66 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ence and manners of a man of the world, of fine build and well dressed. 

 He paid the honors of the house to us with the greatest politeness, and 

 declared that he was well satisfied to be at Gheel, saying, " I am a 

 little deranged, and the quiet of the place does me a great deal of 

 good," He had not the least desire in the world to go away. His 

 wife had been there a short time before to take him to the sea-shore 

 for a little while, but he would not go. It was not still enough there, 

 and the life of the world would worry him. 



On the road we met another lunatic, whose monomania was to go 

 every day to the railway-station for a case of wine that he was expect- 

 ing. It had never come, but the porter would always answer his ques- 

 tions hopefully, and he would go away satisfied, to repeat his errand 

 the next day. Walking is one of the man's principal diversions. 



We next visited the home of a peasant who had the care of two 

 indigent insane women. One of them was sitting near the stove, 

 much depressed, and silently weeping. The children of her hostess 

 were playing at her feet, while the mother was attending to her house- 

 hold duties. The other woman was assisting the mistress of the house. 

 Going out, we met a portly, dignified gentleman, who imagined him- 

 self to be a general. He entered into conversation with us. " Don't 

 you know, Gheel is a very pleasant place ? There is plenty of society 

 here, and very enjoyable. Yes, it is good to be here. The air is pure 

 and the life is quiet. I love it ! " This man was sent here, several 

 years ago, alone and unattended. The story goes that on reaching 

 some city on the way, the police asked to see his papers. The " gen- 

 eral " showed the certificate of insanity, which the physician who sent 

 him to Gheel had given him, and the order for his admission to the 

 colony. The gend^arme was not satisfied with these papers, which 

 did not correspond with his routine, and asked for others. The "gen- 

 eral " answered, with dignity: "I am mad; you see that from my 

 papers. They have sent me to Gheel ; let me alone, and I will go on ! " 

 He was at last allowed to proceed. He looks upon Gheel as a town 

 where numbers of people come to take board to calm their nerves, and 

 declares that the idea is an excellent one. Farther on we met two 

 French lunatics. One, from Saint-Brieuc, had found things so com- 

 fortable at Gheel, that, having been restored to his family after get- 

 ting better, he became discontented, and came back all alone, to join 

 the colony again. The other one was a musical amateur who regu- 

 larly attended all the concerts. The next case was a little woman 

 about forty years old, a fluent and proper conversationist, who lived 

 in constant expectation of her lover, who was to marry her as soon as 

 he came, but that would not be till a railroad was built direct from 

 his village to Gheel. She seemed to bear herself very cheerfully in 

 her waiting. She had been discarded by her lover. 



We next saw an English architect and water-color painter, who 

 bad been ruined by American whisky. He complained of being 



