THE OCCULT SCIENCES. 



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A nail or a wooden peg was driven into a wall, the name of the intended 

 victim being pronounced at each blow of the hammer. The sorcerers of 



Fig. 167. The Alchemist. After an Engraving by Vriese. In the Cabinet of Designi, 



National Library, Paris. 



the Middle Ages had other devices for killing people from a distance. 

 Thus, for instance, the archers, or sagitiarii, launched into the air a sharp- 



