THE 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
SEPTEMBER, 1882. 
I. WITCHCRAFT, INSANITY, AND CRIME* 
By Frank Fernseed. 
I T is undeniable that the last word concerning witchcraft 
has not yet been said, and is scarcely at present even 
to be expected. After having filled for centuries an 
important part in the beliefs of our ancestors, and having 
left its dark-red stain on the records of their social life, of 
their legislation, and of their jurisprudence, it was consigned 
to the limbo of forgetfulness as an exploded delusion, an odd 
mixture of madness and imposture not worth the serious 
notice of any enlightened man. In this estimate it was 
forgotten that even the wildest misbeliefs are psychological 
facets deserving careful study, and, further, that the possi- 
bility and the actual occurrence of witchcraft have never 
been formally disproved. To do so, in fa Ct, would require a 
demonstration either that no spiritual beings exist, or that, 
if existent, they have no power to interfere in human affairs. 
We may perhaps believe these propositions, but how are we 
to establish them to the satisfaction of the candid doubter ? 
Furthermore, there has been a “turn of the tide,” in 
virtue of which not a few thinkers, men of learning and 
reputation, admit that incorporeal and ordinarily invisible 
beings, whether parastatic spirits or the ghosts of defunCt 
* The Psychology of the Salem Witchcraft Excitement of i 6 g 2 , and its 
Practical Application to our Own Time. By G. M. Beard, A.M., M.D. New 
York : G. P. Putnam’s Sons. London : Triibner and Co. 
The Case of Guiteau : a Psychological Study. By G. M. Beard, A.M., 
M.D. New York. 
The Problems of Insanity. By G. M. Beard, A.M., M.D. 
VOL. IV. (THIRD SERIES). 2 1, 
