The historian David Wooton reminds us of the type of knowledge that a typical educated Englishman had, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution: “He believes witches can summon up storms that sink ships at sea… he believes in werewolves, although there happen not to be any in England – he knows they are to be found in Belgium… he believes Circe really did turn Odysseus’ crew into pigs. He believes mice are spontaneously generated in piles of straw. He believes in contemporary magicians… He has a unicorn’s horn, but not a unicorn He believes that a murdered body will bleed in the presence of the murderer. He believes that there is an ointment which, if rubbed on a dagger which has caused a wound, will cure a wound. He believes that the shape, color and texture of a plant can be a clue to how it will work as a medicine because God designed nature to be interpreted by mankind vacuum. He believes the rainbow is a sign from God and that comest bringing evil. He believes that dreams predict the future, if we know how to interpret them. He believes, of course, that the earth stands still and the sun and stars turn around the earth once every twenty-four hours.”
