sees his wife' stricken down with mortal disease; even friends forget, but some, perhaps, for the sake of bygone times, may stroke the coffin and let fall a tear, departing with a cold smile.'"

"In China, the ghosts which are animated by a, sense of duty are frequently ,seen: at one time' they seek to serve virtue in distress, and at another they aim to restore wrongfully held" treasure. Indeed, as it has been observed, one of the most powerful as well as the most widely diffused of the people's ghost stories is that which treats of the persecuted child whose mother comes out of' the grave to succour him."'

"The Chinese have a dread of the wandering spirits of persons who have come to an unfortunate end. At Canton, 1817, the wife of an officer of Government had occasioned the death of two female domestic slaves, from some jealous suspicion it was supposed of her husband's conduct towards the girls; and, in order to screen herself from the consequences, she suspended the bodies by the neck, with a view to its being construed into an act of suicide. But the conscious of the woman tormented her to such a degree that she became insane, and at times personated the victims of her cruelty, or, as the Chinese supposed. the spirits of the murdered girls possessed her, and utilised her mouth to declare her own guilt. In her ravings she tore her clothes and beat her own person with all the fury of madness; after which she would recover her senses for a time, when it was supposed the demons quitted her, but only to return with greater frenzy, which took place a short time previous to her death. According to Mr. Dennys, the most common forms of Chinese ghost story is that wherein the ghost seeks to bring to justice the murderer who shuffled off its mortal coil."

Poltergeists (q.v.) are not uncommon in China, and several cases of their occurrence have been recorded by the Jesuit missionaries of the eighteenth century in Cochin China. Mr. Dennys in his Folklore of China, mentions a case in which a Chinaman was forced to take refuge in a temple by the usual phenomena - throwing about of crockery, etc., after the decease of a monkey.

Secret Societies. For an account of secret societies in China, See Thion-ti-Hwlr and Triad Society.

It has sometimes been claimed that the systems of Confucius and Lao-Tze are magical or kabalistic, but such claims have been advanced by persons who did not appreciate their proper status as philosophic systems. (See Y-Kin, Book of.)

Symbolism. There are numerous mysteries of meaning in the strange symbols, characters, personages. birds, beasts, etc. which adorn all species of Chinese art objects. For example a rectangular Chinese vase is feminine representing the creative or ultimate principle. A group of seemingly miscellaneous art objects, depicted perhaps upon a brush tray, are probably the po-ku, or 'hundred antiques,' emblematic of culture and implying a delicate compliment to the recipient of the tray. Birds and animals occur with frequency on Chinese porcelains, and, if one will observe closely, it is a somewhat select menagerie, in which certain types are emphasised by repetition. For instance, the dragon. is so familiar as to be no longer remarked, and yet his' significance is perhaps not fully understood by all. There are, in fact, three kinds of dragons, the lung of the sky, the Ii of the sea, and the kiau. of the marshes. The lung is the favourite kind, however, and may be known when met by his having' the head of a camel, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, ears of a cow, neck of a snake, belly of a frog, scales of a carp, claws of a hawk, and palm of a tiger.' His special office is to 'guard and support the mansions of the gods, and he is naturally the peculiar symbol of the Emperor,. or Son of Heaven.

A less familiar beast is the chi-lin, which resembles in part a rhinoceros, but has head, feet, and legs like ,a deer, and a tufted tail. In spite of his unprepossessing appearance he is of a benevolent disposition, and his image on a vase or other ornament is an emblem of good government and length of days. A strange bird, having the head of a pheasant, a long flexible neck and a plumed tail, may often be seen flying in the midst of scroll-like clouds, or walking in a grove of treepeonies. This is the fengbuang, the Chinese phoenix, emblem of immortality and appearing to mortals only as a presage of the auspicious reign of a virtuous Emperor. The tortoise (kuei), which bears upon its back the seagirt abode of the Eight Immortals, is a third supernatural creature associated with strength, longevity, and (because of the markings on its back) with a mystic plan of numerals which is a key to the philosophy of the unseen.

Colours have their significance, blue being the colour of the heavens, yellow of the earth and the Emperor, red of the sun, white of Jupiter or the Year Star, while each dynasty had its own particular hue, that of' the Chou dynasty being described as 'blue of the sky after rain where it appears between the clouds.'

One could go on indefinitely 'reading' the meaning of the seemingly' fantastic creations of the Chinese artist-devotee, but enough has been said to show that the strange beings, the conventional arrangements, the apparently haphazard conjunction of objective in his decorative schemes are far from being matter of chance, but add to their decorative properties the intellectual charm of significance.

Chirothesy, Diepenbroek's Treatise on : (See Healing by Touch.)

Chips of Gallows : Chips from a gallows and, places' of execution are said to make efficacious amulets against ague.

Chiton : An evil spirit. (See Burma.)

Chochurah : The name under which the Jewish Kabalists designate Wisdom.

Chov-hani : The Gypsy name for a witch.

Chrisoletus : Is stone, which if bound round with gold and carried in the left hand drives away night-hags and preserves from melancholy, illusions and witches. Its virtue is the greater if. a hole be made in it, and the hairs of an ass passed through

Christian Circle, The : (See Spain.)

Chrysolite : A stone preventive of fever and madness, which also disposes to repentance. If set in gold, it is a preservative against nocturnal terrors.

Chrysoprase : A stone good for weakness of sight, and for rendering its possessor joyful and liberal: its colour is green and gold.

Churchyard : It is not difficult to understand how the churchyard has come to be regarded as the special haunt of ghosts. The popular imagination may well be excused for supposing that the spirits of the dead continue to hover over the spot where their bodies are laid. The ancient Greeks thought that the souls of the dead were especially powerful near their graves or sepulchres, because of some natural tie binding soul and body, even after death. The more gross and earthly' a soul was, the less willing was it to leave the vicinity of its body, and in consequence. spectres encountered in a churchyard were more to be feared than those met with elsewhere. The apparitions witnessed at the tombs of saints, however, were to be regarded rather as. good angels than the souls of the saints themselves.

Chymical Nuptials of Christian Rosenkreutz : (See Rosicrucians.)

Circe : (See Greece.)

Circles, Spiritualistic : A group of persons who meet at intervals for the purpose of holding seances for spirit communication. It is essential that at least one among them be a medium; occasionally there are several mediums in one circle. But indeed ail the members of a circle must be chosen with care, if the seances are to be productive of phenomena. The Baron de Guldenstubbe, in his Practical Experimental Pheumatology, or the Reality of Spirits and the Marvellous Phenomenon of their Direct Writing, published early in the history of the movement, gives directions for the forming of a circle after the American fashion.

"Setting aside the moral conditions," he says, "which are equally requisite it is known that American Circles are based on the distinction of positive and 'electric or negative magnetic currents.

