preserved in the
cathedral there--especially the handkerchief of Christ--the devil was
cast out and she was cured. Naturally, much was said of the affair among
the peasantry, and soon other cases began to show themselves. The priest
at Morzine attempted to quiet the matter by avowing his disbelief in
such cases of possession; but immediately a great outcry was raised
against him, especially by the possessed themselves. The matter was
now widely discussed, and the malady spread rapidly; myth-making and
wonder-mongering began; amazing accounts were thus developed and sent
out to the world. The afflicted were said to have climbed trees like
squirrels; to have shown superhuman strength; to have exercised the gift
of tongues, speaking in German, Latin, and even in Arabic; to have
given accounts of historical events they had never heard of; and to have
revealed the secret thoughts of persons about them. Mingled with such
exhibitions of power were outbursts of blasphemy and obscenity.

But suddenly came something more miraculous, apparently, than all
these wonders. Without any assigned cause, this epidemic of possession
diminished and the devil disappeared.

Not long after this, Prof. Tissot, an eminent member of the medical
faculty at Dijon, visited the spot and began a series of researches, of
which he afterward published a full account. He tells us that he found
some reasons for the sudden departure of Satan which had never been
published. He discovered that the Government had quietly removed one or
two very zealous ecclesiastics to another parish, had sent the police
to Morzine to maintain order, and had given instructions that those
who acted outrageously should be simply treated as lunatics and sent
to asylums. This policy, so accordant with French methods of
administration, cast out the devil: the possessed were mainly cured, and
the matter appeared ended.

But Dr. Tissot found a few of the diseased still remaining, and he soon
satisfied himself by various investigations and experiments that they
were simply suffering from hysteria. One of his investigations is
especially curious. In order to observe the patients more carefully, he
invited some of them to dine with him, gave them without their knowledge
holy water in their wine or their food, and found that it produced no
effect whatever, though its results upon the demons when the possessed
knew of its presence had been very marked. Even after large draughts of
holy