The physician and witchcraft in restoration England.

THE YEAR of 1660 witnessed important political and scientific developments in England. The restoration of the monarchy and the Church of England occurred with the return of Charles II after the dissolution of the Commonwealth and the Puritan influence. The Royal Society, after informal meetings for nearly fifteen years, was established as a scientific organization in 1660 and received its Royal Charter in 1662. During the English revolution, and for a short time during the Commonwealth, interest in witchcraft mounted. Between 1645 and 1646 Matthew Hopkins acquired the reputation as the most notorious witch-finder in the history of England.I His activities in Essex and the other eastern counties led to the execution of as many as 200 witches. In Suffolk it is estimated that he was responsible for arresting at least 124 persons for witchcraft, of whom 68 were hanged. The excesses soon led to a reaction and Hopkins lost his influence, and died shortly thereafter in 1646. There then was a continuing decline in witchcraft persecutions, and an increasing scepticism toward the phenomena of witchcraft was expressed. Scepticism was best exemplified in Thomas Hobbes' (1588-1679) Leviathan, published in 1651.2 Hobbes presented a materialistic philosophy, emphasizing change occurring in motion, the material nature of mental activity, the elimination of final causes, and the rejection of the reality of spirit. He decried the belief in witchcraft and the supematural, emphasizing throughout a naturalistic and materialistic philosophy. Many believed that his approach sorely tried the religious philosophy and faith of the time, and much criticism of Hobbes was forthcoming.8 The Aristotelian interpretation of the natural sciences and the scholastic philosophy which dominated the universities were actively attacked in a pamphlet Academiarwn Examen by John Webster (1610-1682) in 1654.' Webster professed to follow Bacon and pressed for a new system which seemed to embody Bacon's approach to science, although he wanted to combine 'the new philosophy' with alchemical, astrological and various occult ideas. Joseph Glanvill (1636-1680) in 1661 in The Vanity of