et revolutions of the capital.
During the Revolution and the Terror, a number of bodies were also
thrown in here, and down to 1810 no attempt was made to arrange the
bones, which were piled up like rubbish. It is estimated that these
subterranean crypts now contain the remains of nearly three millions of
persons,--the guide-books say six.

In 1810, a new organization and rearrangement of the catacombs were
carried out, the falling roofs were propped up, the galleries cleaned
out, ventilated, and dried, and the bones all symmetrically arranged
along the walls--the large bones of the arms and legs piled up like
cord-wood, presenting their ends, and interrupted by occasional rows,
or centre-pieces, or cornices of skulls, and the smaller bones thrown in
behind them, between them and the wall, so as to be out of sight.
Various attempts at grotesque or fanciful designs, wrought out with
craniums and tibias, break the monotony of these grisly corridors.
Between 1792 and 1814, the catacombs permitted the suppression of
sixteen cemeteries, and they still receive the bones that are turned up
in the course of various excavations in the city. Visitors were formerly
admitted to explore them every day, but in consequence of the numerous
accidents which happened, greater restrictions were imposed, and it is
now permitted to make this visit only on the first and third Saturdays
of each month, and when furnished with a permit obtained from the Prefet
of the Seine. The entrance is on the Place Denfert-Rochereau, and the
exit on Rue Dareau; the journey is made under the care of a guide, and
the visitor--who is advised to wear sufficiently thick clothing and
heavy shoes--is furnished with a candle and a holder for which he pays
fifty centimes.

The total number of entrances is sixty-three, many of them outside the
city; these galleries are sufficiently well ventilated by numerous
openings, and dry. The visitors traverse a certain route, in a general
southerly direction, inspecting the various curiosities on the road and
the great _Ossuaire_. In the latter are included several of these,--the
_Fontaine de la Samaritaine_, so called from an inscription which
recalls the words of the Saviour to the Samaritan woman; the _Tombeau de
Gilbert_, which is only a column supporting the roof to which was given
the form of a sepulchral monument; the _Lampe sepulcrale_, the _Crypte
de Saint-Laurent_, similar constructions, and the geological collection