Page:Illustrations of Madness.djvu/75

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54
illustrations of madness.

fixed to the chair of Comus, or the harmless fly is enveloped in the shroud of the spider.

In order to ascertain whether a person be impregnated, let him, fasting, imitate the act of swallowing, and if he should perceive a grating noise in his ears, somewhat resembling the compression of a new wicker-basket he is certainly attained.

In consequence of the numerous gangs established in this metropolis, all the persons holding high situations in the government are held impregnated. An expert of the gang, who is magnetically prepared, contrives to place himself near the person of a minister of state also impregnated, and is thus enabled to force any particular thought into his mind and obtain his reflections on the thought so forced.—Thus, for instance, when a Secretary at War is at church, in the theatre, or sitting in his office and thinking on indifferent subjects ; the expert magnetist