a destructive agency that cannot be controlled or that brings about the creator's ruin. The expression comes from a manlike monster in the 1818 novelFrankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 - 1851). In the novel, the monster was created by Dr. VictorFrankenstein from parts of cadavers (dead bodies) and brought to life by the power of an electrical charge. Frankenstein's monster was larger than most men and fantastically strong. Longing for sympathy and shunned by everyone, the creature ultimately turned to evil and finally destroyed its creator. —HSSC Glossary (approved 3-9-90)