Madmen and Madness at Rome. ^87 
Th e arc of the Equinoaial does not appear as a straight 
measurements be7 “ lati ' Udes ' b “‘ “ a curve. Hence 
” d» 1 f" ‘n° objeas ’ when taken with the 
asree with * 
As I usually seleaed for the Lunar a time when the Moon 
in a ri,rs the Meridia !\ so ‘hat its change of altitude 
results h^hT T* S Very S lght ’ 1 found the error in the 
described ' named> and the cause 1 have now 
Tanuary 6 i 87 ^ 0 U t' ^ al 5 cience - ” for J ul y» i 8 74, and for 
lines on thP’ 1 deSCnbed certain * a «s relative to straight 
Earth Th' SP f^ e a , Ppearmg as curves to individuals on 
hendeH Jli however > did not seem to be compre- 
! " ded at , the Ume ’ as most P uerile criticism and arguments 
eie urged against the fadts, or attempted as explanations. 
The cause hitherto considered inexplicable is due to the 
errors ?n U T SeWhlCh J-u ien descrlbed > and accounts for the 
errors in Lunars which every observer must have found do 
v V U 1 • 
The problem as a problem only, is interesting; but as it 
io-nn g ® ometncal question, and Geometry is now too often 
gnoied, and vague theories substituted for it, the Lunar 
o servation may not be so well understood or as much 
practised as it was in former times. 
III. MADMEN AND MADNESS AT ROME. 
I NSANITY forces itself upon public attention under 
several points of view. Its treatment, of course, belongs 
exclusively to the medical profession. So does its 
recognition, with a view to the restraint of these unfortunates, 
— a question which is for the present in a most unsatisfactory 
position. But the late serious increase of mental derange- 
ment, and the causes to which this increase is due, concern 
not only physicians and sanitary reformers but the entire 
public, and especially all persons who in any manner come 
forward as the guides and the teachers of their fellows. 
2 R 2 
