arge area in
the history of man, all of whom specially testify to the existence--in
their own respective periods--of werwolves.

And if any further evidence of this once near relationship with the
Other World is required, one has only to turn to Aristotle, who wrote so
voluminously on psychic dreams (most of which I am inclined to think
were due to projection); to the teachings of Pythagoras and his
followers, Empedocles and Apollonius; to Cicero and Tacitus; to Virgil,
who frequently talks of ghosts and seers of Tyana; to Plato, the
exponent of magic; and to Plutarch, whose works swarm with allusions to
Occultism of all kinds--phantasms of the dead, satyrs, and numerous
other species of Elementals.

I say, then, that in ages past, before any of the artificialities
appertaining to our present mode of living were introduced; when the
world was but thinly populated and there were vast regions of wild
wastes and silent forests, the Known and Unknown walked hand in hand. It
was seclusion of this kind, the seclusion of nature, that spirits loved,
and it was in this seclusion they were always to be found whenever man
wanted to hold communication with them. To such silent spots--to the
woods and wildernesses--Buddha, Mohammed, the Hebrew Patriarchs and
Prophets, all, in their turn, resorted, to solicit the companionship of
benevolently disposed spirits, to be tutored by them, and, in all
probability, to receive from them additional powers. To these wastes and
forests, too, went all those who wished to do ill. There they communed
with the spirits of darkness, _i.e._, demons, or what are also termed
Vice Elementals; and from the latter they acquired--possibly in exchange
for some of their own vitality, for spirits of this order are said to
have envied man his material body--tuition in sorcery, and such
properties as second sight, invisibility, and lycanthropy.

This property of lycanthropy, or metamorphosing into a beast, probably
dates back to man's creation. It was, I am inclined to believe,
conferred on man at his creation by Malevolent Forces that were
antagonistic to man's progress; and that these Malevolent Forces had a
large share in the creation of this universe is, to my mind, extremely
probable. But, however that may be, I cannot believe that the creation
of man and the universe were due entirely to one Creator--there are
assuredly too many inconsistencies in all we see around us to justify
belief in only one Creati