"The circles consist of twelve persons, representing in equal proportions 'the positive and negative or sensitive elements. This distinction does not follow the sex of the members, though generally women are negative and sensitive, while men are positive and. magnetic. The mental and physical constitution of each individual must be studied before forming the circles, for some delicate women have masculine qualities, while some "strong men are, morally speaking, women. A table is placed in a clear and ventilated spot; the medium is seated at one end and entirely isolated; by his calm and contemplative quietude he serves as a conductor for the electricity and it may be noted that a good somnambulist is usually an excellent medium. The six electrical or negative dispositions, which are generally recognised by their emotional qualities and their sensibility, are placed at the right of the medium, the most sensitive of all being next to him. The same rule is followed with the positive personalities, who are at the left of the medium, with' the most positive among them next to him. In order to form a chain, the twelve person each ,place their right hand on the table, and their left hand on that of the neighbour, thus making a circle round the table. Observe that the medium or mediums, if there be more than one, are entirely isolated from those who form the chain."

The formation of a circle is accomplished on similar lines at the present day. M. Camille Flammarion states that the alternation of the sexes is generally provided to "rein-force the fluids." That the seance may be as productive when the circle is composed of a few investigators, following no rules, but their own, has been abundantly proved in recent years. The one indispensable feature is the medium.

Clairaudience ("'Clear Hearing") : The ability to hear sounds inaudible to the normal ear, such as "spirit" voices; a faculty analogous to clairvoyance, (q.v.), but considerably less frequently met with. If clairaudience be ascribed to auditory, as clairvoyance to visual, hallucination, its comparative rareness is accounted for, since visual hallucination is the more common of the two. At the same time there are a goodly number of instances of the clairaudient faculty on record, some of them of a very picturesque nature. (See Spirit Music). Perhaps the best known case is that of Joan of Arc, but she was not the only martyr who heard the voices of saints and angels urging them to the performance of some special task. In spiritualistic circles the faculty is frequently claimed by mediums, but distinction must be made between the "inner voice," in which the latter are supposed to receive communications from the denizens of the other world, and an externalised voice comparable to an actual physical sound. Frequently some such physical sounds form the basis of an auditory hallucination, just as the points of light in a crystal are said to form points de repere round which the hallucination of the visualiser may shape itself.

Clairvoyance ( i.e. , "clear vision") : A term denoting the supposed supernormal faculty of seeing persons and events which are distant in time or place, and of which no knowledge can reach the seer through the normal sense-channels. Clairvoyance may be roughly divided into three classes-retrocognition and premonition, or the perception of past and future events respectively, and the perception of contemporary events happening at a distance, or outside the range of the normal vision. Clairvoyance may include psychometry, second sight, and crystal-gazing, all of which see. For the early history of clairvoyance, see Divination. In prophecy, we have a form of clairvoyance extending back into antiquity, and second-sight also is an ancient form. It is notable that spiritualism in Great Britain was directly heralded, about the third decade of the nineteenth century, by an outbreak of clairvoyance. Among the clairvoyants of that period may be mentioned Alexis Didier (q.v.), whose phenomena suggested that telepathy at least entered into his feats, which included the reading of letters enclosed in sealed packets, the playing of ecarte. with bandaged eyes, and others of a like nature. Clairvoyance remains to the present day a prominent feature of the spiritualistic seance. Though there exists a quantity of evidence, collected by the members of the Society for Psychical Research and other scientific investigators, which would seem to support the theory of a supernormal vision, yet at the same time it must be acknowledged that many cases of clairvoyance lend themselves to a more mundane explanation. For instance, it has been shown that it is almost, if not quite, impossible so to bandage the eyes of the medium that he cannot make some use of his. normal vision. The possibility of hyperaesthesia during trance must also be taken into account, nor must we overlook the hypothetical factor of telepathy, which may conceivably play a part in clairvoyant performances. A private enquiry agency might also be suggested as a possible source of some of the knowledge displayed by the professional clairvoyant. The crystal is, as has been indicated, a favourite mode of exercising the clairvoyant faculty, presumably because the hypnotic state is favourable to the development of the supernormal vision, though it might also be suggested that the condition thus induced favoured the rising into the upper consciousness of knowledge' sub-consciously gleaned. The term clairvoyance is also used to cover the power to see discarnate spirits, and is thus applied to mediumship generally.

Clan Morna : In Irish romance one of the divisions of the Fianna, whose treasure bag containing magic weapons and precious jewels of the Danaan age was kept by Fia of that clan.

Clavel : Author of Histoire Pittoresque de 1a Francmazonnerie. He hints in it that when Freemasonry .in Austria was suppressed by Charles VI., the Order of Mopses was established in its place.

Cledonism, or in full, Cledonismantia : is the good or evil presage of certain words uttered without premeditation when persons come together in any way. It also regulated the words to be used on particular occasions. Cicero says the Pythagoreans were very attentive to these presages; and according to Pausanius, it was a favourite method of divination at Smyrna, where the oracles of Apollo were thus interpreted..

Cleromancy : was practised by throwing black and white beans, little bones or dice, and perhaps, stones; anything,. in short, suitable for lots. A method of practising cleromancy in the streets of Egypt is mentioned under the head of Sortilege, and the same thing was common in Rome. The Thriaean lots, named before, meant indifferently the same thing as cleromancy; it was nothing more than dicing, only that the objects used bore particular marks or characters, ,and were consecrated to Mercury, who was regarded as the patron of this method of divination. For this reason an olive leaf, called" the lot of Mercury," was generally put in the urn in order to propitiate his favour.

Clidomancy : could be exercised when the sun or moon is in Virgo. the name should be written upon a key the key should be tied' to a Bible, and both should be hung upon the nail of the ring-finger of a virgin, who must thrice softly repeat certain words. According as the key and book turns or is stationary, the name is to be considered right or wrong. Some ancients added the seven Psalms with litanies and sacred prayers, and then more fearful effects were produced upon the guilty; for not only the key and the book turned, but either the impression of the key was found upon him, or he lost an eye. Another .method of practising with the Bible and key, is to place the street door key on the fiftieth-psalm, close the volume and fasten it very tightly with the garter of a female; it is then suspended to a nail and will turn when the name of the thief is mentioned. By a third method, two persons suspend the Bible between them; holding the ring of the key by their two forefingers.

Clothes, Phantom : (See Phantom Dress.)

Cloven Foot : There is an old belief, buttressed by countless tales of apparitions, that the Devil always appears with a cloven foot, as a sort of distinguishing mark. It has been suggested that the Evil One, having fallen lower than any man, is not permitted to take the perfect human form, but must have some sort of deformity, i.e., the cloven foot.

Cock : The cock has always been connected with. magical practice in the various parts of the world throughout the ages, and is to be considered in more than one light in this connection. He is the herald of the dawn, and many examples might be cited of assemblies of demons and sorcerers where his shrill cry, announcing dayspring, has put the infernal Sabbath to rout. It is said that for the purpose of averting such a contingency, sorcerers were wont to smear the head and breast of the cock with olive oil, or else to place around his neck a collar of vine-branches. In many cases the future was divined through the instrumentality of this bird. (See Alectryomancy). It was also believed that in the stomach of the cock was found a stone, called Lappilus Alectorius, from the Greek name of the bird, the virtue of which was to give strength and courage, and which is said to have inspired the gigantic might of Milo of Crotona.

