"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.

So, cross-threading I, cataleptic seizures are characterized by neither clonic nor tonic convulsions.

Dear WW: you remind me of a character disorder who hid out from prosecution by faking symptoms to get into mental hospital. Long enough ago that they had several catatonic schizophrenics, who were like living wax statues. He would
manipulate them into ludicrous positions which they would
maintain until on rounds profs and students would find them
and wonder how they got that way.
As far as cataleptic is concerned, there are neurologic disorder with some similarity to epilepsy, but without the motor component.

Extraordinary tale, wwh. I would think such a manipulation of these pitiful people would have been used in some film about psychiatric hospitals, people can be such insensitives in their treatment of the unfortunate. I'm reminded of city cow-tippers would think they are so clever to tip and cow and never consider the cow's point of view.