lind eyes see. This procedure
they attribute to miracle workers to explain away the supernatural--why
don't they use the method themselves if it is so simple?"

"But haven't they tried?"

"After a fashion. I was present myself at an experiment attempted by Dr.
Luys. Ah, it was inspiring! At the charity hospital there was a poor
girl paralyzed in both legs. She was put to sleep and commanded to rise.
She struggled in vain. Then two interns held her up in a standing
posture, but her lifeless legs bent useless under her weight. Need I
tell you that she could not walk, and that after they had held her up
and pushed her along a few steps, they put her to bed again, having
obtained no result whatever."

"But Dr. Johannes does not cure all sufferers, without discrimination?"

"No. He will not meddle with any ailments which are not the result of
spells. He says he can do nothing with natural ills, which are the
province of the physician. He is a specialist in Satanic affections. He
has most to do with the possessed whose neuroses have proved obdurate to
hydrotherapeutic treatment."

"What does he do with the precious stones you mentioned?"

"First, before answering your question, I must explain the significance
and virtue of these stones. I shall be telling you nothing new when I
say that Aristotle, Pliny, all the sages of antiquity, attributed
medical and divine virtues to them. According to the pagans, agate and
carnelian stimulate, topaz consoles, jasper cures languor, hyacinth
drives away insomnia, turquoise prevents falls or lightens the shock,
amethyst combats drunkenness.

"Catholic symbolism, in its turn, takes over the precious stones and
sees in them emblems of the Christian virtues. Then, sapphire represents
the lofty aspirations of the soul, chalcedony charity, sard and onyx
candor, beryl allegorizes theological science, hyacinthe humility, while
the ruby appeases wrath, and emerald 'lapidifies' incorruptible faith.

"Now in magic," Des Hermies rose and took from a shelf a very small
volume bound like a prayer book. He showed Durtal the title: _Natural
magic, or: The secrets and miracles of nature, in four volumes, by
Giambattista Porta of Naples. Paris. Nicolas Bonjour, rue Neuve Nostre
Dame at the sign Saint Nicolas_. 1584.

"Natural magic," said Des Hermies, "which was merely the medicine of the
time, ascribes a new meaning to gems. Listen to this. After first
celebrating an unknown stone, the Alectoriu