772 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



modern science and to build great hopes upon it. On one occa- 

 sion, when the priest came with consecrated oil (oleum simplex) 

 and holy water and began to utter the prescribed exorcism, the 

 evil spirit cried out : " Woe is me ! I thought that rubbish had 

 long since gone out of vogue and been discarded as dead supersti- 

 tion." In the ages of faith it was customary to cast out devils in 

 the presence of the whole congregation ; but, owing to the growth 

 of skepticism even among so-called believers, it is now deemed bet- 

 ter to do it scorsum a multitudine (apart from the crowd), which 

 would be attracted by idle curiosity rather than by the spirit of 

 devotion. It is desirable, however, that the priest should select 

 from the kinsmen and friends of the energumen a number of pious 

 men who, after confessing and taking the communion, shall sus- 

 tain him by prayer and fasting. Dr. Bischof berger firmly believes 

 that our insane asylums contain many demoniacs who might be 

 healed by the Church, but whom " science falsely so called " has 

 condemned to the madhouse and the strait-jacket ; he condemns 

 the priests who would fain show their enlightenment by indors- 

 ing the decisions of the alienist, and exclaims : " O spirit of the 

 age ! How strongly hast thou infected even the clergy ! " It may 

 also be regarded as a concession to this spirit that it is now ad- 

 missible to call in a physician in order to repair the damages done 

 by the demon to the bodily organism, whereas in the middle ages, 

 and indeed down to the seventeenth century, the Church posi- 

 tively forbade any such intervention, and maintained that the 

 divine power which cast out the devil would also heal the breach. 

 With the general decline of faith in miracles it is permitted to 

 have recourse to medicine, which, however, must be blessed by a 

 priest before being administered to the patient. 



In Italy a priest is usually called in, not only to bless newly 

 erected buildings but also to sprinkle with holy water and to 

 fumigate with incense every house in the octaves of Easter. Dr. 

 Bischof berger regrets that this " laudable custom " does not prevail 

 in Germany, since the old maxim that " an ounce of prevention is 

 worth a pound of cure " applies with peculiar force to the treat- 

 ment of demonical possession. We are also told that a very disa- 

 greeable " aura corrumpens " is apt to pervade all dwellings 

 which have been infested for a long time, and that this taint re- 

 mains many years after the demons have been expelled. A sensi- 

 tive person can not enter such a house without being seized with 

 dizziness, nausea, or strange nervous sensations which manifest 

 themselves in palpitations of the heart, sudden paleness, and 

 trembling of the limbs. The carnal mind, which is at enmity 

 with all supernatural interpretations of natural phenomena, would 

 suggest that these symptoms indicate inadequate ventilation and 

 would seek relief in opening the windows and letting in fresh 



