Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-10-08
AN EGYPTIAN MAD HOUSE.
\ VeritabIe Chamber of Horrors and
Hotbcd of Cholera

\ VeritabIe Chamber of Horrors and
Hotbcd of Cholera.
\ frightful description of a visit 10 an
/ Egyptian mad house Is given by the Cairo
correspondent of the EqBpt1n GG.qffp
i; was quite 10y chance. he saws. that ]
+ visited this verit3ble pandcmonium ON
B earth last sunday morning. ! had "a little
I time to spare ON my hands before lunch.
/ and so ! expressed a desire 10 fathom the
I mystery OF those four blank red walls
which stand away in the desert to The
/ Hshl oil the Abbasseeyeh road. ma the di-
/ recllon OF the last slopes Of the NOllat-
! tam HIS. Grave suspicious were en-.
/ tertained by many that the govern
| meHt lunatc asylum at Abbasseeveh
/ was hotbed of cholera and that
[ the existence Of the disease within lis
{ walls was being concealed. We are
ushered through deep. dismal archway
INTO the recreation ground of the asylum,
I where the mad people We're wandering
/ about IN a solitary. purpOseless way.
I Turning 10 the left beneath am arcade we
entered dark doorway. just as the last
oil herd OF idiots had been driven i'm be-
| fore us. We took ten or fifteen strides
! along sOmbre passage. and ON reaching
Inc wall made quarter turn % the right.
and stood facing long. lofty corridor
lighted only by few small windows near
the selling, secured by iron bars.
All along this corridor. at the base of
I the wall on jhe left hand. the lunatics
sat squatted ON their launches i'm a LONG
and almost interminable row To all ar
pearance they were "a quiet, inOtfensiye
MISUNDERSTANDING lot Of creatures. liter
ally clothed in sackclOth. Their only
garment consisted of a coarse SackclOth
shirt. descending to their knees. with an
aperture through which to pass the head.
and sleeves falling halfway TO the elbows.
They had not particle Of linen about
them. ton our right were she bedrooms.
lofty. spacious. sombre apartments. en-
tered through low dOOrWays The bed
steadS were similar to those in use in the
native hospitals and barracks-iron
frames and planks. The bedding and
bed-clothes were filthy in the extreme
and SWarming with Yermn. Each room
was crowded with beds placed about an
arms length from each other. The stencil
was intolerable. both in the apartments
and the corridors. No regard was paid
even TO the most elementary notions of
cleanliness.
At length we reached what ! can only
describe as the chamber of horrors: the
apartment in which refractory patients.
were mastered and treated. It was a
lofty. spacious room with plenty Of light.
Here most horrible sight greeted Us. All
round the walls, al regular distances of
mencing at the ground and extending to a
height Of about two feet SIX inches. The
eNtremitieS of curved iron bar were
firmly tNcd in the masonry on either side
OF each cavity. The purpose Of this ar
rangemeut was as follows: When a man
became violent he was placed, with his
les bound and with his back against the
iron bar, i'm a sitting posture. his arms
being firmly dashed to it. The cavity in
the wall was supposed to prevent him in
Jurlng MS head by swinging il backwards
and forwards or by ddshing il from side to
side against the masonry.
As we entered this veritdhle torture
/ chamber the first thing that met our gaZc
WAS "a recUmbent figure surrounded by
three or four attendants. Tpon close
examination we discovered "a machine
bearing a close resemblance TO a weighing
/ machine ON the bascule principle. ON
/ TINS machine was seated a patient with
Z the back of his head against the padding
/ and his legs extended toward us. The
( three or four attendants by whom he was
surrounded were engaged in bindin,r his
arms 90 rings fixed behind the back part
Of the machine. The left side of this
Wretched beings head. ut the height of
the eye. was covered with blood and his
lett eve was almost closed. all the part
surrounding 10 being much swollen and
infamed. While the attendants were
engaged in tying him up. he was sobbing.
the tears streaming down his checks and
he rocked his head gently from side to
side. as if i'm pain. occasionally glancing
toward us. While we stood gazing al the
horrible sight he did not attempt to offer
the least resistance. OF course the injury
which he had sustained may have been
selt-lnilicted, but it is equally likely. !
think, THAI he had been Knocked down by
one OF the keepers.
Tho 1nna9rnnsp al this 4ari..,, ts-oe tfItI,r-
i'm the extreme. The stencil was insutTer-
able. The kitchen. which was close at
I hdud- was gloomy, dirty sort of place.
The wOmen's quarters We're even worse
than those of the men. They were very
crowded and their generally filthy condi-
| tlou is beyond description. Many of the
women were historical and two of them
were naked. In the last room but one. a
| dark, dismal-lOOkiT" chamber with only
| the doorway To admit light and Yentila-
ton, IN dungeon. for IL was nothing else
without single article Of furniture OF
| any kind. two Wretched women we're
| lying on planks ON the bare stones. The
/ hands of one of them were quite cold
/ and she had the appearance of
/ being attacked with cholera in
"a most ViTulent form. The 0theI
woman was lying at the extreme end of
I the apartment, but my military friend be-
| hG unable to stand the stencil any longer
We did not examine her. The persons who
accompanied us in our visit did all they
I could 10 prevent us entering this particu-
lar room. The AbbasSeeyeh madhOuse
contains, was assured by the gentleman
who was kind enough to show us over the
infamous establishment, nearly 300 luna
tics. about 80 OF whom are women and
one or two children, and there is no CLASH
fcatiOn in 1t whatever except IN the case
of males and females Those who are
Violently mad and those only partially SO
are herded ndiscriminately together. 1t
seems that the only remedy that is found
etlicaciOus in cases of violent madness is
the shower bath.