Dear Dr. Boli: Why don’t offices and schools use spirit duplicators anymore? They were cheap, they smelled good, and they printed in the most delightful shade of purple. I miss them. —Sincerely, Ursula Burns.

Dear Madam: Spirit duplicators passed out of fashion when a wave of religious fundamentalism swept over the country, causing massive protests and boycotts against any institution found to have dealings with satanic powers. They have been replaced in large measure by duplicating machines that rely on mechanical or electronic technology, rather than the old-fashioned captive demon scribe that used to inhabit every office duplicator in the benighted days of the middle twentieth century. Spirit duplicators may still be found occasionally in junk shops or in on-line auctions, but the incantations that made them work have largely been forgotten.