706 DEMONOLOGY. 
conviction of witches, who, though lefs aftive than the 
inquifitors, were but too zealous in profecuting their 
function-. In 1494, Sprenge.r arid Tnftitor, two perfons 
employed in this commiffion, publifhed a collection of 
trials, mod of which had come before themfelves, under 
the title of Malleus Malejicarum; this ferved as a kind of 
inftitute for their fucceflors. S. on afterwards, the ap¬ 
pearance of Agrippa’s Occult Philofophy ftrengthened 
the delufion, although that celebrated man did not cre¬ 
dit the povtrnr of forcerers. He believed indeed in magic, 
but it was on the principle generally allowed at that 
time, that there was an exaft conformity between the 
vifible and invifible worlds, confequently a poflibility of 
affecting- what is unfeen, by its fvmpathy with the natu¬ 
ral fubject, on which the magician operates. He alfo 
believed it poffible to eftnblilh a commerce with angels. 
But the fourth book of the Occult Philofophy, which 
contains the forms for invocating demons, and deferip- 
tions of tlieir different appearances, according to the me¬ 
thod of invocation'employed, is declared by Naude and 
Wierus to be fpurious, as wfel! as the ridiculous treatife 
imputed to Trithemius. Upon the whole, Agrippa ap¬ 
pears in the three fir It books, where he is mod myftical, 
to confide in natural means, or angelic influence. His 
book, however, procured him the character of a forcerer, 
which was confirmed by his keeping a pug-dog with a 
collar, fuppofed to be an imp, and was put beyond all 
doubt by his exerting his influence to fave'a poor wo¬ 
man, accufed of witchcraft, from the flames, at Cologne. 
Wierus, who had ferved Agrippa, gave rife to the firft 
great controverfy on this fubject. His matter had taught 
him humanity, and lie endeavoured, but with too feeble 
a hand, to flop the bloody proceedings of the judges. 
Wierus appears to have been a welUdifpofed weak man, 
with extenfive reading on his fubject, but too narrow¬ 
minded to comprehend it thoroughly. He involved him- 
felf in unfpeakable difficulties, by admitting the action 
of fupernatural powers in certain difeafes, and in poffef- 
fions, while he denied that witches had any concurrence 
in them. He .was weak enough to attempt the explana¬ 
tion of every (tory alleged by his antagonifts, without 
tjueftioning the truth of the faCts; What puzzled him 
moft was the dura materies, that is, the crooked pins, old 
nails, black flannel, and other fubftances, (or varia mate- 
ries,) vomited by the patients. There were three hypo- 
thefes for this phenomenon : 1. That the matter was only 
apparently difeharged, by an illufion; for Grillandus, an 
eminent lawyer, obferved, that when the fubftances vo¬ 
mited were kept for fome days, they began to liquefy, 
and at length difappeared. 2. Or, that the devil en¬ 
larged the pores of the body, fo as to introduce the dura 
materies, and then Hiut them up again ; this was the opi¬ 
nion of Paracelfus, and others. 3. Or, that the devil 
introduced thefe fubftances into the mouth, &c. at the 
very moment when the alii Hants' perceived them. This 
laft opinion was adopted by Wierus, and certainly was a 
nearer approach to truth than the others, as it has been 
found that fecuring a patient’s hands has prevented him 
from vomiting the dura materies, of which his pockets 
were full. A Angle inftance will fliew, however, that 
Wierus was exceffively embarraffed by this hypothefis. 
