cannot comprehend, he often imagines himself the victim of
witchcraft, and having no faith in "white folks' physic" for
such ailments, must apply to one of these quacks. A
physician residing near the city [Richmond] was invited by
such a one to witness his mode of procedure with a dropsical
patient for whom the physician in question had occasionally
charitably prescribed. Curiosity led him to attend the
seance, having previously informed the quack that since the
case was in such hands he relinquished all connection with
it. On the coverlet of the bed on which the sick man lay,
was spread a quantity of bones, feathers, and other trash.
The charlatan went through with a series of so-called
conjurations, burned feathers, hair, and tiny fragments of
wood in a charcoal furnace, and mumbled gibberish past the
physician's comprehension. He then proceeded to rip open the
pillows and bolsters, and took from them some queer
conglomerations of feathers. These he said had caused all
the trouble. Sprinkling a whitish powder over them, he burnt
them in his furnace. A black offensive smoke was produced,
and he announced triumphantly that the evil influence was
destroyed, and that the patient would surely get well. He
died not many days later, believing, in common with his
friends and relatives, that the conjurations of the "trick
doctor" had failed to save him only because resorted to too
late.

From the above it is evident that the natural tendency of wool and
feathers to felt and clog together, has been distorted, by widely
different peoples, into an outward and visible sign that occult and
malignant influences were at work.

* * * * *

As to the manner in which wizards and witches were put to the question
in Guernsey--that is tortured until they confessed whatever was
required of them--Mr. Warburton, a herald and celebrated antiquary who
wrote in the reign of Charles II., has given a circumstancial account,
the correctness of which may be relied on. His _Treatise on the
History, Laws and Customs of the Island of Guernsey_, bears the date
of 1682, and at page 126 he says:--

By the law approved (_Terrien_, Lib. xii. cap. 37), torture
is to be used, though not upon slight presumption, yet where
the presumptive proof is strong, and much more when the
proof is