Pathetic, indeed, are the records; and none more so than the confessions of these poor creatures, chiefly women and children, during hundreds of years, as to their manner of raising hailstorms and tempests.

Such confessions, by tens of thousands, are still to be found in the judicial records of Germany, and indeed of all Europe.

Typical among these is one on which great stress was laid during ages, and for which the world was first indebted to one of these poor women.

Crazed by the agony of torture, she declared that, returning with a demon through the air from the witches' sabbath, she was dropped upon the earth in the confusion which resulted among the hellish legions when they heard the bells sounding the Ave Maria.

It is sad to note that, after a contribution so valuable to sacred science, the poor woman was condemned to the flames.