Originally a native of India, the cock arrived in Europe in early times, via. Persia, where we find him alluded to in the Zoroastrian books as the beadle of Sraosa, the sun, and affrighter of demons. Among the Arabs, it is said that he crows when 'he becomes aware of the presence of jinns. The Jews received their conception of the cock as a scarer of evil spirits from the Persians, as did the Armenians, who say that he greets with his clarion call the guardian angels, who descend to earth. with the day, and that he gives' the key-note to the angelic choirs of heaven to commence their daily round of song. In India, too, and among the Pagan Slavs, he was supposed to scare away demons from dwelling

places, and was often the first living creature introduced into a newly-built house. The Jews, however, believe that it is possible for the cock to become the victim of demons, and they say that if he upsets a dish he should be killed. The cock is often used directly in magical practice. Thus, in Scotland, he is buried under the patients' bed in cases of epilepsy. The Germans believed that if a sorcerer throws a black cock into the air, thunder and lightning will follow, and among the Chams of Cambodia, a woman who wishes to become a sorceress, sacrifices a live cock on a termite's nest, cutting the bird in two from the head to the tail, and placing it on an altar, in front of which she dances and sings, until the two halves of the bird come together again, and it comes to life and crows. His name was often pronounced by the Greeks as a cure for the diseases of animals, and it was said by the Romans that locked doors could be opened with his tail feathers. The bird was often pictured on amulets in early times, and figured as the symbol of Abraxas, the principal deity of a Gnostic sect.

The cock is often regarded as the guide of souls to the underworld, and in this respect was associated by the Greeks with Persephone and Hermes, 'and the Slavs of pagan times often sacrificed cocks to the dead, and 'to the household 'serpents in which they believed their ancestors to be reincarnated. Conversely, the cock was sometimes pictured as having an infernal connection, especially if his colour be black. Indeed he is often employed in black magic, perhaps the earliest instance of this being in the Atharia Veda. A black cock is offered up to propitiate the Devil in Hungary, and a black hen was used or the same purpose in Germany. The Greek syrens, the Shedim of the Talmud, and the Izpuzteque, whom the dead Aztec encounters on the road to Mictlan, the Place of the Dead, all have cock's feet. There is a widespread folk-belief that once in seven years the cock lays a little egg. In Germany it is necessary to throw this over the roof, or tempests will wreck the homestead, but should the egg be hatched, it will produce a cockatrice or basilisk. In Lithuania they put the cock's egg in a pot, and place it in the oven. From this egg is hatched a Kauks a bird with a tail like that of a golden pheasant, which, if properly tended, will bring its owner great good luck. Gross mentions in a chronicle of Bile, in Switzerland, that in the month of August, 1474, a cock of that town was accused and convicted of laying an egg. and was condemned to death. He was publicly burned along with his egg, at a place called Kablenberg, in sight of a great multitude of people.

The cock was also regarded as having a connection with light and with the sun, probably because of the redness of his comb, and the fiery sheen of his plumage, or perhaps because he heralds the day. It is the cock who daily wakens the heroes in the Scandinavian Asgard. (See Alectromancy.)

Cock Lane Ghost : The supposed cause of a mysterious out-break of rappings, apparitions, and similar manifestations which broke out at a house in Cock Lane, Smithfield, London, in 1762. The disturbance was of the usual character of poltergeist hauntings, but for some reason or other it attracted wide-spread attention in London. Crowds flocked to the haunted spot, and claimed to have witnessed the manifestations. The ghost purported to be the spirit of a former resident in the Cock Lane house, a Mrs. Kent, and stated that she had been murdered by her husband. The tenant of the house at the time of the disturbance was a man named Parsons, and it was more than surmised that he had invented the ghost for the purpose of blackmailing the deceased's woman's husband. The disturbance was finally traced to Parson's daughter, a girl of eleven, and Parsons himself was prosecuted and pilloried. (See Andrew Lang's Cock Lane and Common Sense, (1894).

Coffin Nails : In Devonshire it is said that a ring made from three nails or screws that have been used to fasten a coffin, and dug up in a churchyard, will act as a charm against convulsions and fits of every kind.

Coffin, Waiter : (See Psychological Society).

Coleman, Benjamin : (See British National Association of Spiritualists.)

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor : English author and mystic (1772-1834). Samuel Taylor Coleridge, one of the greatest of English poets and critics, was born in the year 1772 at Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, his father being John Cole-ridge, a clergyman and schoolmaster, who enjoyed considerable reputation as a theological scholar, and was author of a Latin grammar. Samuel's childhood was mostly spent at the native village, and from the first his parents observed that his was no ordinary temperament, for he showed a marked aversion to games. he even eschewed the company of other children, and instead gave his time chiefly to promiscuous reading. At six years of age," he writes in one of his letters to his friend, Thomas Poole, I remember to have read Belisarius, Robinson Crusoe, and Philip Quarll, and then I found the Arabian Nights Entertainments," while in this same letter he tells how the boys around him despised him for his eccentricity, the result being that he soon became a confirmed dreamer, finding in the kingdom of his mind a welcome haven of refuge from the scorn thus levelled at him.

By the time be was nine years old, Coleridge had shown a marked predilection for mysticism, in consequence where of his father decided to make him a clergyman; and in 1782 the boy left home to go to Christ's Hospital, London, Here he found among his fellow pupils at least one who shared his literary tastes, Charles Lamb, and a warm friendship quickly sprang up between the two; while a little later Coleridge conceived an affection for a young girl called Mary Evans, but the progress of the love affair was soon arrested, the poet leaving London In 1790 to go to Cambridge. Beginning his university career as a sizar at Jesus College, he soon became known as a brilliant conversationalist, yet he made enemies by his extreme views on politics and religion, and in 1793, finding himself in various difficulties, he went back to London where he enlisted in the 15th Dragoons. Bought out soon afterwards by his relations, he returned to Cambridge, and in 1794, he published his drama, The Fall of Robespierre, while in the following year he was married to Sarah Fricker, and in 1796 he issued a volume of Poems. He now began to preach occasionally in Unitarian chapels, while in 1797 he met Wordsworth, with whom he speedily became intimate, and whom he joined in publishing Lyrical Ballads, this containing some of Coleridge's finest things, notably The Ancient Mariner. Nor was this the only masterpiece he wrote at this time, for scarcely was it finished, ere he composed two other poems of like worth, Christabel and Kubla Khan; while in 1798 he was appointed Unitarian minister at Shrewsbury, and after holding this post for a little while, he went to travel in Germany, the requisite funds having been given him by Josiah and Thomas Wedgwood, both of whom were keen admirers of Coleridge's philosophical powers, and were of opinion that study on the continent would be of material service to him.

