"
"I have at last found one madman allied to Genius. It has taken me a
fortnight to master his delusion, and to write down the vocabulary he
has invented to describe the strange monster of his imagination. All
the words I write in italics are his own.
"Mr. Williams says that a machine has been constructed for malignant
purposes, which machine is an _air-loom._ It rivals the human machine
in this, that it can operate either on mind or matter. It was invented,
and is worked, by a gang of villains superlatively skillful in
_pneumatic chemistry, physiology, nervous influence, sympathy,_ and the
_higher metaphysic,_ men far beyond the immature science of the present
era, which, indeed, is a favorite subject of their ridicule.
"The gang are seven in number, but Williams has only seen the four
highest: _Bill, the King,_ a master of the art of _magnetic
impregnation; Jack, the schoolmaster,_ the short-hand writer of the
gang; _Sir Archy,_ Chief Liar to the Association; and the
_glove-woman,_ so called from her always wearing cotton mittens. This
personage has never been known to speak to any one.
"The materials used in the air-loom by these _pneumatic adepts_ are
infinite; but principally _effluvia of certain metals, poisons,
soporific scents,_ etc.
"The principal effects are:
"1st.
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