Page:Illustrations of Madness.djvu/58

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illustrations of madness.
37

the blood-vessels, and the gaz which occupies the stomach and intestines, become highly rarified and rendered inflammable, occasioning a very painful distension over the whole body. Whilst the assailed person is thus labouring, a powerful charge of the electrical battery (which they employ for this purpose ) is let off, which produces a terrible explosion, and lacerates the whole system. A horrid crash is heard in the head, and if the shock do not prove instantly fatal, the party only recovers to express his astonishment that he has survived the murderous attempt.

Gaz-plucking is the extraction of magnetic fluid from a person assailed, such fluid having been rarified and sublimed by its continuance in the stomach and intestines. This gaz is in great request, and considered as the most valuable for the infernal purposes of these wretches. They contrive, in a