NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE, n 



new complications arising from the assumptions of Parris. There 

 were innumerable wranglings and lawsuits ; in fact, all the essen- 

 tial causes for satanic interference which we saw at work in and 

 about the monastery at Loudun, and especially the turmoil of a 

 petty village where there is no intellectual activity, and where 

 men and women find their chief substitute for it in squabbles — 

 religious, legal, political, social, and personal. 



In this darkened atmosphere thus charged with the germs of 

 disease it was suddenly discovered that two young girls in the 

 family of Mr. Parris were possessed of devils ; they complained of 

 being pinched, pricked, and cut, fell into strange spasms and made 

 strange speeches ; showing all the signs of diabolic possession rec- 

 ognized in the works of experts or handed down by tradition. 

 The two girls, having been brought by Mr. Parris and others to 

 tell who had bewitched them, first charged an old Indian woman, 

 and the poor old Indian husband was led to join in the charge. 

 This at once afforded new scope for the activity of Mr. Parris. 

 With his passion for magnifying his office, he immediately began 

 making a great stir in Salem and in the country round about. 

 Two magistrates were finally summoned. With them came a 

 great crowd, and a court was held at the meeting-house. The 

 scenes which then took place would have been the richest of farces 

 had they not led to events so tragical. The possessed went into 

 spasms at the approach of those charged with witchcraft, and 

 when the poor old men and women attempted to attest their inno- 

 cence they were overwhelmed with outcries by the possessed, 

 quotations of Scripture by the ministers, and denunciations by the 

 mob. The mania spread to other children, and one especially — 

 Ann Putnam, a child of twelve years — showed great precocity and 

 played a striking part in the performances. Two or three married 

 women also, seeing the great attention paid to the afflicted, and 

 influenced by that epidemic of morbid imitation which science 

 now recognizes in all such cases, soon became similarly afflicted, 

 and in their turn made charges against various persons. The In- 

 dian woman was flogged by her master, Mr. Parris, until she con- 

 fessed relations with Satan ; and others were forced or deluded 

 into confession. These hysterical confessions — the results of un- 

 bearable torture, or the reminiscences of dreams, which had been 

 prompted by the witch legends and sermons of the period — em- 

 braced such facts as flying through the air to witch gatherings, 

 partaking of witch sacraments, signing a book presented by the 

 devil, and submitting to satanic baptism. 



The possessed had begun with charging their possession upon 

 poor and vagrant old women, but ere long, emboldened by their 

 success, they attacked higher game, struck at some of the fore- 

 most people of the region, and did not cease until several of these 



