"Mrs Snagsby replies by delivering herself a prey to spasms; not an unresisting prey, but a crying and a tearing one, so that Cook’s Court re-echoes with her shrieks. Finally, becoming cataleptic,"


Definition: \Cat"a*lep`sy\, Catalepsis \Cat`a*lep"sis\, n. [NL.
catalepsis, fr. Gr. ? a seizure, fr. ? to seize upon; kata`
down + ? to take, seize.] (Med.)
A sudden suspension of sensation and volition, the body and
limbs preserving the position that may be given them, while
the action of the heart and lungs continues.