ocations and ceremonies, could turn
the faces of their enemies upside down, or twist them round to their
backs. Although no witness was ever procured who saw persons in this
horrible state, the witches confessed that they had the power, and
exercised it. Nothing more was wanting to insure the stake.

At Amsterdam a crazy girl confessed that she could cause sterility in
cattle, and bewitch pigs and poultry by merely repeating the magic
words Turius und Shurius Inturius! She was hanged and burned. Another
woman in the same city, named Kornelis Van Purmerund, was arrested in
consequence of some disclosures the former had made. A witness came
forward and swore that she one day looked through the window of her
hut, and saw Kornelis sitting before a fire muttering something to the
devil. She was sure it was to the devil, because she heard him answer
her. Shortly afterwards twelve black cats ascended out of the floor,
and danced on their hind legs around the witch for the space of about
half an hour. They then vanished with a horrid noise, and leaving a
disagreeable smell behind them. She also was hanged and burned.

At Bamberg, in Bavaria, the executions from the year 1610 to 1640 were
at the rate of about a hundred annually. One woman, suspected of
witchcraft, was seized because, having immoderately praised the beauty
of a child, it had shortly afterwards fallen ill and died. She
confessed upon the rack that the devil had given her the power to work
evil upon those she hated, by speaking words in their praise. If she
said with unwonted fervour, "What a strong man!" "What a lovely woman!"
"What a sweet child!" the devil understood her, and afflicted them with
diseases immediately. It is quite unnecessary to state the end of this
poor creature. Many women were executed for causing strange substances
to lodge in the bodies of those who offended them. Bits of wood, nails,
hair, eggshells, bits of glass, shreds of linen and woollen cloth,
pebbles, and even hot cinders and knives, were the articles generally
chosen. These were believed to remain in the body till the witches
confessed or were executed, when they were voided from the bowels, or
by the mouth, nostrils, or ears. Modern physicians have often had cases
of a similar description under their care, where girls have swallowed
needles, which have been voided on the arms, legs, and other parts of
the body. But the science of that day could not account for these
phenomena othe