The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1897-04-02

John Fiske Tells Intsrsstiae Eee,1
About the Old-Tlms cslms.
"wlichcraft Al Salem and Else
where" was the subject q the third
lecture OF the series OF Prof John
Fiske. says the New York Tribune.
Prof. Fiske began bis lecture By citing
al instance which occurred In Nor
mandy IN 1870, when Louis XIV grant
Cd leniency 10 a number o. persons con
victed BY the parliament 81 NORMANDY
q the crime OF witchcraft A remoh-
STRANGE was sent to the crown b the
parliament duplicating his majesty 90
reflect upon the guilt Of these persons.
whose crime was the greatest men
can commit. both az an oifenao a8ainat
the glory Of God and a menace AGAINST
the good and even lives Of their fai-
low-men. Louis was TOO well Tersed
IN the etiquette Of the highest court
10 reverse his decision. and the offend
ers escape death. but the incident
serves 10 show the attitude Of the lead
ers Of that time toward the supposed
crime belief IN witchcraft." said the
lecturer. was shared BY the whole hu-
man race from the earliest time down
20 the seventeenth century. Tribes o.
people have been found living In a state
OF extreme harbarlsm. and Il IL BE-
lleycd BY travellers that they were Ut
terly without ideas OF religion; atiil.
even among these there was a atro1E
belief In the supernatural In human
form. According 10 the PAGAN idea the
first association OF death and all evil
was with some similar agency. They
had no conception Of natural deceaae
all death was murder through some
superhuman power This belief IN
witchcraft was deeply rooted and ac-
cepted By all without question. This
belief now IL entirely extinct among
educated people. What. then. caused
this change2 II Il not argument a
powerful cause has been az
work. and Il Il the gisantic
development OF physical science
since the days OF Newton and
Deaeartes. This new force supplantod
superstition IN the minds OF the peo-
pie. just as clover viii choka out
weeda" Relating TO evidences. Mr..
Fiske told OF several Instances which
showed the power Of the belief In the
old world long before the famous Sa-
lem witchcraft IN the new. One Of
the frat recorded was the trial Of two
old women IN England for bewitchlng
six girls and an infant boy. The child
being ~. the mother suspected 4 Of
being a victim OF witchcraft-the mogt
natural superstition AZ that time. She
consulted a country physician. Who ad-
gised her 20 hang the childa crib hlan-
ket up during the day and n abe found
anything strange about Il 20 throw u
In the Gre. She did 30 and when she
looked Al the blanket found q frog
on H. When thrown IN the Ere e
bla1ed suddenly. then vanished with a
queer noise. AZ the same hour one OF
the old women. sitting before the IRE.
had her face scorched. which lmmetI-
ntely aroused suspicion against her.
About the same time the other chill
dren were seized with pains. causing
convulsions and other such symptoms
Of evil practice. upon which the two
old women suspected were tried. con-
victed and hanged During the mid
die ages the executions for vitchcraft
were numerous The last sentences %
death for wiichcraft occurred In Eng
land In i7i2. In Scotland n i111. IN
Germany IN i7fs and IN Spain IN i1si.
In this country the FIRST accused Of
wiichcraft was Margaret Jones. AZ
Charlestown. who aroused suspicion By
her opposition 10 the usual forms Of
medicinal practice. such a. bleeding
and leeches. and who effected remedies
through the means Of simple herba