Among Coleridge's first acts on returning from Germany was to publish his translation of Schiller's Wallenstein, while simultaneously he took a cottage at Keswick, intending to live there quietly for many years. But peace and quiet are benefits usually sought in vain by poets, and Coleridge was no exception herein, for early in life he had begun to take occasional doses of laudanum, and now this practice developed into a habit which ruled his whole life. In 1804 he sought relief by going to Malta, while afterwards' he visited Rome, and though, on returning to England, he was cheered by finding that a small annuity had been left him by the Wedgwoods, he was quite incapable of shaking off this deadly drug habit. As yet, however, it had not begun to vitiate his gifts altogether; and, after staying for awhile with Wordsworth at Grasmere, he delivered a series of lectures on poetry at Bristol and subsequently in London. Especially in the Metropolis his genius was quickly recognised. and he was made a pensioner of the Society of Literature, this enabling him to take a small house at Highgate, and there he mainly spent his declining years, while it was in Highgate Cemetery that his remains were interred after his death in 1834.

Everything from Coleridge's hand is penetrated by a wealth of thought. Apart from his purely metaphysical works, of which the most notable are Aids to Reflection and Confessions of an Enquiring Spirit, his Biographia Literaria and other fine contributions to critical literature are all of a mystical temper; for Coleridge -more,. perhaps, than any other critics, not even excepting Goethe and Walter Pater-is never content with handling the surface of things, but always reflects a striving to understand and lay bare the mysterious point where artistic creation begins. For him, literature is a form of life, one of the most mysterious forms of life, and while he is supremely quick at noticing purely aesthetic merit, and equally quick at marking defect, it is really the philosophical element in his criticism which gives it its transcendant value and interest.

Coleridge's metaphysical predilections are not more salient in his prose than in his verse, In a singularly beautiful poem, To the Evening Star, he tells that he gazes thereon,

"Till I, myself, all spirit seem to grow."

And in most of his poems, indeed, he is "all spirit," while often he hypnotises the reader into feeling something of the author"' spirituality. Here and there, no doubt, he attempt to express in words things too deep and mysterious to be resolved into that sadly limited mode of utterance, the result being a baffling and even exasperating obscurity; but waiving altogether Coleridge's metaphysical poems, may it not be said justly that he introduced the occult into verse with a mastery wholly unsurpassed in English literature? May it not be said that The Ancient Mariner, and more especially Christabel, are the most beautiful of all poems in which the supernatural plays an important part?

Coley, Henry : (See Astrology.)

College of Teutonic Philosophers, R. C : (See Michael Maer).

Collagia : Roman craftsmen's society. (See Freemasonry).

Colloquy of the Ancients : A collection of Ossianic legends, made into one about the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries. It relates how the Fian heroes, Keelta and Oisin, each with eight warriors, met to talk over the glorious past for the last time. Then Oisin returns to the Fairy Mound of his mother, and Keelta meets with St. Patrick and his monks at Drumdreg. Keelta tells the saint many tales, interspersed with lyrics, with which he is delighted, and he eventually baptises Keelta and his warriors and grants them absolution.

Commentary on the Ancient War of the Knights : (See Alchemy.)

Community of Sensation : The term. applied by the early mesmerists to a phenomenon of the hypnotic' trance, wherein the somnambule seemed to share the sensations of the operator. Thus an hypnotic subject, insensible to pain and utterly indifferent to any stimulus applied to his own organism, would immediately respond to such stimuli applied to the hypnotist. If the latter had his nose tweaked or his hair pulled, the entranced subject, though in a separate apartment, would rub the corresponding part of his own person. with every sign of pain and indignation. The most common sensations shared in this wise were those of tasting and smelling. but apparent community of sight and even hearing were not unknown. In the. days of Reichenbach such experiences were largely attributed to fraud, but they have since been proved to be genuine trance phenomena, probably arising from unconscious suggestion and hyperaesthesia, or, in the few cases where that hypothesis will not cover the ground, telepathic communication between operator and subject. Community of Sensation is not, however. confined to the trance -condition. Many instances of community of sensation arising spontaneously in the cases of persons in rapport with one another are to be found in the Journal and Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.

Compacts with the Devil : An anonymous writer has handed down to us the agreement entered into between Louis Gaufridi and the devil:-

"I, Louis, a priest, renounce each and every one of the spiritual and corporal gifts which may accrue to me from God, from the Virgin, and from all the saints, and especially from my patron John the Baptist, and the apostles Peter and Paul and St. Francis. And to you, Lucifer, now before me, I give myself and all the good I may accomplish, except the returns from the sacrament in the cases where I may administer it; all of which I sign and attest."

On his side Lucifer made the following agreement with Louis Gaufridi:

"I, Lucifer, bind myself to give you, Louis Gaufridi, priest, 'the faculty and power of bewitching by blowing with the mouth, all and any of the women and -girls you may desire; in proof of which I sign myself Lucifer."

Bodin gives the following: "Magdalen of the Cross, native of Cordova in Spain and abbess of a convent, finding that she was suspected by the nuns and fearing that she would be burnt if charged, desired to anticipate them, and obtain the pardon of the pope' by confessing that from the age of twelve years, a bad spirit in the form of a black Moor had desired her chastity, and that she had given in, and this had gone on for thirty years or more, she usually sleeping with him. Through his means while in the church, she was raised up. and when the nuns took the Sacrament after the consecration, the host came even to her in the. air, in the sight of the other nuns who regarded it as sacred and the priest also, who used-to complain at that time of a host."

According to Don Calmet there is to be seen at Molsheim in the chapel of St. Ignatius in the church of the Jesuit fathers a well-known inscription giving the history of a young German nobleman named Michel Louis, of the family of Boubenhoren, who was sent when quite young to the court. of the Duke of Lorraine to learn French and there lost all his money at cards. Reduced to despair he decided. to give himself up to the devil if that spirit of evil could or would give him good money. for he was afraid that he would be able to supply him only with counterfeit. While thinking this over a young man his own age, well-built and well-clothed, suddenly appeared before him and asking him the cause of his distress, put out his hand full of money and invited him to prove its worth, telling him to look him up again. on the morrow. Michel- returned' to his companions who were still playing, won back all he had lost and all that of his companions. Then he called on his devil who asked in return three drops of. blood which he collected in an acorn shell, and offering a pen to Michel told him to write to his dictation. This consisted of unknown words, which were taken down

