NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 585 



been made hysterical by his own preaching are " possessed of 

 Satan." On all this, and much more to the same effect, he insisted 

 •with all the power given to him by his deep religious nature, his 

 wonderful familiarity with the Scrij)tures, his natural acumen, 

 and his eloquence.* 



But here, too, science continued its work. The old belief was 

 steadily undermined, an atmosphere favorable to the truth became 

 more and more developed, and the act of Parliament in 1735, which 

 banished the crime of witchcraft from the statute-book, was the 

 beginning of the end. 



In Germany we see the beginnings of a similar triumph for 

 science. In Prussia, that sturdy old monarch, Frederick William 

 I, nullified the efforts of the more zealous clergy and orthodox 

 jurists to keep up the old doctrine in his dominions. In Austria, 

 the government set Dr. Antonio Haen at making careful researches 

 into the causes of diabolic possession. He did not think it best, 

 in view of the power of the Church, to dispute the possibility or 

 probability of such cases, but simply decided, after thorough in- 

 vestigation, that, out of the many cases which had been brought 

 to him, there was not one to support the belief in demoniacal 

 influence. An attempt was made to follow up this examination, 

 and much was done by men like Francke and Van Swieten, and 

 especially by the reforming emperor, Joseph II, to rescue men and 

 women who would otherwise have fallen victims to the prevalent 

 superstition. Unfortunately, Joseph had arrayed against him- 

 self the whole power of the Church, and most of his good efforts 

 seemed brought to naught. But what the noblest of the old race 

 of German emperors could not do suddenly, the German men of 

 science did gradually. Quietly and thoroughly, by proofs that 

 could not be gainsaid, they recovered the old scientific fact estab- 

 lished in pagan Greece and Rome, that madness is simply physical 

 disease. But they now established it on a basis that can never 

 again be shaken ; for, in post-mortem examinations of large num- 

 bers of " possessed " persons, they found evidence of brain-disease. 

 Typical is a case at Hamburg in 1729. An afflicted woman showed 

 in a high degree all the recognized characteristics of diabolic pos- 

 session. Exorcisms, preachings, and sanctified remedies of every 

 sort in vogue were tried in vain. Milder medical means were then 

 tried, and she so far recovered that she was allowed to take the 

 communion before she died. The autopsy, held in the presence of 

 fifteen physicians and a public notary, showed it to be simply a 



* For John Locke, see Kiug's "Life of Locke," ii, 173, 174. For Wesley, out of his 

 almost innumerable writings bearing upon the subject, I may select the sermon on " Evil 

 Angels," and his " Letter to Dr. Middleton " ; and in his collected works there are many 

 striking statements and arguments, especially in vols, iii, vi, and ix. See also Tyerman'a 

 " Life of Wesley," ii, pp. 260 cl seq. 



