The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-09

childhood. It would seem, however,
that this statement about the pope
contains eXaggeration, just as there is
in the optimistic statements of DR.. Lap
POM, the pontiff'S private physician.
Thus, while the well-informed vatican
attendants whisper that his holiness
is barely a shadow of his former self,
and that dotage and senile decay are
visible in all his words and actions, DR..
Lapponi proclaims that his august pa
tient was never in better health. The
truth lies midway between these two
statements.
Leo XIII is IS years of age, a period
beyond which the prolongation of hu-
man existence is a precarious matter,
indeed. 1t is accordingly not to be
wondered at that with the passage Of
each day and with the accompaniment
of each successive task, the pontiff' S
vitality is diminishing in what seems
almost a geometrical progression.
Leo XIII never thinks of economizing
his health. He does nothing in a half
hearted way. He rises from bed to
write down Latin verse that has come
to him in the night, and he will throw
as much energy into discussing an ar
ticle of the Gazette de France preach
ing resistance to his policy, and he
will thereby exhaust himself more than
in fulfilling the multitudinous and wear
isome duties of his sacred calling.
His great renovator is sleep. After
a fatiguing reception of enthusiastic
pilgrims, who seek individually to get
the most they can out of Eim, the pope
is in the habit of Withdrawing for a
brief spell and sleeping off his weari-
ness. This has always been his Gus
tom, but in the earlier years of his
reign there was less occasion for it than
there is today.
Before his sacerdotal jubilee the holy
father was very reserved, and recep-
ton of pilgrims when it occurred was
a quiet enough affair. But that event
brought a change with it. Esteem and
popularity were obviously his, and he
rapidly grew TO be as fond of the ac-
carnations and wild scenes that pill
grims love to indulge in as was his
predecessor, Plus TX.
It is pathetically interesting to wit
ness the spasmodic movements of sat
isfaction in which he vents himself.
waving blessings on every side, as he
is carried forth from the scene of de-
lirium into which the people have
worked themselves up after he has
conversed with them in the Sistine
chapel. Are not you, too, of opinion?'
he asked the other day of an Italian
clerical journalist, after one Of these
scenes, that the populace of Rome
would now acclaim me if l went abroad
IN the streets?" It was an indication
OF his belief and satisfaction in the i'm
proved popular appreciation of the
pope, for Plus ks very remains were
mobbed in the streets of Rome as they
were being carried to their place of
final repose.
But each successive public audience
IS a criterion of the condition of Leo
XIITs health.
When he now returns to his private
apartment to wear off the fatigue of
the audience, it is no longer a natural
lapse into slumber that his attendants
observe. The pope's head falls back on
his armchair, his corpse-like face is up
turned, and he remains unconscious
and apparently lfeless for five or ten
minutes. On couple of occasions dur
ing the past few weeks the periods of
Inconsistencies lasted for as many as
20 minutes. DR.. Lapponi was sum-
moled and the newspapers published
the fact that the pope had fainting
fits. Fits of this kind he certainly has,
and the increasing duration of them
causes no small anxiety. DR.. Lapponi
may be correct in stating that his il
lustriouS patient is free from organic
disease. But old age is in this case
proving itself a formidable malady.
Other symptoms, too, are not want
ing, and although it is hard to arrive
at knowledge as complete and as fully
substantial as one could desire, still
there are certain facts and incidents
which in themselves are beyond con-
troversy. From these it is permitted
to Judge of the true state of affairs.
When the first voting of the eardi-
nails in the conclave of Feb. 10. 1873,
showed that Joachim Pecci was the
man most likely to be elected, those
hostile TO him endeavored to weigh /
upon their confreres by alleging this |
cardinals defects. Where he sinned in
= -.
moniusness. He was at that time Car |
dinal Camerlingo. The accusation may |
have been incidental to the office. At