508 Witchcraft, Insanity, and Crime . [September, 
Science. Instinctively, as chickens run with cries from the 
shadow of a hawk flying high in the air, these puritans ran 
at the approach of new truths, hiding themselves in trem- 
bling terror under the broad wings of the church.” 
Here, then, we have a new count, not to be omitted when 
the indictment of puritanism is being drawn up. That she 
has been a poison to the aesthetic life of the nation, deadly 
to high art and to poetry, is to some extent admitted. That 
she has been no less baneful to Science and Philosophy is a 
grave aggravation of her guilt. But yet again, I must ask 
is the “ approach of new truths ” viewed with terror only, or 
even mainly, in England and America ? I have heard of 
and met with Alethophobia, a feeling far from rare wherever 
there exist cliques of official savans who “ show great reluc- 
tance to change old erroneous notions, and very often write 
in order to suppress what is not in accordance with their 
ideas.” 
Dr. Beard views witchcraft as an essentially morbid, 
pathological phenomenon, devoid of any subjective basis. 
Hysterical persons in an ignorant age believe their sufferings, 
real or imaginary, to have a personal external cause — the 
ill-will of spiritual beings, or of human neighbours supposed 
to be in league with spirits. Such persons are the “afflicted,”' 
the accusers and witnesses. They are generally young fe- 
males mutually well acquainted, and given to fostering the 
delusions of each other. The accused, the so-called witches, 
are not unfrequently also hysterical, or even insane, and 
appear in some cases to have believed themselves in league 
with spirits and in possession of supernatural powers. 
There are, however, some curious circumstances connected 
with the selection — as it may be called — of victims, and 
these circumstances point to an element of imposture, decep- 
tion, and even malignity. Why, else, were accusations of 
sorcery brought, both in Europe and America, pre-eminently 
against the unpopular, the poor, the uninfluential ? In 
Catholic countries the imputation of witchcraft was closely 
connected with the charge of heresy. In New England the 
first victims accused were persons of mean estate, unpro- 
tected, and who had probably drawn unpleasant attention 
upon themselves by some harmless eccentricity of conduCt, 
or even by some peculiarity of appearance. But at Salem, 
as elsewhere, the accusers were emboldened by success, and 
struck higher. This presumption in many places put a check 
to the judicial murders. When nobles, judges, clergymen, 
military and naval officers of rank, or their wives and 
daughters were denounced as sorcerers the authorities were 
