Nor was it entirely his devotion to rational liberty, nor even his disbelief in the doctrine of the Trinity, which brought on this catastrophe.

That there was a deep distrust of his scientific pursuits, was evident when the leaders of the mob took pains to use his electrical apparatus to set fire to his papers.
Still, though theological modes of thought continued to sterilize much effort in chemistry, the old influence was more and more thrown off, and truth sought more and more for truth's sake.

"Black magic" with its Satanic machinery vanished, only reappearing occasionally among marvel-mongers and belated theologians.

"White magic" became legerdemain.
In the early years of the nineteenth century, physical research, though it went on with ever-increasing vigour, felt in various ways the reaction which followed the French Revolution.

It was not merely under the Bourbons and Hapsburgs that resistance was offered; even in England the old spirit lingered long.