Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/228

216 rounded by tombs instead of houses&quot; (Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, vol. ii. p. 31). The construc tion of the tombs commonly keeps up the same analogy between the cities of the living and those of the dead. Their plan is for the most part that of a house, with a door of entrance and passage leading into a central chamber or atrium, with others of smaller size opening from it, each having a stone-hewn bench or triclinium on three of its sides, on which the dead, frequently a pair of corpses side by side, were laid as if at a banquet. These benches are often hewn in the form of couches with pillows at one end, and the legs carved in relief The ceilings have the representation of beams and rafters cut in the rock. In some instances arm-chairs, carved out of the living rock, stand between the doors of the chambers, and the walls above are decorated with the semblance of suspended shields. The walls are often covered with paintings in a very simple archaic style, in red and black. As a typical example of the Etruscan tombs we give the plan and section (figs. 23, 24) of the Grotta della Sedia at Cervetri from Dennis (pp. 32, 35). The tombs in some instances form eubterranean groups more analogous to the general idea of a catacomb. Of this nature is the very remarkable cemetery at Poggio Gajella, near Chiusi, the ancient Clusium, of a portion of the principal story of which the woodcut (fig. 25) is a plan. The most remarkable of these sepulchral cham bers is a large circular hall about 25 feet in diameter, supported by a huge cylindrical pillar hewn from the rock. Opening out of this and the other chambers, and connecting them together, are a series of low winding passages or cuniculi, just large enough for a man to creep through on all fours. No plausible suggestion has been offered as to the purpose of these mysterious burrows, which cannot fail to remind us of the labyrinth which, according to Yarro s description as quoted by Pliny (Hist. Nat., lib. xxxvi. c. 19, 4), was the distinguishing mark of Porsena s tomb, and which have led some adventurous archaeologists to identify this sepulchre with that of the great king of Etruria (Dennis, ii.s., p. 393,^.) Fio. 23. --Plan of a Tomb at Cervetri. From Dennis. Fia. 24. Section of the Tomb of the Seats and Shields, Cervetri. From Dennis. Fia. 25. Plan of a portion of the principal story in the Poggio Gajella. From Dennis.

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 CATALEPSY (from KaraX^^, a seizure) is a term applied to a nervous affection characterized by the sudden suspension of sensation and volition, accompanied with a peculiar rigidity of the whole or of certain muscles of the body. The subjects of catalepsy are in most instances females of highly nervous temperament. The exciting cause of an attack is usually mental emotion operating either suddenly, as in the case of a fright, or more gradually in the way of prolonged depression. The symp toms presented vary in different cases, and even in the same individual in different attacks. Sometimes the typical features of the disease are exhibited in a state of complete insensibility, together with a statue-like appear ance of the body which will retain any attitude it may be made to assume during the continuance of the attack. In this condition the whole organic and vital functions appear to be reduced to the lowest possible limit consistent with life, and to such a degree as to simulate actual death. At other times considerable mental excitement will accompany the cataleptic symptoms, and the patient will sing or utter passionate exclamations during the fit, being all the while quite unconscious. The attack may be of short duration, passing off within a few minutes. It may, however, last for many hours, and in some rare instances persist foi several days; and it is conceivable that in such cases the appearances presented might be mistaken for real death, 