FOUR WITCHES AND DR. HARVEY

Shannon News, 7 December 1926, Page 4

FOUR WITCHES AND DR. HARVEY

A "HUGE PACK" DISCOVERED. Everyone interested in medical science knows that it was a certain Dr. William Harvey who first discovered the circulation of the blood, but Tew know that this same learned man was also employed in the strange role of smeilcr-out of. witches. The story of his association with witches is told in the "British Medical Journal" by Dr. *H. A. Clowes. It seems that "a huge pack" of witches was discovered in Northern England in 1634. They were hunted; and seven of them caught, and thrown into prison, accused, among othcV things, of having caused a storm "wherein His Majesty was in so great danger at sea in Scotland.'" Three of the unfortunates . died in prison, and it was decided to send the remaining four to London, there to undergo a medical examination in order to decide whether they really were witches. Spiritually, they had been found guilty, the ' Bishop of Chester, who examined them, recording that there was no doubt whatsoever that intimate relations existed between thorn ' and the Devil. •With his knowledge, his science, was Harvey able to escape from the beliefs of the early part of the seventeenth century, in which ho lived? He could not, at any rate, escape serving as a medical examiner for witchcraft. To "The Shippc Tavernc," where the witches awaited them,' went six learned doctors, among them "Mr Dr. Harvey." After due investigation tho doctors j found the witches innocent, and, in spite of the Bishop of Chester's evi- ' dence, the Council of State refused to prosecuto them and they were given their liberty. So one is left to wonder what part William Harvey played in their acAuittal. Did, the man whom history records as being so unemotional that while the battle of Edgehill; i-aged he retired under a hedge, took a book out of his pocket and read, really believe in the evil influences of witches over the destinies of mankind? There is a ' chance that he did not. He not, according to Dr. Clowes, actually sign the medical report declaring the women innocent of witchcraft There is nothing to show that the ('great doctor shared in the views of his age.