CLEP Western Civ II

Answer: C - The decline of witchcraft trials in 17^th-century Europe indicates that superstition was giving way to science. By 1650, witchcraft trials were on the decline (with the exception of the American colonies, where they would remain visible until the early 1700s). As science provided a new vocabulary for explaining previously mysterious occurrences, witchcraft trials faded from the European landscape. While the astrolabe does indicate the rise of science, it came into use in the 15th century as a result of the science of the Renaissance.