fevers of the body as he pleases? And as for the balls of hair, the Devil causes the victim to swallow these hairs separately; and then, since he can insinuate himself into all parts of the body, he makes with them such balls and tresses inside the body.
But with regard to other matters which the body is not capable of receiving, such as knives, iron tools, and nails, I have no doubt that the Devil brings them from elsewhere and mingles them with that which the bewitched person vomits or voids, so skilfully that it appears to us that they come from the person’s body.
These matters are also found on bed mattresses, or elsewhere in some corner of the house, or under the threshold of the door. Some say that these are charms, sortileges, or magic spells, and will not be satisfied until they are found, holding that until then the illness or devil will not leave the bewitched person. But although I would not deny that it is well done to search for such matters, and chiefly to purge the sick man of them, yet I confidently assert that it is superstition to believe that the patient cannot be healed if they are not found. And I prove this by the example of St. Hilarion, who, having a possessed girl in hand, would not allow anyone to remove the blade which a young man had, at the suggestion of Satan, buried under the threshold of a door, although the Devil cried out that he would not depart until this blade was removed; and yet the girl did not fail to be delivered.
I would add here that it is a great sign that the person is bewitched when he thus voids iron tools, stones, hairs and other such matters. So is it also when a person languishes to death. For