Compacts on two different notes, one of which the devil retained, and the other was put into the arm of Michel in the same places from which the blood had been taken. The devil then said: " I undertake to serve you for seven years, after which you belong to me without reserve." The young man agreed, though with some dread, and the devil did not fail to appear to him, day and night in various forms, inspiring him to things varied, unknown and curious and always with a tendency of evil. The fatal period of seven years was drawing to a end, and the young man was then about twenty years of age. He went home to his father, where the devil to whom he had given himself inspired him to poison his father and mother, burn the castle and kill himself. He tried to carry out all these crimes, but God prevented their success -the gun with which he would have' killed himself missed fire twice, and the poison failed to act on his parents. Getting more and more uneasy he confided the unhappy condition he was in to some of his father's servants and begged them to. get help. At the same time the devil seized him, twisting his body around and stopping very short of breaking his bones. His mother, who followed the teachings of Svenfeld and had enlisted her son in them, .finding no help in her cult against the demon who possessed or obsessed him, was forced to put him in the care of some monks. But he soon left them and escaped to Islade whence lie was sent back to Molsheim by his brother, canon of Wissbourg, who put him again into the hands of the Fathers of the Society. It was then that the demon made the most violent efforts against him, appearing to him in the form of wild animals. One day among others the demon, in the form of a man, wild and covered with hair, threw on the ground a note or contract different from the true one which he had got from the young man, so as to try by this. false show to get him out of' the hands of those who were looking after him and to prevent his making a full confession. Finally the 20th October, 1603,. was set aside for proof in the Chapel of St. Ignatius, and for the reproduction of the true contract containing the deal made with' the demon. The young man made profession of the orthodox catholic faith, renounced the demon and received the holy Eucharist Then with terrible cries he said that he saw two goats of immense size standing with their fore feet in the air and each holding between its hoofs one of the contracts or compacts. But when the exorcism was begun and the name of St. Ignace was invoked the two goats disappeared and there issued from the arm or left hand of the young man practically without pain and leaving no scar, the contract, which fell at the feet of the exorcist. There still remained. the contract which had been retained by the demon. The exorcisms were begun again, St. Ignatius was invoked and a mass was promised in his honour, when a stork appeared, large, deformed and ill-shapen, and dropped from its beak the second contract, which was found on the altar."

There is frequent mention among the ancients of certain demons who show themselves, especially towards midday, to those with whom they are on familiar terms. They visit such persons in the form of men or animals or allow themselves to be enclosed in a letter, account or' phial or even in a ring, wide and hollow within. "Magicians are known," adds Leloyer, "who make use of them, and to my great regret I am forced to admit that the practice is only too common."

Housdorf in his' Theatre des examples du se commandement," quoted by Goulart, says: "A doctor of medicine forgot himself so far as to form an alliance with the enemy of our salvation whom he called up and enclosed in a glass from which the seducer and familiar spirit answered him. The doctor was fortunate in the cure of ailments, and amassed great wealth in his practice, so much so that he left his children' the sum of 78,000 francs. Shortly before, his death, when his conscience began to prick him, he fell into such a frenzy that lie never spoke but to invoke the devil or blaspheme the Holy Ghost and it was in this unfortunate condition that he passed away."

Goulart repeats, from Alexander of Alexandria, the story of a prisoner who had, invoked the- help of the devil and had visited the lower regions:-

"The overlord of a small town in the principality of Sulmona and Kingdom of Naples, proved very miserly and arrogant in his rule, so much so that his subjects were too poor to live beside his harsh 'treatment of them. One of them, honest, but poor and despised, gave a sound beating for some reason to a hunting dog of this overlord, and the death of the. dog angered the latter so much that he had the poor man seized and shut .up in a dungeon. After some days the warders, who kept the gates carefully locked went to open them as usual to give him a crust of bread, but he was not to be found in his cell. Having looked for him. everywhere, again and again, and finding no trace of him nor his method of escape, they at last reported this wonderful affair to their master, who first ridiculed, and then threatened them, ' but realising at length the truth of it, he was no less astonished than they. Three days after this alarming incident, and with all the doors of the prison and dungeon closed as before, this same prisoner, unbeknown to anyone, was found shut up in his own dungeon. He was much distracted, and asked to be taken without delay before the overlord as he had a matter of much importance to communicate. When taken there he .said that he had come back from the lower regions. His case was that, not being able to stand any longer the rigors of prison life, overcome with despair, fearing death and lacking any good advice, he had invoked the help of the devil that he might release him from his confinement. That soon after, the Evil One, in a terribly hideous form, had appeared in his dungeon where they made a bargain, after which he was dragged out, not without severe injury, and projected into subterranean passages, wonderfully hollowed out, like the bottom of the earth; there he had seen the dungeons of the wicked, their tortures and their miseries, dark and terrible. Kings,. princes and high lords were plunged into abysses of darkness where, with indescribable torture, they were seared with a raging fire. That he had seen popes, cardinals and other prelates, beautifully dressed, and other kinds of persons in varying garb, suffering' other anguish in gulfs of great depth, where the torture was incessant.. Proceeding, he said he had recognised some acquaintances and especially a former great friend of his who, recognising him in return, enquired as to his condition. The prisoner told him that their land was in the hands of a- cruel master, whereupon the other charged him to command this cruel master, on returning, to renounce his tyrannical ways, otherwise his place would be one of the neighbouring seats, which was shown to the prisoner. And (continued this shade) in order that the said overlord may have faith in your report recall to him the. secret counsel and talks we had together when engaged in a certain war, the chiefs in which he named, and then he gave in detail the secret, their agreement, the words and promises given on each side. The prisoner gave them all distinctly one by one in their order, and the lord was much astonished at the message,' wondering how things committed to himself and not revealed by him to anybody, could be so easily and so boldly unfolded to him by a poor subject of his who told them as if he had read them in a book. Further, the prisoner enquired of his friend in the lower regions, whether it could be true that all the .magnificently dressed persons that he saw were conscious of their torments. The other answered that they were seared with an eternal fire, overwhelmed with torture and indescribable anguish, and that all this scarlet and golden raiment was nought but the colouring of the glowing fire. Wishing to test this he drew near to touch this scarlet effect and the other begged him to go, but the fierceness of the fire had scorched the whole of the palm of his hand, which he showed all roasted and cooked as in the embers of a great fire. The poor prisoner being released, to those who met him on his way home he appeared stupid. He neither saw nor heard anything, was always deep in thought, spoke little and replied very shortly to the questions put to him. His face, too, had become so hideous, his appearance so will and ill-favoured that his wife and children had difficulty in recognising him again, and when they did it was only to weep and cry at this change in him. He lived but a few days after his return and so great was his distraction that he had great difficulty in looking after his affairs."

Crespet describes the mark with which Satan brands his own:-

"It may be assumed that it is no fallacy but very evident that Satan's mark on sorcerers is like leprosy, for the spot is insensitive to all punctures, and it is in the possession of such marks that one recognises them as true sorcerers for they feel the puncture no more than if they were leprous, nor does any blood appear, and never indeed, does any,, pain that may be inflicted cause them to move the part.

"They receive, with this badge, the power of injuring and of pleasing', and, secretly or openly. their children are made to participate in the oath and connection which the fathers have taken with the devil. Even the mothers with this in view, dedicate and consecrate their children to the demons, not only as soon as born but even when conceived, and so it happens that, through the ministrations of these demons, sorcerers have been seen with two pupils in each eye, while others had the picture of a horse in one eye and two pupils in the other, and such serve as marks and badges of contracts made with them, for these demons can engrave and render in effigy such or similar lines and features on the bodies of the very young embryo."

