by preliminary murders. Perhaps in some cases they aren't. The
worshippers probably content themselves with bleeding a foetus which had
been aborted as soon as it became matured to the point necessary.
Bloodletting is supererogatory anyway, and serves merely to whet the
appetite. The main business is to consecrate the host and put it to an
infamous use. The rest of the procedure varies. There is at present no
regular ritual for the black mass."

"Well, then, is a priest absolutely essential to the celebration of
these offices?"

"Certainly. Only a priest can operate the mystery of Transubstantiation.
I know there are certain occultists who claim to have been consecrated
by the Lord, as Saint Paul was, and who think they can consummate a
veritable sacrifice just like a real priest. Absurd! But even in default
of real masses with ordained celebrants, the people possessed by the
mania of sacrilege do none the less realize the sacred stupration of
which they dream.

"Listen to this. In 1855 there existed at Paris an association composed
of women, for the most part. These women took communion several times a
day and retained the sacred wafer in their mouths to be spat out later
and trodden underfoot or soiled by disgusting contacts."

"You are sure of it?"

"Perfectly. These facts were revealed by a religious journal, _Les
annales de la sainteté_, and the archbishop of Paris could not deny
them. I add that in 1874 women were likewise enrolled at Paris to
practise this odious commerce. They were paid so much for every wafer