ABSTRACT

The inadequacy of characterizing Napier, or any of his contemporaries, simply as a superstitious traditionalist or a progressive rationalist is nevertheless evident from his records. He accepted both traditional beliefs in witchcraft and magic and new arguments against their indiscriminate application. He regarded magic and science. as alternative methods of evaluating individual cases, and did not view them as antagonistic belief systems. Depending upon the circumstances of a particular case, he emphasized either the natural or the supernatural causes of his client's

symptoms. The methods of divination he used no doubt strengthened his confidence in the judgements he made, but they do not seem to have determined them.32