"These marks," says Jacques Fontaine, "are not engraved on the bodies of sorcerers by the demons for recognition purposes only, as the captains of companies of light-horse know those of their number by the colour of their coats, but to imitate the creator of all things, to show his power and the authority he has gained over those miserable beings who have allowed themselves to be caught by his cunning and trickery, and by the recognition of these marks of their master to keep them in his power. Further, to prevent them, as far as possible, from withdrawing from their promises and oaths of fidelity, because though breaking faith with him the marks still remain with them and serve, in an accusation, as a means of betraying them, with even the smallest amount of evidence that may be brought forward."

"Louis Gaufridy, a prisoner, who had just been condemned to be burnt as marked in more than thirty places over the body and on the loins especially there was a mark of lust so large and deep, considering the site, that a needle could be inserted for the width of three fingers across it without any feeling being shown by the puncture."

The same author shows that the marks on sorcerers are areas which have mortified' from the touch of the devil's finger.

"About 1591, Leonarde Chastenet, an old woman of eighty, was taken up as a sorceress while begging in Poitou. Brought before Mathurin Bonnevault, who deponed to having seen her at the meeting of witches, she confessed that she had been there with her husband, and that the devil, a very disgusting beast, was there in the form of a goat. She denied that she would have carried out any witchcraft, but nineteen witnesses testified to her having caused the death of five labourers and a number of animals.

"Finding her crimes discovered and herself condemned she confessed that she had made a compact with the devil, given him some of her hair, and promised to do all the harm she could. She added that at night in prison the devil had appeared to her, in the form of a cat, to which she expressed the wish to die, whereupon this devil presented her with two pieces of wax telling her to eat them and she would die, but she had been unwilling to do it. She had the pieces of wax with her, but on examination their composition could not be made out. She was then condemned and the pieces of wax burnt with her."

Compass Brothers : Between the years 1400 arid 1790, there existed at Lubeck a guild of this name, which met twice a year. Their badge was a compass and sector suspended from a crowned letter "C," over which was a radiated triangular plate. In 1485 they adopted chains composed of these emblems united by eagles' tails. They appear to have been a magical or Kabbalistic society.

Conan Mae Morna : A figure in the Ossianic cycle of Irish legend, described as scoffing and deriding all that was high and noble. One day while hunting, he and others of the Fians, entered a magnificent palace which they found empty and began to feast. It soon became apparent, however, that the palace was enchanted, and the walls 'shrank to the size of a fox's hole. Conan seemed to be unaware of the danger and continued to eat; but two of the Fians pulled him off his chair, to which some of his skin stuck. To soothe the pain a black sheep-skin was placed on his back, on to which it grew, and he wore it till he died.

Conary Mor : A legendary High King of Ireland. It is said that his great-grandfather destroyed the Fairy Mound of Bri-Leith, and thus brought down ill-fate upon Conary Mor. When a child he left his three foster-brothers on the Plains of Liffey, and followed a flock of beautiful birds down to the shore. These were transformed into armed men, who told him that they belonged to his father and were his kin. His geise (or taboo) was made known to him. and later he was proclaimed King of Erin. His reign was good, happy and prosperous, until the Danaan folk lured 'aim to the breaking of his geise. It is told how Conary, dying of thirst after battle, sent his warrior Mac Cecht to bring him water. Mac Cecht had much difficulty in obtaining this, and on his return found that Conary had been beheaded : the water, however, was raised to the mouth of the bodyless head-which, it is said, thanked Mac Cecht for his deed.

Conferentes : Gods of the ancients, spoken of by Arnobe, whom Leloyes identifies with incubi.

Conjuretors : Magicians who claim to have the power to evoke demons and tempests

Conte Del Graal : One of the " Quest " versions of the legend of the Holy Grail (q,v.) compiled by various authors. It tells how Perceval was reared to the life of a forester by his mother; but forsaking her he becomes a member of the Court of King Arthur. Thence he goes forth as a knight - errant, and his numerous adventures are recited. During these, he meets with certain mysteries, but returns to the court. The adventures of Gauvain, another of the knights are fully detailed. Perceval, himself, sets forth again, and wanders about for five years in a very godless state of mind. One Good Friday he meets with a band of pilgrims, who remonstrate with him for riding armed on a holy day ; and he turns aside to confess to a hermit who turns out to be his uncle. From him he learns that only the sinless can find the Grail, and that he has sinned in abandoning his mother, and thus causing her death. In a continuation of the legend by a different author, Perceval appears to continue his search, but apparently unsuccessfully; and finally, by yet another compiler we are told that Perceval after many adventures marries Blanchfleure. The nature and origin of the Grail are described in these continuations of the legend.

Control : A spiritualistic term, denoting the spirit who controls the physical organisation of a medium.-(See Spiritualism.)

Convulsionaries of St. Medard : During the first half of the eighteenth century there occurred in the cemetery of St. Medard, Paris, an extraordinary outbreak of convulsions and religious extasy, whose victims were the Jansenists, at that time suffering much persecution at the hands of the government and the church. The outbreak commenced with a few isolated cases of miraculous healing. One, Mlle. Morsaron, a paralytic, having for her confessor an enthusiastic Jansenist, was recommended by him to seek the tomb of St. Francis de Paris, in the cemetery of St. Medard. When she had repaired thither a few times she recovered her health. The news spread abroad, and other cures followed. Violent convulsions became a feature of the crisis which preceded these cures. At length the healing by Deacon Paris of a more than usually obstinate case, by a crisis of more than ordinary severity, was the signal for a violent outburst of epidemic frenzy. People of both sexes and all ages repaired to the tomb of the holy deacon, where the most appalling scenes were witnessed. People from the provinces helped to swell the ranks, till there was not a vacant foot of ground in the neighbourhood of St. Medard. At length, on January 27th, 1732, the cemetery was closed by order of the king. On its closed gate a wit inscribed the lines

De par le roi defense

Dieu De faire miracle en ce lieu.

However the king's ordinance did not put an end to the epidemic, which spread from Paris to many other towns. Ten years after its commencement-in 1741-it seemed to have died away, but in 1759 it burst out in Paris with renewed vigour, accompanied by scenes still more awful. In the following year it disappeared once more, though isolated examples persisted so late as 1787.

Cook, Florence : An English medium, the first to present the phenomenon of materialisation in its complete form. In the production of the crowning physical manifestation, she was associated at the Outset of her mediumistic career at the beginning of the decade 1870-80 - with the medium Herne, but ere long dispensed with his assistance. So that she might not be under the necessity of taking fees for her services, a wealthy Manchester spiritualist, Mr. Charles Blackburn, paid her a sum of money annually. She was thus practically a private medium, and for the most part, her seances were held in her own home. Her principal control was the now famous spirit Katie King. Mr.-now Sir William - Crookes, who investigated the phenomena produced in Miss Cook's presence, declared his conviction that Katie and the medium were two separate entities, and was satisfied of the supernormal nature of the former. Not all the sitters, however, were equally convinced. Many persons traced a resemblance in form and feature between medium and control, and it has been suggested that the apparent differences were achieved by a change in the mode of hair-dressing, by tip-toeing, and other mechanical means.

