MA GIC AND SORCER Y 155 



structions in sorcery, or enable the wicked to use the 

 knowledge obtained for the purpose of injuring others" 

 {De Pestilitate). 



"It is very desirable that some good and wise men, 

 well versed in the secret arts, should be appointed by 

 the authorities to counteract and prevent the evils pro- 

 duced by the wicked who practise witchcraft and sorcery, 

 and they should pay particular attention to convents, 

 monasteries, and houses of prostitution, because in such 

 places a lascivious and evil imagination is especially culti- 

 vated, and great quantities of sperma are there collected 

 by evil spirits, and that sperma contains a powerful 

 Mumia, which can be extracted, and transformed into 

 evil things ; or it may decompose and become a strong 

 poison, furnishing life to innumerable invisible (micro- 

 scopic) existences, by which epidemics and plagues will 

 be caused. One witch may poison another by such 

 means, and the familiar spirits of witches often steal 

 sperma from persons who are addicted to bad habits and 

 use it for evil purposes." 



" An especially powerful poison that may be used in 

 sorcery is the menstrual blood. 



" If a woman exposes a cloth impregnated with the 

 menstrual blood to the rays of the new moon at night, 

 and to the rays of the sun during the day, a powerful 

 basilisk is created, because it attracts the ' magnes salts.' 

 This invisible poison can give rise to many and various 

 diseases, because the moon is the * menstruum mundiy 

 and exercises a very evil influence. Gold attracts mer- 

 cury and amalgamates with it, and likewise the sun 



neighbourhood, the owner of the bewitched cattle was advised to take 

 a sample of the milk from each cow, to mix them in a pan, to boil it over 

 a slow fire, and to whip it with a rod while it was boiling down, and to 

 throw the rest away. This advice he followed, and on the next day a 

 person of ill repute was met, having his face covered with bloody streaks, 

 as if they had been inflicted with a rod. This man could give no satis- 

 factory account of the origin of his marks, and it is supposed that he was 

 the punished sorcerer. The trouble then ceased. These examples go to 

 corroborate what Paracelsus says about the Mumia 



