Doubt II. Are there more witches in

Germany?

Doctors also teach us that livestock, no less than humans, are subject to their own diseases; they explain that many new ailments often appear in humans and cattle which have not yet been sufficiently investigated even by the physicians themselves. They tell us that many wonders lie hidden in nature which, from time to time, bring themselves to light, to the great astonishment of those who are ignorant of nature's riches. Indeed, they argue that not even the most learned man of all past centuries has been able to fully grasp the whole power of nature through his investigations, and so on.

Thus say the doctors. Yet, should anything of this sort show itself in Germany—especially among the country folk original: "Paganos," which in this legal and social context refers to rural villagers or peasants rather than non-Christians—if some plague should invade the livestock, or if the sky should be disturbed and rage quite violently A reference to sudden, destructive storms often attributed to "weather-making" by witches, or if a doctor is stumped by the nature of some new disease, or if a very old disease does not quickly yield to the medical art; in short, if anything sinister of any kind happens that is considered out of the ordinary, we are immediately led—by I know not what levity, superstition, or ignorance—to turn our minds toward sorcery (original: maleficia) and cast the blame upon witches (original: Sagas).

In such moments, we cry out that we hold the entire source of the matter in our hands. Then, indeed, if we see any woman who happens to be passing by, standing near, or arriving on the scene, who is doing this or that by mere chance...