Obsessively devoted to their cause, the medical community had first convinced the county heads, and their church officials, that they must increase their vigilance in the watch for any lunatics lying hidden in their boroughs; in turn, the counties and churches instructed their flocks, commoners and gentry alike, to observe their fellow citizens for any sign of madness—any small deviance from the social norm. Ripe for a panic, the public has complied.
