358 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



esy f ar from the faithful. "But," he continues, "it is not without 

 profound grief that I have learned recently that persons of both sexes, 

 forgetting their own eternal welfare and erring from the Catholic faith, 

 mix with devils, with incuhi and sttccuM, and injure by witch-songs, 

 conjurations, and other shameful practices, revelries, and crimes, the 

 unborn children of women, the young of animals, the harvests of the 

 fields, the grapes of the vineyards, and the fruit of the trees ; that 

 they also destroy, suffocate, and annihilate men, women, sheep and 

 cattle, vineyards, orchards, meadows, and the like ; visit men, women, 

 cattle and other animals with internal and external pains and sickness; 

 prevent men from procx*eation and women from concej)tion, and render 

 them entirely unfit for their mutual duties, and cause them to recant, 

 besides, with sacrilegious lips, the very faith which they have received 

 in baptism." The Pope therefore appoints the professors of theol- 

 ogy, Henry Institor and Jacob Springer, to be prime inquisitors, with 

 absolute power over all districts which are contaminated with those 

 diseases. Finally, he proclaims that no appeal from the tribunals of 

 the inquisitors to other courts, not even to the Pope himself, will be 

 allowed. The inquisitors and their assistants are invested with unlim- 

 ited power over life and death, and are exhorted to fulfill their com- 

 mission with zeal and severity. The bull contains no directions as to 

 how the judges should proceed in the trial of witches, but " The Witch- 

 hammer," bearing the sanction of the Pope, is most explicit upon the 

 subject. This book became juridical authority, and was followed even 

 in Protestant countries until early in the eighteenth century. It be- 

 gins by attempting to show that its theories are entirely founded upon 

 the Scriptures. The history of Job, the temptation of Jesus in the 

 desert, and the many demoniacs mentioned in the New Testament, are 

 adduced to prove that Satan can dwell in man and use the human body 

 as his implement. Moreover, Moses ordained that witches should be 

 put to death, a command which would be entirely superfluous, if 

 witches had not existed. " The Witch-hammer " then broaches the 

 question why it is that women are especially addicted to sorcery, and 

 devotes thirty-three pages to the proof thereof. The following is an 

 example of its argument : The holy fathers have often said that there 

 are three things which have no moderation in good or evil — the tongue, 

 a priest, and a woman. Concerning woman this is evident. All ages 

 have made complaints against her. The wise Solomon, who was him- 

 self tempted to idolatry by woman, has often in his writings given the 

 feminine sex a sad but true testimonial ; and the holy Chrysostom 

 says : " What is woman but an enemy of friendship, an unavoidable 

 punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable affliction, 

 a constantly flowing source of tears, a wicked work of nature covered 

 with a shining varnish ? " Already had the first woman entered into 

 a sort of compact with the devil ; should not, then, her daughters do 

 it also ? The very word femiyia (woman) means one vmntlng in 



