UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library has sent out a warning to trick-or-treaters who might be feeling a tad bit queasy after tonight. Probably too much candy, right? Or perhaps the problem has a more – strike up the spooky music – dastardly origin.
To rule out the possibility that sorcery or witchcraft is the culprit, consult a 1665 book in the Clark’s collection, the librarians there are suggesting. Written by 17th century physician and apothecary William Drage, it is entitled (in full) “Daimonomageia. A Small Treatise of Sicknesses and Diseases from Witchcraft and Supernatural Causes. Never before, at least in this comprised Order, and general Manner, was the like published. Being useful to others besides Physicians, In that it Confutes Atheistical, Sadducitical, and Sceptical Principles and Imaginations.”
In it, the author sets out to enumerate, quantify and generally elucidate evidence of witchcraft and necromancy.
Katherine Monroe, a student library assistant at the Clark and first-year library student, provides this summary just in time for post-Halloween sufferers. Diagnosis away!
