(377) For John Locke, see King's Life of Locke, pp. 326, 327. For
Wesley, out of his almost innumerable writings bearing on the subject,
I may select the sermon on Evil Angels, and his Letter to Dr. Middleton;
and in his collected works, there are many striking statements and
arguments, especially in vols. iii, vi, and ix. See also Tyerman's Life
of Wesley, vol. ii, pp. 260 et seq. Luther's great hymn, Ein' feste
Burg, remained, of course, a prominent exception to the rule; but a
popular proverb came to express the general feeling: "Auf Teufel reimt
sich Zweifel." See Langin, as above, pp. 545, 546.

In Austria, the government set Dr. Antonio Haen at making careful
researches into the causes of diabolic possession. He did not think it
best, in view of the power of the Church, to dispute the possibility
or probability of such cases, but simply decided, after thorough
investigation, that out of the many cases which had been brought to him,
not one supported the belief in demoniacal influence. An attempt was
made to follow up this examination, and much was done by men like
Francke and Van Swieten, and especially by the reforming emperor, Joseph
II, to rescue men and women who would otherwise have fallen victims to
the prevalent superstition. Unfortunately, Joseph had arrayed against
himself the whole power of the Church, and most of his good efforts
seemed brought to naught. But what the noblest of the old race of German
emperors could not do suddenly, the German men of science did gradually.
Quietly and thoroughly, by proofs that could not be gainsaid, they
recovered the old scientific fact established in pagan Greece and Rome,
that madness is simply physical disease. But they now established it on
a basis that can never again be shaken; for, in post-mortem examinations
of large numbers of "possessed" persons, they found evidence of
brain-disease. Typical is a case at Hamburg in 1729. An afflicted woman
showed in a high degree all the recognised characteristics of diabolic
possession: exorcisms, preachings, and sanctified remedies of every sort
were tried in vain; milder medical means were then tried, and she so far
recovered that she was allowed to take the communion before she died:
the autopsy, held in the presence of fifteen physicians and a public
notary, showed it to be simply a case of chronic meningitis. The work of
German men of science in this field is noble indeed; a great succession,
from Wier to Virchow, h