the ointment may be veritable poison which on being applied to the skin penetrates it and passes into the inner parts of the person or beast, which is thus killed or made ill by the witch. For doctors write that poisons and venom need not necessarily be taken through the mouth, but can be applied externally; Wier, de praestig. III. 27.and this can be seen any day in the foam of a rabid dog, for if it falls upon a wound or any place from which the skin has been rubbed off, it generally causes death. Card. de Subtilit. lib. 2.The herb Scilla is similarly injurious when rubbed against the skin: and if a man hold Cantharides in his hand it constrains him to piss blood.
The difficulty lies in the question whether the witch can protect himself from the poison of the ointment with which he anoints himself. But if the reader will refer to Chapter 25 he will find that this may easily be done. Similarly, in Chapters 27 and 37 he will find the answer to what I have said concerning Officers of Justice.
Chapter XXIX.
How Witches Afflict with a Wand.
