This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1863 Excerpt: ...the first water. The names had all been submitted to the practitioner--those of Eugene Guinot, the feuil letoniste: General Baraguay d'Hilliers; and Nadaud, the composer; all of them atrocious unbelievers, wretched infidels, and scoffers, wholly devoid of all sensibility or imagination, Numeroils were the experiments ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1863 Excerpt: ...the first water. The names had all been submitted to the practitioner--those of Eugene Guinot, the feuil letoniste: General Baraguay d'Hilliers; and Nadaud, the composer; all of them atrocious unbelievers, wretched infidels, and scoffers, wholly devoid of all sensibility or imagination, Numeroils were the experiments tried, and all, as usual, eminently successful. The accordeon glided, as usual, from knee to knee, all round the circle, and played the tunes most loved by the inquirers; the bell wandered round the ceiling, and rang its merry peal or tolled its doleful note, according to the will of any member of the company who chose to command it. But the wizard had promised that night to evoke the spirits and render them visible to the sight, and every preliminary experiment was attended to with impatience, so great was the hurry to witness the crowning masterpiece of the performance. At length the lights were all extinguished but one, a solitary wax taper on the mantel-piece, behind the figure of the practitioner, which cast its long, gigantic shadow on the walls and ceiling of the room. The silence was complete; some of the-ladies crouched behind their neighbors, and resisted the temptation to faint only by reason of their curiosity; others stared around, hoping, yet dreading, to see something awful and terrific, that they would be driven to hysterics. The voice of the wizard was heard, amid the silence, demanding whose spirit should be summoned to appear. A faint whisper, from a distant corner, thrilled through the room--"Let it he Socrates, the greatest of philosophers!" A pause ensued--no objection or opposition being manifested, the wizard raised his arm, and waving it towards the door, solemnly bade the spirit of Socrates appear and stand b...
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