666 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the whole colony is Bethel — is that it admits of the most minute 

 classification of patients. Each house is, to a certain extent, 

 autonomous, the ten or twelve persons who live in it forming, as 

 it were, a separate family. At the head of it is a House Father, 

 generally a Westphalian Brother, who passes his whole time with 

 the patients, working with them, and throwing himself heart and 

 soul into their interests. 



Meanwhile, Dr. von Bodelschwingh and his colleagues had 

 been compelled to grapple with another serious difficulty. As the 

 colony increased in size it became evident that, if it were to con- 

 tinue a success, other occupations besides agriculture must be 

 provided. Some of the patients were too weak physically to bear 

 the fatigue and exposure of an out-of-door life in winter ; others, 

 especially the artisans, manifested a decided distaste for the work. 

 As it is of the utmost importance that epileptics should have con- 

 genial occupation, it was decided to open workshops, so that the 

 men might be able to practice the special craft in which they had 

 been trained, or for which they had the most natural aptitude. 

 One by one various industries have been established in the colony. 

 In very early days a regular building department was organized, 

 and attached to it are now workshops for painters, joiners, lock- 

 smiths, and cabinet-makers, as well as a brick-kiln and a saw- 

 mill. Shoemakers' and tailors' shops have also been opened. A 

 linen mill, too, now gives occupation to a number of the colonists, 

 while the printing office and the book-binding works are the 

 pride of the whole place. Thus, when an artisan now arrives in 

 Bethel he can at once be set to some work to which he is accus- 

 tomed, a fact which contributes not a little to his happiness, for 

 an epileptic, after a certain age, seems almost incapable of turn- 

 ing his hand to a new occupation. Most of the things made are 

 consumed in the colony, but if there is any surplus stock it is 

 sold in Bielefeld. The organizing of these industries was no easy 

 task. An attempt was made at first to employ as overseers in the 

 workshops such of the patients as were skilled artisans, but it 

 proved a failure. Epileptics are, as a rule, lacking in initiative ; 

 and they have neither the patience nor the self-control necessary 

 for directing the labor of others, especially when these others are 

 themselves of defective intellect. It therefore became necessary 

 to appoint a paid overseer for each factory, an arrangement which 

 has materially increased the working expenses of the colony. 

 From first to last, in fact, these workshops have proved a some- 

 what costly experiment. In spite of the most rigid economy in 

 their management, not only are they now worked at a loss, but 

 there is no prospect of their ever becoming self-supporting. One 

 serious expense in connection with them is the salaries of the 

 labor overseers, another is the enormous amount of raw material 



