persons who have directly and
voluntarily given themselves over to the demoniac action of the spirits.
These persons are quite rare and they all die by suicide or some other
form of violent death. The second is composed of persons on whom the
visitation of spirits has been imposed by a spell. These are very
numerous, especially in the convents dominated by the demoniac
societies. Ordinarily these victims end in madness. The psychopathic
hospitals are crowded with them. The doctors and the majority of the
priests do not know the cause of their madness, but the cases are
curable. A thaumaturge of my acquaintance has saved a good many of the
bewitched who without his aid would be howling under hydrotherapeutic
douches. There are certain fumigations, certain exsufflations, certain
commandments written on a sheet of virgin parchment thrice blessed and
worn like an amulet which almost always succeed in delivering the
patient."

"I want to ask you," said Des Hermies, "does a woman receive the visit
of the incubus while she is asleep or while she is awake?"

"A distinction must be made. If the woman is not the victim of a spell,
if she voluntarily consorts with the impure spirit, she is always awake
when the carnal act takes place. If, on the other hand, the woman is the
victim of sorcery, the sin is committed either while she is asleep or
while she is awake, but in the latter case she is in a cataleptic state
which prevents her from defending herself. The most powerful of
present-day exorcists, the man who has gone most thoroughly into this
matter, one Johannes, Doctor of Theology, told me that he had saved nuns
who had been ridden without respite for two, three, even four days by
incubi!"

"I know that priest," remarked Des Hermies.

"And the act is consummated in the same manner as the normal human act?"

"Yes and no. Here the dirtiness of the details makes me hesitate," said
Gevingey, becoming slightly red. "What I can tell you is more than
strange. Know, then, that the organ of the incubus is bifurcated and at
the same time penetrates both vases. Formerly it extended, and while one
branch of the fork acted in the licit channels, the other at the same
time reached up to the lower part of the face. You may imagine,
gentlemen, how life must be shortened by operations which are multiplied
through all the senses."

"And you are sure that these are facts?"

"Absolutely."

"But come now, you have proofs?"

Gevingey wa