Coral (red) : It stops bleeding, preserves houses from thunder, and children from evil spirits, goblins, and sorceresses. It also strengthens digestion, and If taken in powder as soon as the child is born, preserves it from epilepsy.

Corbenic : A magic castle of the Arthurian legend. in which it is said the Holy Grail was kept. It was guarded by two lions. Lancelot tries to enter it by his own strength, in-instead of leaning on his Creator, and as a result is struck dumb by a fiery wind. In this state he remains for fourteen days without food or drink.

Cordovero : A famous Kabalist of the sixteenth century.

Cornwall : (See Sea Phantoms and Superstitions.)

Corpse Candles : Mysterious lights supposed to presage death. They are also called fetch-lights and dead men's candles.

Coscinomancy : is practised with a sieve, and a pair of tongs or shears, which are supported upon the thumb nails of two persons, who look one upon the other, or the nails of the middle finger maybe used. Potter, in his Greek Antiquities, says : " It was generally used to discover thieves, or others suspected of any crime, in this manner: they tied a thread to the sieve by which it was upheld, or else placed a pair of shears, which they held up by two fingers, then prayed to the gods to direct and assist them ; after that they repeated the names of the persons under suspicion, and he, at whose name the sieve whirled round or moved, was thought guilty." In the Athenian Oracle it is called " the trick of the sieve and scissors, the coskiomancy of the ancients, as old as Theocritus," he having mentioned in his third idyll, a woman who was very skilful in it. Saunders, in his Chiromancy, and Agrippa, at the end of his works, gives certain mystic words to be pronounced before the sieve will turn. It was used to discover love secrets as well as unknown persons. According to Grose, a chapter in the Bible is to be read, and the appeal made to St. Peter or St. Paul.

Costume, Phantom : (See Phantom Dress.)

Counter Charms : Charms employed to counteract the effect of other charms. When magicians wish to disenchant animals they sprinkle salt in a porringer with some blood from one of the bewitched creatures, and repeat certain formulae for nine days.

Counts of Hell : Demons of a superior order in the infernal hierarchy, who command numerous legions. They may be evoked at all hours of the day. provided the evocation takes place in a wild, unfrequented spot.

Courier de l'Europe : (See Cagliostro)

Cox, Sergeant : (See Psychological Society).

Cramp-Rings, Hallowing : A ceremony which took place in England on Good Friday. It consisted of the repetition of certain psalms and prayers, during which the king rubbed the rings between his hands. It was said that rings thus consecrated on Good Friday by the kings of England, had the power of curing cramp; and the rings, which were given away were much in request even by foreign ambassadors.

Critomancy : Divination by means of observing viands and cakes. The paste of cakes which are' offered in sacrifice, is closely examined, and from the flour which is spread upon them, omens are drawn.

Crollius, Oswald : A disciple of the school of Paracelsus, and author of the Book of Signatures -the preface to which contains a good sketch of hermetic philosophy. The writer seeks to demonstrate that God and Nature have, so to speak, signed all their works, that every product of a given natural force is as the sum of that force, printed in indelible characters, so that he who is initiated in the occult writings can read as in an open book the sympathies and antipathies of things, the properties of substances, and all other secrets of creation. " The characters of different writings," says Eliphas Levi, " were borrowed primitively from these natural signatures existing in stars and flowers, in mountains and the smallest pebble; the figures of crystals. the marks on minerals, were impressions of the thought which the Creator had in their creation.

. . . .But we lack any grammar of this mysterious language of worlds, and a mathematical vocabulary of this primitive and absolute speech. King Solomon alone is credited with having accomplished the dual labour, but the books of Solomon are lost. The enterprise of Crollius was not the reconstitution of these, but an attempt to discover the fundamental principles obtaining in the universal language of the creative world. It was recognised in these principles that the original hieroglyphics, based on the prime elements of geometry, corresponded to the constitutive and essential laws of forms, determined by alternating or combined movements, which, in their turn, were determined by equilibratory attractions. Simples were distinguished from composites by their external figures; and by the correspondence between figures and numbers it became possible to make a mathematical classification of all substances revealed by the lines of their services. At the root of these endeavours, which are reminiscences of Edenic science, there is a whole world of discoveries awaiting the sciences. Paracelsus had defined them, Crollius indicates them, another, who shall follow, will realise and provide the demonstration concerning them. What seemed the folly of yesterday will be the genius of to-morrow, and progress will hail the sublime seekers who first looked into this lost and recovered world, this Atlantis of human knowledge."

Crosland, Mrs. Newton : An early spiritualistic medium. Under the name of Camilla Toulmin, she published, in 1857, Light in the Valley, a record of her experiences. There is a trend of Swedenborgian mysticism in her writings. (See Spiritualism.)

Cross-Correspondences : Corespondences found in the script - of two or more automatic writers acting without collusion, and under such conditions that the possibility of communicating by normal means is removed. Since the beginning of the present century efforts have been made by members of the Society for Psychical Research to prove, by the production of script containing cross-correspondence. the existence of discarnate intelligences, - and their ability to operate through the physical organism of a medium. The first instances were of a spontaneous character, and occurred in 'the trance -utterances of Mrs. Thompson and those of another medium, Miss Rawson. Thereafter the idea was conceived of deliberately cultivating them, and several ladies-Mrs. Verrall, Mrs. Holland, and others-who had been successful in producing automatic script, sent it to the Society for Psychical Research, where the writings were found to show more numerous correspondences than mere coincidence would warrant, It --was arranged that experiments should be made under stricter-test conditions. Frequently the script of Mrs. Verral was of an allusive and enigmatical character, so that she herself was unable to interpret it until the key had been supplied by the writings of a second automatist. Sometimes three automatists succeeded in producing writings having a decided connection with each other, Two obscure -writings have been rendered intelligible by means of a third, perhaps in itself equally obscure. In at least one case correspondences occurred in the script of no less than six automatists, under somewhat curious circumstances. Mr. Piddington, a well known member of the Society for Psychical Research, had written a "test" letter, which he proposed should be opened after his death. The contents, which dealt emphatically with the 'number seven, he told to no one. On hearing, however, of the remarkable cross-correspondences- all dealing with the number seven-he opened his letter, four years after it was written, and supplied the clue. In 1906, Mrs. Piper was brought to this country so that the correspondences might be studied to better advantage. The experiments were successful to a surprising degree, and seemed to place beyond a doubt the operation in all the writings of an intelligence other than the automatist's. Mr. Podmore, however, would refer the phenomena of cross-correspondences, at least in part, to the operation of a complex form of telepathy-a possible, but in view of the facts, not very probable, explanation.

Crow : The cawing of a crow is an omen of evil.

Crow's Head : (See Philosopher's Stone.)

Crystal : Crystal prevails against unpleasant dreams, dissolves enchantments, and is a medium for magical visions. Being bruised with honey, it fills the breasts with milk. Leonardus appears to have indulged a little spite against this beautiful mineral. " The principal use of - crystal," he says, "is for making cups, rather than anything else that is good."

