On July 5, 1687, Isaac Newton published his theory of universal gravitation in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Yet the theory was not immediately accepted, and he was still promoting it in 1692.
Contrary to what most people believed—that science existed to dispel "superstition"—Newton wrote in a reply to the British clergyman Bentley in 1692: "When I wrote my treatise on the system of the universe, I paid particular attention to those principles capable of convincing thoughtful people of God's existence. Nothing could have pleased me more than discovering that my work was useful for that purpose."
In other words, Newton believed universal gravitation was a mathematical principle that could make people believe in God. Otherwise, his doctrine would have long been banned by the Church, just like Copernicus's heliocentric theory.
The Salem witch trials took place during the reign of William III and Mary II, around the same time that the International Statute of Secrecy was issued. Wizarding delegations had tried to persuade the monarchs to pass laws forbidding the persecution of witches, but for some unknown reason, the monarchs refused.
If they did not believe in witchcraft, then, as the title page of the Malleus Maleficarum said, disbelief in witchcraft was the greatest heresy.
Witchcraft and religion had a symbiotic relationship. Without mysterious things, there could be no faith. Yet the cruelty and madness of witch persecution had already caused some rational people to question whether witchcraft was real—whether witches truly existed, or whether someone was merely using that excuse to wreak havoc upon the world.
Witches became a topic of discussion among the elite, scholars, and learned clergymen.
While continental Europe busied itself discussing such matters, the Americas continued hunting witches. Hunters inevitably needed hunting hounds. Beside Orion in the sky were Canes Venatici, Canis Minor, and