368 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



But after a time men's hearts and minds revolted from this 

 hideous slaughter. The first book on the Continent that made 

 an effective attack upon the system was by John Wier, a learned 

 doctor of Cleves. In this book Wier took the ground that, al- 

 though devils are everywhere about us, and although many per- 

 sons are possessed with devils, yet there are no such beings as 

 witches, and therefore no one ought to be punished as a witch. 

 He said further that, in his humble opinion, a good many persons 

 supposed to be possessed with devils simply had some disease or 

 other which doctors ought to try to cure. This Dr. Wier was a 

 strange sort of man. He published another book, giving various 

 particulars about the lower regions. He was very exact in his 

 figures ; and he ascertained that at that time these regions were 

 ruled by seventy-two princes, and the number of devils was 

 7,405,926. This book of Wier's brought out the ablest defense 

 ever made of witchcraft — a volume by Bodin, esteemed the most 

 learned of all Frenchmen. This book was not answered ; and as 

 far as authorities and figures and biblical texts and judicial rul- 

 ings go, it can not be answered. Still, it did not stem the rising 

 tide against the belief in witchcraft. Humanity and common 

 sense were asserting their sway, and persecution was doomed. 

 In 1588, the very year of the Armada, Montaigne, the great 

 Frenchman, published the first really skeptical work in the French 

 language. This work ushered in the new treatment, the modern 

 treatment of all such questions. He calmly ignored the mass of 

 authority. "I do not attempt," he said, "to untie the knot: I 

 simply cut it. It is more probable that we are deceived, or that 

 men should tell falsehoods, than that witches should exist. And 

 further, it is setting too high a value on our opinions to roast 

 people if they will not accept these opinions." Montaigne had 

 calmly risen above the mists of superstition into the clear realm 

 of common sense and reason. The last witch in France was burned 

 in 1718. After that there were one or two trials, but the prisoners 

 were acquitted; for "the star of Voltaire had risen above the 

 horizon, and the unsparing ridicule which his followers cast upon 

 every anecdote of witches intimidated those who did not share in 

 the credulity." 



In Great Britain the first regular enactment against sorcery 

 was in 1541 — i. e., at the beginning of the Reformation — although 

 it had been known before that time. In fact, Joan of Arc had 

 been put to death by the command of the English, although on 

 the soil of France and under the sentence of a French judge. 

 Great Britain, indeed, was not so violently affected by this de- 

 lusion as was the Continent. This for various reasons, her in- 

 sular position and greater freedom being the chief. So, although 

 Cranmer, the great churchman, he to whom is so largely owing the 



