It was dirty and thumbed,
many of the pages were torn, and the binding scarcely held the leaves
together. It was called _Die Sphinx_ and was edited by a certain Dr Emil
Besetzny. It contained the most extraordinary account I have ever read of
certain spirits generated by Johann-Ferdinand, Count von Kueffstein, in
the Tyrol, in 1775. The sources from which this account is taken consist
of masonic manuscripts, but more especially of a diary kept by a certain
James Kammerer, who acted in the capacity of butler and famulus to the
Count. The evidence is ten times stronger than any upon which men believe
the articles of their religion. If it related to less wonderful subjects,
you would not hesitate to believe implicitly every word you read. There
were ten _homunculi_--James Kammerer calls them prophesying spirits--kept
in strong bottles, such as are used to preserve fruit, and these were
filled with water. They were made in five weeks, by the Count von
Kueffstein and an Italian mystic and rosicrucian, the Abbe Geloni. The
bottles were closed with a magic seal.
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