"There is something stranger coming in this last letter."

"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. EVENT-WORKING.--This is done by _magnetic manipulation_ of kings,
emperors, prime ministers, and others; so that, while the world is
fearing and admiring them, they are, in reality, mere puppets played by
the workers of the air-loom.

"2d. CUTTING SOUL FROM SENSE.--This is done _by diffusing the magnetic
warp from the root of the nose under the base of the skull, till it
forms a veil; so that the sentiments of the heart can have no
communication with the operations of the intellect._

"3d. KITING.--As boys raise a kite in the air, so the air-loom can lift
an idea into the brain, where it floats and undulates for hours
together. The victim cannot get rid of an idea so insinuated.

"4th. LOBSTER-CRACKING.--An external pressure of the magnetic
atmosphere surrounding the person assailed. Williams has been so
operated on, and says he felt as if he was grasped by an enormous pair
of nut-crackers with teeth, and subjected to a piercing pressure, which
he still remembers with horror. Death sometimes results from
Lobster-cracking.

"5th. LENGTHENING THE BRAIN.--_As the cylindrical