Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-10-18

| IrOut u tnc JsSscs 81" ""
side pieces, The tailor back is arranged
70 match the front plaitings. A moss
green silk cording Is taken around the
bips and tied on the left side. Down
either side of the basque are rows OF
buttons. They start from below the
cordipg. The straight collar is Of vel
vet. The tight-6tting sleeves have vel
vet cuffs.
A Lepers' Hospital ne scutari.
| tronsfa nttpople Letter to the Paris journal
des Debats. -,
There are now few of these establish
ments hospitals for lepersl left, and 1t
| is not too much to say that in the one |
have Just visited human misery seems
to have attained its highest pitch. |
saw numbers Of beings sightless, their
| faces distorted out Of all shape, their
hands and toes having dropped off,
their voice gone, breathing with
desperate effort, their skin peeling
off and black as that Of mummy, In
sensible to pain when pricked in GER
tain parts of the body. Their feet and
TANKS are covered with horrible sores,
through which what is left Of them OF
life GIBBS away. Their attitude is one
of profound apathy and exhaustion,
and could not help being reminded OF
the saying of the leper Of Aosta, end
less seem the nights when the mind is
dwelling upon desperate present and
a hopeless future" And yet amid all
these horrible scenes there lived mar
ried couples and children, the latter Of
whom, free from disease as yet, play
about like other children, regardless Of
the spectacle which they have before
them. One of these wretched men,
not more than thirty, but among the
most afflicted-has . very pretty
wife and q child who is fresh and
rosy like young Cupid. A young fell
low Of twenty-five, but who is so ca
daverous that he might be one hundred,
a mere walking corpse. has wife fif-
teen years older than himself, and her
self raysged by the same disease. This
woman was married before, but her
first husband put her away when he
noticed symptoms Of leprosy. He mar
ried again and had child, which at his
death he confided to the care of his first
wife, who reared it. This child grew
up, and has himself since married and
had children, all of them living to-
gether in this hospital. 1t is said that
the disease is not contagious, as the
Governor, who has been there forty
years, has q wife and six children,
who enjoy the best Of health. The
brother Of one of the lepers, who is a
soldier in q neighboring barrack, comes
to see him whenever he can get leave,
and he has not caught the disease, while
DIR. Zambaco comes twice week and
handles the lepers with perfect impun'.
ty. DIR. Zambaco, who is one of the
leading Greek physicians at CONSTANT
nople, is of the opinion that it is not at
all contagious, and that, though occa.
sionally inherited, it is more often &C.
CURED, the main cause being privatior
and want. Among the lepers at the
Miskin Hane is one who owes his
malady to having been struck by light
ming, while q second became lepel
after q sudden fright. But in the Eas'
the conviction that leprosy il
contagious still has very firm
root, and for this reason a
Mecca, while the lepers ar
given food and clothing, they never
receive any money, the belief bein,
that it would spread the disease whel
put into circulation again. So at Sou
tart the lepers are literally enclosed
within living tomb, as the Miskil
Haue is the centre Of the vast cemeser
: in which so many millions Of dead hav
been inferred since Constantinople wa
first built, and is surrounded by tn
splendid cypress trees, the dark gree
Of which contrasts SO well with tn
blue outline Of the Sea Of Marmor
and the shores of Asia Minor in tn
distance. The hospital itself is quad
= rilateral, about 100 feet long, and wit
only one story. To the right of til
!! entrance is small mosque, in whic
Z the lepers recite their five pray
ers . day, this being their onl
Q distraction. in the centre is the courI
d yard, upon which open twenty room
Q and it is in these that twenty-seven su
o fcrers drag on q miserable existenc,
. Their rooms are lighted with sma
y window, with wooden bars, while
+ the way Of furniture there is nothiu
% but mattress thrown upon the groun
y and few common utensils. More al
i ject misery it is impossible to conceiv
y and it is made ell the more poignal
10 by The presence in the courtyard Of
,, tomb erected to q leper who was said
u be saint. This tomb is covered vii
n knots Of ribbon placed there by persol
u who have come to be cured Of son
y disease. Behind another lattice in h
.. courtyard Is q small grinding-ston,
40 and the local tradition is that any pc
e son who has the courage to join han,
.. with female leper and set the grin
!" ing-stone in motion without looking
~ the water A. 1t runs off will have
- wish granted, always provided that
has first deposited coin
% the stone. The Miskin Hal
Hospital was founded by Il
81 Sultan Selim. and for . long time
~ received Government subsidy of
- plastres per month for each ward, al
y ct that time this sum was sufficient
- keep the lepers in comparative comfor
= But the grant has not been increase
= and the value Of money Is SO much le
" than il was that the patients are in
= very miserable condition. The chart
= Of the passers-by is therefore well b
= slowed, and DR.. Zambaco is takir
= steps toward the erection Of new no
- pital, in which these unfortunate bsin,
!. might b treated with some chance
= cure.
q At - meeting Of the Royal Society
. South Australia on June Cd Mr.. W
!, Howchin exhibited . specimen
b AsfrovAisa osguloss % . fossil foun
. IN the miocens strata Of Victoria. II
2 specimen was stated to Be Of more TIA