PREFACE. We need malce no apology for introducing this book to th« public. The subjects treated of are of so deeply interesting a nature that they have ever engaged, and ever will engage the attention of every thinking being. They are themes that never can bo buried out of sight. They demand our close attention. We must face them all: willingly or unwillingly. Much of the vast amount of information to be found in the following pages has been dilligently and laboriously culled from the great storehouse ot facts accumulated by men who have devoted their time, energies and learning to prove, investigate, and explain tht various deep and mystical beliefs and practices so universally and expressively designated the " Black Arts." All those dark mysteries that have captivated the imaginations, stimulated the investigations, and often baffled the keenest intellectual acumen of both by-gone and modern philosophers are here revealed in all their naked truthfulness. The fleshy integuments are stripped away, and the skeleton itself revealed. This book is written in the interest of no sect or party in religion or science. All the following subjects are treated of fully, fairly, candidly and exhaustively: Sorcery, Astrology, Mind- Eeading, Midnight Apparitions, tho Churchyard Ghost, the

Threatening Omen, the Unlucky Day, the Cattle-Charm, thfli Spell on the Living, the Second-Sight ot the Highland Seer, the Clairvoyance of modern Times, the Table-Tippings. These, however, are but a very few of the subjects, described and discussed in these pages, There is no dodging any question however enshrined by superstition, and no attacking of any belief simply because it is the belief of some confiding souls. Many of the most awful and tsriible secietj ^re icalt with in a fearless but honest manner. The belief, for instance, in the visits of departed spirits to those still in the flesh is treated with that fairness and impartiality that should ever be atccrdcd to the faith held by a large body of honest people. We have been forced to tear down many a ricketty pile merely upheld by its antiquity and turned the calcium light of truth upon the scattering rats and bats of superstition. Cn tie other hand we are compelled to admit that some secrets are too deep and profound to be explained satisfactorily by the sharpest human intellect. But it must not be supposed that this book deals mainly with ideas and beliefs. Many practical, useful money-making Arts are fully described, and the proper manner in which to practice them clearly explained. We commend this book, in all honesty, to every fearless soul who is willing to accept our guidance, and who is resolved to investigate for himself every subject that mortal man feels touches his pocket, his principles and his happiness. The AuTBoiL

THE BLACK ART. SORCERY AND WITCHCRAFT. Waivino the consideration of the many controversies formerly kept up on this subject, founded on misinterpretation of various passages in the sacred writings, it is my purpose in the present section to consider witchcraft only as a striking article of popular mythology; which, however, bids fair in another century to be entirely forgotten. "Witchcraft is defined by Reginald Scot, in his Discovery, p. 284, to be, " in estimation of the vulgar i)eople, a supernatural work between a corporal old woman and a spiritual devil;" but, he adds, speaking his own sentiments on tho subject, •* it is, in truth, a cozening art, wherein tho name of God is abused, i)rophaned, and blasphemed, and his power attributed to a vile creature." Perkins defines witchcraft to be " an art serving for the working of wonders by the assistance of the Devil, so far as God will permit;*' and Delrio, an art in which, by the power of the contract entered into with the Devil, some wonders are wrought which pass the common understanding of men." Witc'icraft, in modera estimation, is a kind of sorcery (especially in M'omea), in which it is ridiculously supposed that an old woman, by entering into a contract with th« Dovil, is ta-