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

cani-ole to explain lis use to us. We
also saw case where amaurosis. or dealt.
of the optic nerve, had progressed into
itiocv Of those cases one had occurrcd
in very good shaped head blindness of
this SORT fololced BY loss Of reason. must
needs i.np'y structural change in the
Jl72n as the common cause OF both. The
nuns here perform the duties of the S@N1's
de Ii Charife at Paris. and exhibit the
same devotion TO human suffering. rromp-
Ted thereto by hope of the same re-
ward. We observed in the same inches
where there hung small portraits Of the
Madonna, several silver vntve offerings
chiefly shaped like hearts. These of'r-
inss are, however, not tokens of lecove-
~, bur testimonies of piety. or rather OF
31io2ts habits s'nuiGing needless. The
women at the time OF our visit were en-
joyin@ their maccaroni, which locked So
good, with its great Parmesan and clean
pota%e, that we could, had the party at
dinner been less acceptable. without re.
rugnance have partaken. Cur meals at
the lJca2das, with the vetturino at the
end of the table. are generally much be
low the entertainment at TIE Florec &c
mad house. An aged woman, one Of the
| guess. rose to speak to us, and on cur
! asking her age, as we were ms tructed to
do. she said nine,y-sx. adding that she
had followed Napoleon's campaigns with
her husband and two Of her sons; that
one of her sons was LETT dead on the field
at Barcelona /; that the other was alive,
and had married; and that some fine
you0g children, who had come to see her,
and whom we saw. were his. She could
only tell the name of certain places where
she had bivouacked. and was beginning.
so she sud, to forget half the victories at
which she had assisted. Liberal dona-
TORS have been left to the institution, by
varieus individuals, some of whum in ef-
fey stood rnUnd the walds twelve feet
high in their marble shoes others have
been honored with busts only. and some
have earned merely tablets to tell of their
good deeds. Our guide said. "This
stone berue*thed i've hundred crowns,
that bust twenty thousand, but. yonder
statue twenty-five thousand"
A striking contast INDEED does this
mad house altogether present to another
which we have visited in Italy. and the
name of which we withhold. from uuder-
standing that it is about to be suppressed
ed by another more resembling that of
! Florence. At the place alluded to. a
short passage ushered US at once into a
court filled with incurabes of either SEX
| We stood mournfullv in the midst Of
J hundreds of our fellow a prev
to maladles which they are instruct to
believe, and which. under such circum-
stances must be, incurabIe. MANY in
this state had already arrived at great
age. Sailor or soldier, artisan or priest,
mixed together. they were listening with
dull ear to the coarse menias who took
US round and talked of their cases, the
time they had been in. how lang they
were likely to cucumber the establish
ment, speaking Of their death before
them, as if it merely involved a change of
bed and clean linen. How many have
given uptAeir spirits between those sheets!
How much misery has lain, and is yet to
he, on those narrow iron bedsteads! Here
and there the eve OF the passer-by was
startled at healthy face. where flesh &
blood had resisted the local maladv, and
madness had taken place in system o.
otherwise sound. But.this is not common.
The ordinary maniac looks like living
parchment. unwholesome. yellow. or eX-
sangulne. Some few pass thirty years in
these melanchol y ab,tles, and period of
twenty Is not, we understood. uncommon;
the great majority. however. being those
whom other hospitals have already reject
sed. are, Of course, destined to die off
much sooner.
OF an upper floor OF this horril tene-
ment we desire to say nothing. 1t was
place for Salvador to paint. for de-
INil to rejoice in, for humanity to sicken
and shudder at. We had been. as we
have said, in my Warehouses before, but
IN none like this; at cnce a menagerie
of fierceness. pis-styIe of filth. The
motto to Dante's Inferno had been strict
ly applicable to this hopeless place. The
faces of the maniacs were begrimed with
dirt, and their plight rendered more pitt
able by the utter negligence Of the keep
ers. There}was a small ward at tho end,
in which the people were treated just.like
wild beasts in a menagerie. There they
| lay chaired to their beds. frantic and
flaming, some crashing their teeth in vio-
lent and suppressed rage at the manacles
and chains they could not break others
oscillating their heads and trunks from
| side to side without ccasinm: o. threaten
ing the destruction of their belstead by
frantic Efforts. An enraged tiger would
not have been uscre to be dreaded than
one awful creature, who, having a slip
chain which gave him few feet fur
Tough, as you chain mastH at yonr gate.
sprans up on blgh windowssill, and leapt
down on cur approach, with the agility
ct monkey. Along an open gallery of
small extent for exercise, well secured
and guarded by iron bars. there staIked
several whose situation was not quite so
Oh 4 l.