ABSTRACT
The Conclusion summarizes the analyses of the work of Joseph Glanvill, Rector of the Abbey at Bath, Chaplain in ordinary to King Charles II and Fellow of the Royal Society of London, undertaken in this book. In so doing, the Conclusion reinforces the cohesive and coherent philosophical method which provided the foundation for Glanvill’s theological and metaphysical works, and his investigations into witchcraft. It also emphasizes the importance of this methodology to the prolonged influence of Glanvill’s work on witchcraft, best known by the titles A Blow at Modern Sadducism (1668) and Saducismus triumphatus (1681). The significance of Glanvill’s poisonous vapours hypothesis as a demonstration of this philosophical approach is again reaffirmed as evidence of Glanvill’s attempt to launch a scientific study of witchcraft and the interactions between Glanvill and other influential Fellows of the Royal Society (especially Henry More, Robert Boyle, John Beale and Henry Oldenburg) in the development of this method are also summarized here. Glanvill’s success associating his approach to witchcraft with the emerging scientific outlook is reaffirmed as the key factor that made the Saducismus a central text in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century debates over the existence of witchcraft and its relationship to natural and experimental philosophy.
