368 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



CONGLOMERATE OF THE GRANULAR QUARTZ. 



Beds of conglomerate exist also at the base and upon the tops of 

 the Green mountain range, which may be traced within a few feet 

 of granitic beds. Thus upon the top of Oak hill, two miles and a 

 half northeast of Williams College, this interesting mass is well 

 developed. This fact establishes what we have long contended for, 

 namely, that the granular quartz should be separated from the 

 Gneiss and Mica slate systems, or from the Primary system. 



LFrom the Edinburgh Journal.] 



A FARM CULTIVATED BY THE INSANE. 



In our former notices of the systems employed in France for the 

 amelioration and cure of insanity, we pointed out that the occupa- 

 tion of the patient in various useful employments was amongst the 

 most successful modes of treatment. When the increase of patients 

 in the two asylums, the Bicetre and the iSalpetriere at Paris, de- 

 manded further accommodation, the unfortunate inmates were em- 

 ployed to assist in the new buildings ; and with results extremely 

 favorable to themselves. When these works were finished, the me- 

 dical directors of the hospital dreaded the effects of a relapse into 

 inactivity on their patients, and employed them in the fields and 

 grounds adjoining the two edifices. So active were the laborers, 

 and so delighted with their work, that they did everything which 

 could be done in a very short time, and want of work was again 

 threatened. To avert it altogether, M. Ferrus, one of the physicians 

 of the Bicetre, conceived the idea of obtaining a farm for the per- 

 manent employment of his willing laborers. With this view he ap- 

 plied to the government ; but as there were no funds at the disposal 

 of the ministry, which could be applied to the commencement of 

 such an undertaking, and as every acre of cultivated ground near 

 Paris was of course occupied, his scheme seemed at first hopeless. 

 Still the benevolent projector was not to be daunted, and as he could 

 not find a cultivated spot of ground fit for his purpose, he looked 

 out for a barren one. 



After many inquiries and surveys, M. Ferrus fixed upon an estate 

 situated about two miles from Bicetre, near the Barriere de la sante. 

 It was the most wretched piece of ground imaginable. So entirely 

 was it covered with stones, that there was not an acre in tlie whole 

 tract which seemed capable of being successfully cultivated ; and 

 though formerly occupied by enterprising farmers, it had long been 

 abandoned. A homestead which they had built was in ruins, and 

 the barns and sheds in the last stage of decay. Upon this unpromis- 

 ing farm M. Ferrus fixed ; and by the end of 1832, several of the 

 Bicetre patients were set to work to enclose about ten acres of the 

 least barren portion. This enclosure was levelled with such success, 



