"
Thus the horror of magic and witchcraft increased on every hand,
and in 1317 Pope John XXII issued his bull _Spondent pariter_,
levelled at the alchemists, but really dealing a terrible blow
at the beginnings of chemical science. That many alchemists were
knavish is no doubt true, but no infallibility in separating the
evil from the good was shown by the papacy in this matter. In
this and in sundry other bulls and briefs we find Pope John, by
virtue of his infallibility as the world's instructor in all
that pertains to faith and morals, condemning real science and
pseudo-science alike. In two of these documents, supposed to be
inspired by wisdom from on high, he complains that both he and
his flock are in danger of their lives by the arts of the
sorcerers; he declares that such sorcerers can send devils into
mirrors and finger rings, and kill men and women by a magic
word; that they had tried to kill him by piercing a waxen image
of him with needles in the name of the devil. He therefore
called on all rulers, secular and ecclesiastical, to hunt down
the miscreants who thus afflicted the faithful, and he
especially increased the powers of inquisitors in various parts
of Europe for this purpose.
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