Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Superstition, Spiritualism, Religion, Magic, Mental Illness

    Opens by noting that 'to minds not constitutionally incredulous', spiritualist manifestations give foundation to ancient beliefs about witchcraft. Believing spiritualism and necromancy to be 'convertible terms', anticipates the possibility of modern sorcery and Faustian pacts and considers likely equivalents for characters in the myth of Dr Faustus.