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and women who fell into the clutches of the Inquisition (although this material would be quite worthy of a parallel study.) I am quoting official records of the time, gathered from and witnessed by clerics and policemen, of which the following is typical. In the early seventeenth century, the cathedral at Quimper-Corentin, France, had on its roof a pyramid covered with lead. On February 1, 1620, between 7:00 and 8:00 P.M., thunder fell on that pyramid, and it caught fire, exploded, and fell down with a stupendous noise. People rushed to the cathedral from all parts of the town and saw, in the midst of the lightning and smoke, a demon of a green color with a long green tail, doing his best to keep the fire going! This account, which was published in Paris, is supplemented by a more complete version printed in Rennes. This latter version adds that the demon "was seen clearly by all, inside the fire, sometimes green, sometimes blue and yellow." What were the authorities to do? They threw into the roaring fire a quantity of blessed objects, close to one hundred and fifty buckets of water, and forty of fifty carloads of manure — to no avail. The demon was still there, and the fire kept burning. Something drastic had to be done: a consecrated host was placed inside a loaf of bread and thrown into the flames, and then blessed water was mixed with milk given by a nurse of above-reproach conduct and spread over the demon and the burning pyramid. This the visitor could not stand; he whistled in a most horrible fashion and flew away. I can only recommend the recipe to the U.S. Air Force, if they can find a nurse with the right qualifications. Eight hundred years earlier (that is, about 830) in the days of Emperor Lothaire, creatures similar to the Elementals were often seen in the northern parts of the Netherlands. According to Corneil Van Kempen, they were called White Ladies. He compares them to nymphs of antiquity. They lived in caves, and they would attack people who traveled at night. The shepherds would also be harassed. And the women who had newly born babies had to be very careful, for they were quick in stealing the children away. In their lair, one could hear all sorts of strange noises, indistinct words that no one could understand, and musical sounds. In the last half of the seventeenth century, a Scottish scholar gathered all the accounts he could find about the Sleagh Maith and, in 1691, wrote an amazing manuscript entitled The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies. It was the first systematic attempt to describe the methods and organization of the strange creatures that plagued the farmers of Scotland. The author, Reverend Kirk, of Aberfoyle, studied theology at St. Andrews and took his degree of professor at Edinburgh. Later he served as minister for the parishes of Balquedder and Aberfoyle and died in 1rAN 1692. Kirk invented the name "the Secret Commonwealth" to describe the organization of the elves. It is impossible to quote the entire text of his treatise, but we can summarize his findings about elves and other aerial creatures in the following way: 2. Physically, they have very light and fluid bodies, which are comparable to a condensed cloud. They are particularly visible at dusk. They can appear and vanish at will. They live inside the earth in caves, which they can reach through any crevice or opening where air passes. The Sixteen Conclusions of Reverend Kirk They have a nature that is intermediate between man and the angels. 3. Intellectually, they are intelligent and curious. They have the power to carry away anything they like.