Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1842-11-10

resting ce,iutenance held a book, which |
we asked to see. and found it to be a
French work on mathematics. We ask
ed the party (he was Capuchin) if lie
liked mathematics. lie said
yves, but am no great proficient in
them"
On observing to him that the book was
above our own reading. he said that he
could read it well enough. but that his
knowledge was not of a practical kind.
'What studies did he chiefly rursue!''
{" In paco di tutto''
"None; he liked all study for its own
sake"
We can to this hour place The whole
picture before US. Tweatv pair of eyes
.laring, wild. and distorted Twenty
faces convulsed or collapsed! twenty
pair of hands oppressed by Calling chains
clanking around us Twenty tongues
employed in ceaseess and vain attempts
10 eypostulate against bonds or restraints,
not to be endured with patence in a
calm state Of health, and doublg unen
durable in the excited state of mad
mans brain The filthy bedding, the
besrimeh walls. daubed anil painted by
the maniacs! the dirty doors, the scanty
light! half-naked bodies tossing about
under the influence of disorderly will '!
the hoarse din. idiotic laugh. the intense
hate. the suppressed malice of some, and
the Neioeless woe oi etl.ers, and amidst
all the Keepers indIference-,all these
were elements 81 "a whole which none
can describe, but which none having wit
messed can forget. The women WEI e
more in number, and as fierce as the
men. Three times were we assaiIed by
wooden bowls with their contents flung
at us. and once by GIRL with such pair
of beautiful eyes! Every where in this
division of the house, such jabber. twit-
ter, mockerv, and laughter. thai one ne
yer heard any thing like it. The females
were generally old J: and some few show
ed SO much delcacy and psopriety. and
had SO little of the widness of an unset
tied mind that we could have hoped a.
ny thing for tEem any where else. iiow
much might not have been expected had
these been under the judicious treatment
Of ESquirol or Munro We were too
much interested not to pay second visit
to this place. when we found some Of
chose who had been most violent on the
first, now coiied up in the bed-clothes,
silent, f1ete. and motionless Others were
gesticulating just as before, and seemed
never to have slept from that moment. as
# they were wound up to speak or scoll
eternally. One magnificent coantenance
of a man lay motionless gazing at us, as
it had done yesterday, with mild digri-
ty and consciousness Of suffering dshon-
ora face such as the first Charles might
have shown towards the rabble that boot
ed BIN to execution. Our mathematical
Capuchin was in his bed and reading his
Bible, which he does every morning, and
saws itsives him composure for the trials
of the day, and. he added. il is much
wanted here. His sautatioE was the
most graceful imaginable. The women
were as voclferous as ever. and as active
as squirrel Is. They lose about nine patti
,ents for every hundred. which speaks
well for their general health The nun
who went round with us had been their
guardian for a year. land hoped to be con-
'tinued Tor another. The women, in the
attendance Of a kind person Of their own
sex. are much better eff than the men, to
whom i denied the unspeakable advant-
-ase'of pathizing- friends, and who are
abandoned to Keepers hemi elves scarce
ly above the capacity of brutes. Surely
to such men as these the care of the oy-
ersensitive lunatic ought never to be-con-
fided. As to the cause of madness in
Italy. love, it is said, fills the wards with
his victims, ard such eases often exhibit
a frightful expression of lost or depraved
intelligence. making devils of the quiet
and inoilensvc, and speedily precipitat-
lEg the young into old age. Humanity
is snot wanting in Italy. but it requires
more attention than i is their custom to
give, to hit upon the best means of al
Ieviatins the distress of these poor luna
tics. On the spot where We saw these
distressing scenes, there is now nearly,
or quite finished, a noble building, adj
mirably adopted for the separation of lis
inmates. The -rumber Of its compart-
ments will affrrd tie further advantage oil
enabling those who are furious to be kept
apart, and without chains. though COM
plete emancipation from bonds did not
appear in the contemplation of the keep
ers. One Of the attendant sisters said to
US. 'if we were not to chain them they
would bite though their hands were re-
strained bv the camisole." told her
that we bad no chains used now either
in France or England. The . Phmma-
cy'; is large, airy. and well filled with
ancient blue aatl white jars, shelf upon
shelf-the old and redundant pharmacy
of Italy, and indeed OF every other coun-
try.