P.15 Madness being the opposite to reason and good sense, as light is to
darkness, straight to crooked, &c. it appears wonderful that two opposite
opinions could be entertained on the subject : allowing each party to
possess the ordinary faculties common to human beings in a sound and
healthy state, yet such is really the fact : and if one part be right, the
other must be wrong : because a person cannot correctly be said to be in
his senses and out of his senses at the same time.
P.19 Mr. M, insists that in some apartment near London Wall, there is a
gang of villains profoundly skilled in Pneumatic Chesmistry, who assail
him by means of an Air Loom. A description of this formidable instrument
will be give hereafter ;
P.21 The principal of this crew, is named Bill, or the King : he formerly
surpassed the rest in skill, and in the dexterity with which he worked the
machine : he is about 64 or 5 years of age, and in person resembles the
late Dr. De Valangin, but his features are coarser ;
P.22 The next in order, is a being called Jack the Schoolmaster, who is
the short-hand-writer to the gang : he styles himself the recorder ;
somewhat tall, and about 60 years of age. It is not well ascertained if he
wear a wig, but he generally appears in the act of shoving his wig back
with his forefinger, and frequently says, “So you shall, when you can
ketch(catch) us at it.” Sometimes he says, “I’m to see fair play,” and
makes a merriment of the business. Jack has very seldom worked the
machine.
P.28 Seminal fluid, male and female — Effluvia of copper — ditto of
sulphur — the vapours of vitriol and aqua fortis — ditto of nightshade and
hellebore — effluvia of dogs — stinking human breath — putrid effluvia —
ditto of mortification and of the plague — stench of the cesspool — gaz
from the anus of the horse — human gaz — gaz of the horse’s greasy heels —
Egyptian snuff, (this is a dusty vapour, extremely nauseous, but its
composition has not been hitherto ascertained*) — vapour and effluvia of
arsenic — poison of toad — otto of roses and of carnation.
P.30 Cutting soul from sense. — A spreading of the magnetic warp, chilled
in its expansion, from the root of the nose, diffused under the basis of
the brain, as if a veil were interposed ; so that the sentiments of the
heart can have no communication with the operations of the intellect.
P.32 “In short, I do not know any better way for a person to comprehend
the general nature of such lobster-cracking operation, than by supposing
himself in a sufficiently large pari of nut-crackers or lobster-crackers,
with teeth, which should pierce as well as press him through every
particle within and without ; he experiencing the whole stress, torture,
driving, oppressing, and crush all together.”
P.33 Apoplexy-working with the nutmeg-grater
P.33 Lengthening the brain. — As the cylindrical mirror lengthens the
countenance of the person who views himself in such glass, so the
assailants have a method by which they contrive to elongate the brain. The
effect produced by this process is a distortion of any idea in the mind,
whereby that which had been considered as most serious becomes an object
of ridicule. All thoughts are made to assume a grotesque interpretation ;
and the person assailed is surprised that his fixed and solemn opinions
should take a form which compels him to distrust their identity, and
forces him to laugh at the most important subjects. It can cause good
sense to appear as insanity, and convert truth into a libel ; distort the
wisest institutions of civilised society into the practices of barbarians,
and strain the Bible into a jest book.
P.40 Even during sleep they contrive to annoy him with their
dream-workings, which consist in the power they exert of forcing their
phantoms and grotesque images on his languid intellect. These assassins
hold in their possession puppets of uncouth shape, and of various
descriptions ; by looking steadily at which they can throw the form into
his brain, and thus render the perception more vivid tot he dreamer ; and
the crafty solicitude with which they glean his waking opinions on the
mysteries which, during the night, have danced in his imagination, is both
wonderful and distressing.