Mars. . . . Iron (=56).

Similarly we can, starting from any one of these orders, pass to the
other two. The fact is a very surprising one, because the ancients could
not possibly have been acquainted with the atomic weights of the metals,
and, it is important to note, the order of the densities of these
metals, which might possibly have been known to them, is by no means the
same as the order of their atomic weights. Whether the fact indicates a
real relationship between the planets and the metals, or whether there
is some other explanation, I am not prepared to say. Certainly some
explanation is needed: to say that the fact is mere coincidence is
unsatisfactory, seeing that the odds against, not merely this, but any
such regularity occurring by chance--as calculated by the mathematical
theory of probability--are 119 to 1.

All the instruments employed in the art had to be specially prepared and
consecrated. Special robes had to be worn, perfumes and incense burnt,
and invocations, conjurations, _etc_., recited, all of which depended
on the planet ruling the operation. A description of a few typical
talismans in detail will not here be out of place.

In _The Key of Solomon the King_ (translated by S. L. M. MATHERS,
1889)(1) are described five, six, or seven talismans for each planet.
Each of these was supposed to have its own peculiar virtues, and many of
them are stated to be of use in the evocation of spirits. The majority
of them consist of a central design encircled by a verse of Hebrew
Scripture. The central designs are of a varied character, generally
geometrical figures and Hebrew letters or words, or magical characters.
Five of these talismans are here portrayed, the first three described
differing from the above. The translations of the Hebrew verses, _etc_.,
given below are due to Mr MATHERS.

(1) The _Clavicula Salomonis_, or _Key of Solomon the King_, consists
mainly of an elaborate ritual for the evocation of the various planetary
spirits, in which process the use of talismans or pentacles plays a
prominent part. It is claimed to be a work of white magic, but, inasmuch
as it, like other old books making the same claim, gives descriptions
of a pentacle for causing ruin, destruction, and death, and another for
causing earthquakes--to give only two examples,--the distinction between
black and white magic, which we shall no doubt encounter again in later
excursions, appears to be somewhat ar