One of the most curious cases of this nature which has fallen under my observation, I shall here venture to relate, for the amusement of the reader. The patient was a well educated man, about the middle age; he always stopped his ears closely with wool, and, in addition to a flannel night-cap, usually slept with his head in a tin saucepan. Being asked the reason why he so fortified his head, he replied, "To prevent the intrusion of the _sprites_." After having made particular enquiry concerning the nature of these beings, he gravely communicated the following information:--"Sir, you must know that in the human seminal fluid there are a number of vital particles, which being injected into the female, impregnate her, and form a foetus of muscles and bones. But this fluid has other properties, it is capable, by itself, of producing vitality under certain circumstances, and experienced chemists and hermetical philosophers have devised a method of employing it for other purposes, and some, the most detrimental to the condition and happiness of man. These philosophers, who are in league with princes, and their convenient and prostituted agents, contrive to extract a portion of their own semen, which they conserve in rum or brandy: these liquors having the power of holding for a considerable time the seminal fluid, and keeping its vitality uninjured. When these secret agents intend to perform any of their devilish experiments on a person, who is an object of suspicion to any of these potentates, they cunningly introduce themselves to his acquaintance, lull him to sleep by artificial means, and during his slumbers, infuse a portion of their seminal fluid (conserved in rum or brandy) into his ears.