Page:Illustrations of Madness.djvu/56

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illustrations of madness.
35

from the real subject of his thoughts, and which is seized upon as the desired information by the person sucking ; whilst he of the gang who has forced the thought on the person assailed, laughs in his sleeve at the imposition he has practised.

Laugh-making consists in forcing the magnetic fluid, rarified and subtilized, on the vitals, [vital touching] so that the muscles of the face become screwed into a laugh or grin.

Poking, or pushing up the quicksilver.—When the person assailed possesses an intellect sufficiently strong to be conscious of his impregnation, he naturally revolts at the atrocities practised upon him by the workers of this infernal machine, and becomes prompted to express his indignation at their perfidy. While in the act, as he supposes, of venting the burst of indigna-