The use of one of them, the
man informed him that many times negroes were sulky, and tried to
starve themselves to death, and this instrument was used to force open
their jaws.
Of Clarkson's labor in this investigation some idea may be gathered
from his own words, when, stating that for a season he was compelled
to retire from the cause, he thus speaks: -
"As far as I myself was concerned, all exertion was then over. The
nervous system was almost shattered to pieces. Both my memory and my
hearing failed me. Sudden dizzinesses seized my head. A confused
singing in the ear followed me wherever I went. On going to bed the
very stairs seemed to dance up and down under me, so that, misplacing
my foot, I sometimes fell. Talking, too, if it continued but half an
hour, exhausted me so that profuse perspiration followed, and the same
effect was produced even by an active exertion of the mind for the
like time.
"These disorders had been brought on by degrees, in consequence of the
severe labors necessarily attached to the promotion of the cause. For
seven years I had a correspondence to maintain with four hundred
persons, with my own hand; I had some book or other annually to write
in behalf of the cause.
