The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-15
CIRCULAR HOUSES.
They Have Effect of Unsettling tho
 Brain After a Time.

From the Chicago Chronicle.
 The Minot Lodge Light is famed for the number of men who have gone crazy In 1t, and for that reason it is an object of interest to students of mental diseases It is as everybodys knows, a piece of en- gineering of the highest order, being in that respect not only second to the famous
 Eddystone Light. More than n year was consumed In getting a foundation for It. and so high are the tides and so terrific the storms that The entrance to the light Is more than forty feet above the water.
 Then, one above the other, come the five
 rooms occupied by .eh keepers and used
 for storage purposes, and then the watch | room and finally the lantern. The tower | being circular and space greatly in de- mand, so that no room shall be lost. Even 1 the beds on which the men sleep are , curved, the tables against the walls are circular, and the benches are half-moon. Everything Is round
 In this lighthouse there have been at least five wel1-marked cases of insan-
 ity, and others in which madness has
 been inspected. and the men relieved from duty. Experts in mental diseases who have made a study of conditions at
 the Minot Lodge Light attribute the
 unusual prevalence of insanity there to
 It's peculiar form of structure. There is
 no point. they say, on which the eye
 may rest. so it travels round and round in maddening whirl.
 They therefore suggest that some means be devised for filling the curves and producing corners and angles. In
 support of their theory they cite in-
 stances of men who have lost their men,
 tai balance during long confinement in circular prisons but have quickly re-
 gained it on being transferred to an or- dinary room of corners and angles. Baron Trenck spent much of his time iD prison making marks and corners to break the circularity of his surroundings and
 keep his reason from slipping away on
 the while and encircllng walls. Casanova, an Italian engineer, who was imprisoned in round tower. gves much the same testimony. He says he felt great mental relief on beng moved to an ordinary square room.
 | As 1t is we'll night impossible to make much change in the form of the structure of the Minot Lodge Lighthouse the num- | Der of the men in charge of 1t has been | increased 10 five, in order that they may | have frequent leaves from duty and take
 turns in going ashore for a visit 10 family and friends. This system has resulted in decrease in the number of cases of
 melancholia and more serious mental dis
 orders
 | Tn fact, but for the frequent changes made Tn the sefVlce Dy SnlftinB mon from one station to another the number of cases of this sort everywhere would be
 much greater than 1t is. Tn some cases q man Is kept in place for only few
 months, and then sent to some less isola- ted station for while
 To give the men something to think of
 other than their loneliness. and to occupy
 the long hours during which they have
 nothing to do circulating libraries of fifty
 books each are provided. The books
 are carefully selected and changed every
 three months when the inspector makes
 his visit. In the collection are biogra- phy, history. travel fiction, poetry, illus trated magazines, and in some cases newspapers. Also medical chests are pro- vided for relief in cases of sickness and careful directions given for the use of their contents
 Despites the dangers and hardshps of
 lighthouse life there arc many applicants for positions in them. Wherever va- cancy occurs in the service there Is al- ways a number of men to select from. And yet the pay is small. In fact. the law given keepers shall not exceed s6O0 a year. Probably the best pay keeper in the service is the man at Hell Gate. who gets $1200 year