Page:Illustrations of Madness.djvu/53

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illustrations of madness.

tention to the exclusion of other thoughts. He is, during the whole time, conscious that the kited idea is extraneous, and does not belong to the train of his own cogitations.

Sudden death-squeezing ; by them termed Lobster-cracking.—This is an external pressure of the magnetic atmosphere surrounding the person assailed, so as to stagnate his circulation, impede his vital motions, and produce instant death.

“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 pair 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.”