The Machine That Wasn't There: James Tilly Matthews and the Hallucinating Mind

Around 1797, London tea merchant James Tilly Matthews became convinced that criminals were operating a pneumatic machine from a cellar near Bethlem Royal Hospital. He called it the Air Loom, believing it could weave magnetic fluids through the air into the nervous system, distorting thought, speech, and sensation. Matthews named its operators, catalogued their procedures with precision, and drew the device in meticulous technical detail: fluid reservoirs, brass retorts, silk threads, silent and invisible reach. The drawings are extraordinary.