[42] The remark, sometimes heard, that Calvinism was especially responsible for witch trials is a loose assertion which has to reckon with the fact that the last burning for witchcraft at Geneva took place in 1652 (see Paul Ladame, Procès criminel de la dernière Sorcière brulée à Genève, Paris, 1888).
[43] Compare Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, Part I, section 2, member 1, subsection 3:—“Many deny Witches at all, or if there be any, they can doe no harme: of this opinion is Wierus, lib. 3. cap. 53, de præstig. dæm. Austin Lerchemer, a Dutch writer, Biarmanus, Ewichius, Euwaldus, our countryman Scot ... but on the contrary are most Lawyers, Diuines, Physitians, Philosophers.”
[44] Wier’s great work, De Praestigiis Dæmonum, was published in 1563, and was afterwards much enlarged. It went through many editions.
[45] See the extraordinary list in William Drage, Daimonomageia. A Small Treatise of Sicknesses and Diseases from Witchcraft, and Supernatural Causes, 1665. Webster considers this subject at length in Chap. xii of his Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, 1677, with a full discussion of van Helmont’s views. Cf. Henry More, Antidote against Atheism, Chaps. 4-5 (Philosophical Writings, 2d ed., 1662, pp. 97 ff.).
[46] “Ea dæmonis subtilitate uelocitateque imperceptibili, ori ingesta, nostris ad hæc oculis uel celeritate eius uictis, uel fascino delusis, uel interiecto corpore aereo aut aliter motis eo intus uel foris uel utrinque humoribus aut spiritu caligantibus.” De Præstigiis Dæmonum (Basileæ, 1568), iv, 2, pp. 352-353.
[47] Even Bekker (see p. 35, below), who approaches the subject from the philosophical direction, and whose logical process is different from Wier’s, is greatly indebted to him.
[48] Compare the fate of Bekker in 1692 (p. 39).
[49] A Treatise proving Spirits, Witches and Supernatural Operations, 1672, p. 35.
[50] The same, p. 46.
[51] Dæmonologie, Workes, 1616, p. 92. On Wier in general, see Carl Binz, Doctor Johann Weyer, ein rheinischer Arst, der erste Bekämpfer des Hexenwahns, Berlin, 1896.