Hi, you've asked an incomplete question. Here are the paragraphs under consideration from (The Lesson of Salem: Taken from Newsweek, August 31, 1992, by Laura Shapiro):
<em>"Today many scholars believe it was clinical hysteria that set off the girls in Tituba's kitchen. Fits, convulsions, vocal outbursts, feelings of being pinched and bitten-all of these symptoms have been witnessed and described, most often in young women, for centuries.</em>
<em>Sometimes the seizures have been attributed to Satan, other times to God, but ever since Freud weighed in, hysteria has been traced to the unconscious. As Dr. Richard Pohl, of Salem Hospital, told a Tercentenary symposium, hysteria "can mimic all the physical diseases known to man," and occurs when repressed thoughts and emotions burst forth and take over the body. Life could be dreary for girls in 17th-century Salem: their place was home and their duty was obedience; many were illiterate, and there were few outlets for a youthful imagination except in the grim lessons of Puritan theology. Dabbling in magic in the reverend's own kitchen would have been wonderfully scary, perhaps enough to release psychic demons lurking since childhood.</em>
<u>Explanation:</u>
From the text above we could observe that the author tries to give a medical explanation of what happened in Salem so as not to put the blame entirely on the girls.
Remember, in Salem, many women were accused of deliberately practicing witchcraft. However, by quoting a medical professional (<em>Dr. Richard Pohl, of Salem Hospital), commenting</em> about the medical condition "hysteria", who said, <em>"hysteria "can mimic all the physical diseases known to man," </em>In other words, <em>the women were mere victims of emotional and psychological distresses.</em>
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