Well-authenticated, though rarer than is often believed,
were the cases where crazed women voluntarily accused themselves
of this impossible crime. One of the most eminent authorities on
diseases of the mind declares that among the unfortunate beings
who were put to death for witchcraft he recognises well-marked
victims of cerebral disorders; while an equally eminent authority
in Germany tells us that, in a most careful study of the original
records of their trials by torture, he has often found their
answers and recorded conversations exactly like those familiar to
him in our modern lunatic asylums, and names some forms of
insanity which constantly and un mistakably appear among those
who suffered for criminal dealings with the devil.[[119]]
The result of this widespread terror was naturally, therefore,
a steady increase in mental disorders. A great modern
authority tells us that, although modern civilization tends to
increase insanity, the number of lunatics at present is far less
than in the ages of faith and in the Reformation period.
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