n the purely sceptic; he delights in the
display of instances where an element of trickery may be detected; no
one better than himself can distinguish between bogus and bogey, and he
takes pleasure in directing special attention to his extraordinary good
judgment and sound common-sense in each and all these matters. Hence no
one will be surprised to hear that at the house of a lady in London, an
ordinary table, after a preliminary performance in tilting, transformed
suddenly into a full-grown crocodile, and played touchingly on the
piano, after which it again changed into a table, but the gin, the
whisky, the pale ale, and the other intoxicants which are indispensable
at seances in England, had been entirely consumed by the transcendental
reptile to fortify him on his return journey to the mud-banks of the
Nile. Nor has the spontaneous apparition been wanting to complete the
experiences of Dr Bataille. He was seated in his cabin at midnight
pondering over the theories formulated in natural history by Cuvier and
Darwin, who diabolised the entire creation, when he was touched lightly
on the shoulder, and discovered standing over him, in his picturesque
Oriental costume, like another Mohini, the Arabian poisoner-in-chief of
the Gibraltar Toxicological Department, who, after some honourable
assurances that the Bible was not true, departed transcendentally as he
came. This personage subsequently proved to be the demon Hermes. Even
when he merely masonified, the doctor had unheard-of experiences in
magic. For example, at Golden Square, in the west central district of
this wicked city, an address which we have heard of before, at the
conclusion of an ordinary Lodge meeting, there was an evocation of the
demon Zaren, who appeared under the form of a monstrous three-headed
dragon completely cased in steel, and, endeavouring to devour his
evoker, was restrained by the magical pentagram, ultimately vanishing
with the peculiar odour of Infernus.

In connection with various marvels the doctor has much to tell us
concerning two sisters in Lucifer who have long been at daggers drawn,
and considering their supernatural attributes, it is incomprehensible in
a high degree that they have not destroyed one another like the Magician
and the Princess of a more credible narrative of wonders in the "Arabian
Nights." Diana Vaughan, much heard and little seen, has since become
famous by her conversion to the Catholic faith. Honoured with her
acq