We need make no apology for introducing this book to the public. The subjects treated of are of so deeply interesting a nature that they have ever engaged, and ever will engage the attention of every thinking being. They are themes that never can be buried out of sight. They demand our close attention. We must face them all: willingly or unwillingly. Much of the vast amount of information to be found in the following pages has been diligently and laboriously culled from the great store-house of facts accumulated by men who have devoted their time, energies and learning to prove, investigate, and explain the various deep and mystical beliefs and practices so universally and expressively designated the "Black Arts. " All those dark mysteries that have captivated the imaginations, stimulated the investigations, and often baffled the keenest intellectual acumen of both by-gone and modern philosophers are here revealed in all their naked truthfulness. The fleshy integuments are stripped away, and the skeleton itself revealed.