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232 Scientific investigation, with the meaning which is now given to these words, was never applied to the phenomena. Drake does not exaggerate when he declares that, daring the period, "if anything occurred, the origin or reason of which was neither understood nor comprehended, and appeared stranger than usual, the mind instead of investigating fell back upon the ever-ready and easy solution that such was caused by witchcraft." There were a few doubters; but they seldom obtained access to primary sources of information, and when they did were denounced as "Sadducees," "defenders of witches," or "agents of the devil." So strong was this influence that certain clergymen who plainly did not approve the proceedings, were compelled to reaffirm continually their belief in witchcraft, and to protest against being considered defenders of witches. If persons became aggressive in the defense of the accused they were cried out upon by the accusers, and a mortal terror of the consequences led many to avoid being present at the investigation.

Electricity, magnetism, and the action of gases, as well as meteorological phenomena, were imperfectly understood in the times of the epidemic of witchcraft. Many mysteries then inscrutable could now be easily explained. The science of bacteriology, a discovery of the present generation, illustrates many of the facts which, being misunderstood, were supposed to indicate the presence of the devil, and to be the results of witchcraft. Dr. Prudden's "Story of the Bacteria, and their Relations to Health and Disease" gives many instances, and a circumstance easily explained recently occurred which two hundred years ago might have been the means of the death of many. Some time since there was brought to the physiological and pathological laboratory of the Alumni