Crystalomancy, or Crystal Gazing : A mode of divination practised from very early times with the aid of a crystal globe, a pool of water, a mirror, or indeed any transparent object. Divinations by means' of-. water, ink, and such substances are also known by the name of hydromancy (q.v.). Crystal gazing may be a very simple or a very elaborate-performance, according to the period in which it was practised, but in every case the object is to induce in the clairvoyant a form of hypnosis, so that he may see visions in the crystal. The "crystal" most in favour among modern crystal gazers is a spherical or oval globe, about four inches in diameter, and preferably a genuine crystal; but as a crystal of - this size and shape is necessarily expensive, a sphere of glass is frequently substituted, and with very good results. It must, however, be a perfect sphere of oval, free from speck or flaw, highly polished, and contained in a stand of polished ebony, ivory, or boxwood. Among the Hindus, a cup of treacle or -a pool of ink is made to serve the same purpose. Precious stones' were much used by crystallomancers in the past, the favourite stone being the beryl in pale sea green or reddish tints. By the ancients crystallomancy was practised with a view to the invocation of spirits, and very elaborate preparations and ceremonials were considered necessary. He who would practise invocations in this wise must, in the first instance, be a man of pure life and religious disposition. For the few days immediately preceding the inspection of the crystal, he must make frequent ablutions, and subject himself to strict religious discipline, with prayer and fasting. The crystal, as well as the stand on which it rests, must be inscribed with sacred characters, - as must also the floor of the room in which the invocation is to take place. A quiet, retired spot is suggested -for the purpose, where the magician may be free from all disturbance. Besides these matters of solitude and- cleanliness, there is the question of the mental attitude to be considered, and this is no less important than the material preparations. A perfect faith is an essential condition of success. If the magician would be accompanied by one or two of his friends, they also must conform to the same rules and be guided by the same principles. The time of the invocation is chosen according to the position in the heavens of the various planets, all preparations having been made during the increase of the moon. All the instruments and accessories used in the performance the sword, rod and compasses, the fire and the perfume to be burned thereon, as well as the crystal itself-are consecrated or "charged" prior to the actual ceremony.

During the process of invocation, the magician faces the east and summons from the crystal the spirit he desires. Magic circles have previously been inscribed on the floor, and it is desirable that the crystallomancer remain within these for some little time after the spirit has been dismissed. It was essential that no part of the ceremonial be omitted, otherwise the invocation would be a failure. Paracelsus, however, and others declared that all such elaborate ceremonies were unnecessary, and that the magnes microcosmi, the magnetic principle in man, was in itself sufficient to achieve the desired object. At a later period, though the ceremonial was not abolished, it became decidedly less imposing. If the person on whose behalf the divination was to be performed was not himself gifted with the clairvoyant faculty, he sought, for a suitable medium, the best for the purpose being a young boy or girl, born in wedlock, and perfectly pure and innocent. Prayers and magical words were pronounced prior to the ceremony, and incense and perfumes were burned. Sometimes the child's forehead was anointed, and he himself provided with garments suitable to the impressive nature of the ceremony. Some writers mention a formula of prayers, known as the Call, which preceded the inspection of the crystal. Finally, the latter having been charged, it was handed over to the medium. The first indication of the clairvoyant vision was the appearance of a mist or cloud in the crystal. This gradually cleared away, and the vision made its appearance.

Modern Crystal gazing is carried on in much the same manner, though the preparations are simpler. 'The crystal is spherical and of the size of an orange; when in use it may be held between the agent's finger and thumb, or, if the end be slightly flattened, placed on a table; alternatively it may be held in the palm of the hand against a background of black cloth. The operation may be more readily carried out in a subdued light. A medium or clairvoyant person acts as the seer and if the divination be made for anyone else it is advisable that he be allowed to hold the crystal in his hand for a few minutes before it is passed into the hands of the clairvoyant. The object of crystal gazing is, as has been said, the induction of an hypnotic state giving rise to visionary hallucinations, the reflection of light in the crystal forming points de repere for such hallucinations. The value of elaborate ceremonials and impressive rituals thus lies in their potency to affect the mind and imagination of the seer. So far, the mystery of crystal vision is no mystery at all. But the remarkable frequency with which, according to reliable witnesses, visions seen in the crystal have tallied with events happening elsewhere at the same moment, or even with future events, is a fact for which science has not yet found an adequate explanation. It has been suggested that if telepathy operates with greater freedom during the hypnotic state, so it may be also with the self-induced hypnosis of crystal gazing. And this, though it cannot be said to cover the entire ground, is perhaps, on the whole, the best explanation yet offered. There are many well-attested cases wherein the crystal has been successfully used for the purpose of tracing criminals, or recovering lost or stolen property. The telepathic theory, however, will hardly apply to these instances wherein events have been witnessed in the crystal before their actual occurrence. Such mysteries as these must be left to the art of the psychical researcher to' unravel.

Crucifixion, Gnostic Conception of : As soon as ,Christ was born according to the Gnostic speculative view of Christianity, Christos, united himself with Sophia (Holy Wisdom). descended through the seven planetary regions, assuming in each an analogous form to the region, and concealing his true nature from its genii, whilst he attracted into himself the spark of Divine Light they severally retained in their angelic essence. Thus Christos, having passed through the seven Angelic Regions before the "Throne," entered into the man Jesus, at the moment of his baptism In the Jordan. From that time forth, being super' naturally gifted, Jesus began to work miracles. Before that, he had been completely ignorant of his mission. When on the cross, Christos and Sophia left his body, and returned to their own sphere. Upon his death, the two took the man "Jesus," and abandoned his material body to the earth: for the Gnostics held that the true Jesus did not (and could not) physically suffer on the cross, and die, and that Simon of Cyrene, who bore his cross, did in reality suffer in his room And they compelled one, Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross" (St. Mark XV. 21). The Gnostics contended that a, portion of the real history of the Crucifixion was never written.

At the resurrection Christos and Sophia gave the man Jesus another body, made up of ether (Rosicrucian Aetheroeum). Thence-forward he consisted of the two first Rosicrucian principles only, soul and spirit: which was the reason that the disciples did not recognise 'him after the resurrection. During his sojourn upon earth after he had risen, he received from Sophia, or Holy Wisdom, that perfect knowledge or illumination, that true "Gnosis," which he communicated to the small number of the Apostles who were capable of receiving the same.

Ciupipiltin : Vampires in ancient Mexico. (See Mexico and Central America.)

Cursed Bread : Used for purposes of divination, or ordeal by flour or bread. A piece of bread, about an ounce in weight, over which a spell had been cast, was administered to the suspected person. Should it cause sickness or choking the man was said to be guilty, but if he remained well he was regarded as innocent. Barley bread was often used for this form of divination, being more likely to cause choking. This method of trial was practised amongst Anglo-Saxons.

Curses : (See Spells.)

Cyamal : The head-chief of the Egbo Assembly, a secret council of Old Calabar.