INTRODUCTION

One will thus know who one is dealing with and will be able to close this book immediately or throw it into the fire as the case may be.

By profession, we are a physician in Paris, where we completed our studies, and by occupation, we are a student of the occult sciences. The medical career was only a preparation for the occupation, for, as an intern at the hospitals, we began the study of hypnotism at Saint-Antoine, then pursued it at La Charité, where, after obtaining the bronze medal from the Public Assistance, we became head of the hypnotherapy laboratory. Our evenings were dedicated to frequenting the mystical circles where we were able to witness, during the four years that our investigation lasted, the most troubling psychic phenomena that can occur. It was during this period that we collected the most important notes concerning the involution of magical experiments within the facts of contemporary magnetism and spiritualism. At the same time, we established relations with the occult fraternities of Europe and the Orient. We do not speak of the Theosophical Society, an association without tradition as it is without synthetic teaching, from which all French writers hastened to exit through every possible door. We were even forced to personally request our expulsion from such a milieu, so that all members of this society might learn of our decision—a decision they sought to keep secret, and for good reason. We therefore openly admit that the few serious practices that we were able to experiment with and verify were transmitted to us by an oriental society, of which F. Ch. Barlet is the official representative for France and of which we are a member of the lowest degree. But all these stories could not be of interest to the reader: May it suffice for him to know that