science were supposed capable of extracting
teeth without pain. In the seventeenth century an astrologer in
France, who sold talismans and extracted teeth without pain, was
strangled in bed by a demon.

A woman, executed at Berne, stated she belonged to a sect who had
sworn eternal subjection to the devil, and that she knew how to
prepare a decoction which, when swallowed by any one, would convert
the novice into a witch equal in knowledge and power to the older
members of her fraternity.

Here is a case exhibiting the power of charmed ointment. In the year
1527 a band of one hundred and fifty sorcerers, says Llorente, greatly
disturbed Navarre. The sect held "Sabbath" orgies, where demons were
adored, and transformations of witches and wizards took place, after
anointing themselves with a compound made from the grease of
reptiles. One witch, on condition of receiving a pardon, agreed to
show the demoniacal operations gone through at the "Sabbath" meetings.
Provided with a box of witch ointment, she ascended a high tower,
accompanied by a commissioner of the royal council. In the sight of a
vast concourse of people, she applied the ointment to various parts of
her person. Having done this, she exclaimed in a loud voice, "Are you
there?" From the air a voice answered, "Yes, I am here." The woman
then descended the tower to its centre, crawling down the outside of
the wall on her hands and feet. Suddenly she flew away, and vanished
out of sight beyond the horizon. Her one hundred and forty-nine
companions were brought to trial, and met their deserts.

Maria Renata, sub-prioress of a convent at Unterzell, proved to be a
witch. She tormented the nuns at night, and, to assist her in the
black art, she kept a considerable number of cats. General alarm
prevailed; five of the nuns became possessed of devils. Renata avowed
to her confessor that she was a witch, that she had often been carried
bodily to witch Sabbaths, and presented to the prince of darkness. Her
name appeared in a black book, and she consented to be the devil's
property. In return, she received the promise of life for seventy
years. After trial by the civil judges, they condemned Renata to the
flames; but at the appointed time of execution, by way of showing a
little mercy, her head was struck off before the flames kindled around
her body. This tragedy took place in the year 1749--strange to say, in
the seventy-first year of Renata's age.

We next give a mo