ays.

Had this been the worst treatment of lunatics developed in the
theological atmosphere of the Middle Ages, the world would have
been spared some of the most terrible chapters in its history; but,
unfortunately, the idea of the Satanic possession of lunatics led to
attempts to punish the indwelling demon. As this theological theory and
practice became more fully developed, and ecclesiasticism more powerful
to enforce it, all mildness began to disappear; the admonitions
to gentle treatment by the great pagan and Moslem physicians were
forgotten, and the treatment of lunatics tended more and more toward
severity: more and more generally it was felt that cruelty to madmen was
punishment of the devil residing within or acting upon them.

A few strong churchmen and laymen made efforts to resist this tendency.
As far back as the fourth century, Nemesius, Bishop of Emesa,
accepted the truth as developed by pagan physicians, and aided them
in strengthening it. In the seventh century, a Lombard code embodied a
similar effort. In the eighth century, one of Charlemagne's capitularies
seems to have had a like purpose. In the ninth century, that great
churchman and statesman, Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons, superior to his
time in this as in so many other things, tried to make right reason
prevail in this field; and, near the beginning of the tenth century,
Regino, Abbot of Prum, in the diocese of Treves, insisted on treating
possession as disease. But all in vain; the current streaming most
directly from sundry texts in the Christian sacred books, and swollen by
theology, had become overwhelming.(347)

(347) For a very thorough and interesting statement on the general
subject, see Kirchhoff, Beziehungen des Damonen- und Hexenwesens zur
deutschen Irrenpflege in the Allgemeine Zeitschrift fur Psychiatrie,
Berlin, 1888, Bd. xliv, Heft 25. For Roman Catholic authority, see Addis
and Arnold, Catholic Dictionary, article Energumens. For a brief and
eloquent summary, see Krefft-Ebing, Lehrbuch der Psychiatrie, as above;
and for a clear view of the transition from pagan mildness in the care
of the insane to severity and cruelty under the Christian Church, see
Maudsley, The Pathology of the Mind, London, 1879, p. 523. See also
Buchmann, Die undfreie und die freie Kirche, Bresleau, 1873, p. 251.
For other citations, see Kirchoff, as above, pp. 334-346. For Bishop
Nemesius, see Trelat, p. 48. For an account of Agobard's general