h the Phoenix, and a male and
female ape were composed at the altar steps, while the Grand Master
proceeded to the celebration of a black mass, which was followed by an
amazing marriage of the two engaging animals, and the sacrifice of a
lamb brought alive into the temple, bleating piteously, with nails
driven through its feet. This was intended to symbolize an illuminated
reprobation of celibacy and an approval of the married state, or its
less expensive substitutes.

The third temple was consecrated to the Mother of fallen women, who, in
memory of the adventure of the apple, has a place in the calendar of
Lucifer; the proceedings consisted of a dialogue between the Grand
Master and the Vestal which the becoming modesty of the doctor prevents
him from describing even in the Latin tongue.

The fourth temple was a Rosicrucian Sanctuary, having an open sepulchre,
from which blue flames continually emanated; there was a platform in the
midst of the temple designed for the accommodation of more Indian
Vestals, one of whom it was proposed should evaporate into thin air,
after which a Fakir would be transformed before the whole company into a
living mummy and be interred for a space of three years. These were
among the events of the evening, and were accomplished with great
success without much disturbing the mental equilibrium of the doctor,
though he confessed to a certain impression when the Fakir introduced
his performance by suspension in mid-air.

The fifth temple was consecrated to the Pelican and was used by an
English officer to deliver a short discourse on Masonic charity, which
the doctor regarded as vulnerable from a moral point of view and
suggestive of easy virtue.

The sixth temple was that of the Future and was devoted to divinations,
the oracles being given by a Vestal in a hypnotic condition, seated over
a burning brazier. The doctor was accommodated with a test, but another
inquirer who had the temerity to be curious as to what was being done in
the Vatican received a severe rebuff; in vain did the spirit of the
Clairvoyante strive to penetrate the "draughty and malarious" palace of
the Roman Pontiff, and Phileas Walder, mortified and maddened, began to
curse and to swear like the first Pope. The experiment disillusionized
the assembly and they thoughtfully repaired to the seventh temple,
which, being sacred to Fire, was equipped with a vast central furnace
surmounted by a chimney and containing a gigan