A girl complained of fudden pain in her fide, and afferted 
that fhe felt a knife flicking in it, which (lie had juft bor¬ 
rowed from her filter ; her relations laughed at this as 
an idle fancy ; but, on the burfting of an abfeefs which 
had formed on the feat of the pain, the point of a knife 
became vifible, and the inftrament was extracted by a 
furgeon from Wolfenbuttel. Wierus, being a phyfician, 
knew very well that a knife fix inches long could npt be 
thrufi into the cellular fubftance without any external 
appearance of wound or htenrorrhage ; therefore he fup- 
pofes the devil to have laid the knife upon the abfeefs, 
fo as to difeoyer the point, but to have concealed the 
handle by an illufion, rcliquam cvjtelli partem prajligiis ve- 
laj/e. But as the knife was ryfly, he believes the demon 
had kept it in fome dunghill, and as its fubftance was 
corroded, he mufi have fteeped it in an acid. This is a 
fufficient fample of his ingenuity! Wierus had a contro¬ 
verfy with a clergyman of Stutgard, named Brentius, on 
the fubjedt of hail-ftorms. Brentius had advanced, in 
a fermon printed in Wierus’s Liber Apolageticus, that al¬ 
though witches did not caufe hail by their own power, 
(for he belieyed it to be of diabolical origin,) and al¬ 
though the devil impofed on them, by making them be¬ 
lieve that to be performed at their defire, which he fltould 
do at any rate, yet they were objedts of punishment, be- 
caufe they had confented to the mifehief. Wierus re¬ 
plied very properly, that the law did not judge of inten¬ 
tions, but of fadts. Brentius rejoined, that the confent 
of a witch to the devil’s exciting a hail-ftorm, was a con - 
natus-pcrfeHhis, which Wierus denied. The peafants con¬ 
tinued to apprehend and procure the condemnation of 
witches, whenever their hay was damaged by hail. Ob- 
ferve the inconfiftency of human reafon ; A perfon who 
has the power of railing violent ftorms, of darting the 
thunder-bolt, arid overturning the dwellings of men, can¬ 
not refeue herlelf from the hands of a petty conftable ! 
Paracelfus allowed that difeafes may be produced by 
witchcraft, that is, by a demon, in compadt with a hu¬ 
man being, Van Helmont alfo believed that demons 
produced difeafes, but that they operated on the mag¬ 
netic fpirit. Paracelfus too was loudly blamed for per¬ 
mitting magical remedies to be ufed, where the difeafe 
was imagined to be demoniacal. He was called a forcerer. 
So difficult was it for a writer at that time to efcape this 
imputation, that Bodinus himfelf was accufed of forcery 
by De Thou. Sennatus, the firft ecledtic philofopher, and 
phyfician of Germany, wrote an exprefs treatife De Faf- 
cinatione. He believed that witches injure in three diffe¬ 
rent ways; per vifum, vocem,. et contaEhim ; and that the 
plague was often occalioned by the compofition of certain 
powders and ointments, of diabolical prefeription. He 
quotes a cafe of witchcraft from Zacutus, a Portuguefe 
phyfician, author of the famous Definition of a Spoon ; 
and mentions a young lady cured of convttlfions, in pre¬ 
fence of Zacutus, by putting a paper cap, filled with 
magical characters, on her head. Dr. Balthafar Han com¬ 
municates to Senoertus the cafe of a lady, who was fub- 
jedt to fudden eruptions of croffes and aftrological cha- 
radters, on different parts of her (kin: it is remarkable 
that Dr. Warburton quotes a iimilar ftory from Ifaac 
Caufabon, to fupport the miracles attending Julian’s 
effort to rebuild the temple of Jerufalem. Mercatus, 
phyfician to Philip II. of Spain, a writer of uncommon 
accuracy and information, appears ftrongly inclined to 
deny the exiftence of fafeinatory difeafes ; but fays he is 
conftrained to acknowledge them for two reafons: firft, 
becaufe the inquilition had decided in favour of their 
reality ; fecondly, becaufe he had feen a very beautiful 
woman break a fteel mirror to pieces, by a fingle glance 
of her eyes, and blaft fome trees by merely looking on 
them, J'olo afpettj! Heurnius did not admit morbid fafei- 
nation, but he came round very ingenioufly to the com¬ 
mon fuperftition.' He finds it recommended to drink 
human blood, and to eat a human liver, for the cure 
of epileply ; thefe remedies he fuppofes to have been 
recommended by witches, who are imagined to be fond 
of human blood. To prove this he quotes Apuleius 
and Philoftratus. Baptifta Porta was not only a de- 
monologift, but a fignaturift, that is, a believer in the 
conformity of tire virtues of plants to certain external 
appearances, fuppofed to be imprefled by guardian an¬ 
gels. The convallaria, or Solomon’s-feal, and fome of 
the ferns, were celebrated remedies of this kind. A dif- 
fertation De Simplicium Signatures was pitblilhed at Rome, 
by Sinibaldo, in 1690. Severinus and Hartmann were 
followers of Paracelfus. Merindol, who flouridied at 
Aix in Provence, about the beginning of the feventeenth 
century, had conliderable practice in fafeinatory difeafes; 
he had the capuchins, the nuns of St. Clare, and. the 
UrfulineSj, 
