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96 CATACOMBS CATALEPSY quarries which had existed from a remote pe- riod beneath the southern part of Paris, and by which the observatory, the Luxembourg, the Od6on, the Val de Grace, the Pantheon, and the streets La Harpe, St. Jacques, Tournon, Vau- girard, and many others were completely un- dermined. Some excavations having taken place, a special commission was appointed to direct such works as might be required. En- gineers and workmen were immediately em- ployed to examine the whole of the quarries, and prop the streets, roads, churches, palaces, and buildings of all kinds which were in danger of being engulfed. The plan of converting the quarries into catacombs originated with M. Lenoir, lieutenant general of the police, and every preparation was made by sinking a shaft, propping up the cavities, and walling off various portions for receiving their future contents. The ceremony of consecrating the catacombs was performed with great solemnity on April 7, 1786, and on the same day the removal from the cemeteries began. This work was always performed at night; the bones were brought in funeral cars, covered with a pall, and followed by priests chanting the service of the dead, and when they reached the cata- combs the bones were shot down the shaft. Such tombstones, monuments, &c., as were not claimed by the families of the deceased, were arranged in a field near the entrance of the shaft, and among these relics was the leaden coffin of Mine, de Pompadour. As other cemeteries were suppressed, the bones from them were removed to this general deposit by order of the government. The catacombs served also as convenient receptacles for those who perished in popular commotions or mas- sacres. At first the bones were heaped up without any kind of order, except that those from each cemetery were kept separate ; but in 1810 a regular system of arranging them was commenced, and the skulls and bones were built up along the wall. The principal entrance to the catacombs is near the barriere d'Enfer, but for some years past admission into them has been strictly interdicted, on account of the dangerous state of the roofs of the quarries. From the entrance a flight of 90 steps descends to the catacombs ; a series of galleries are then seen branching in various directions, and sev- eral hundred yards from the steps is the vesti- bule, of octagonal form, and over the door is the following inscription : Has ultra metas re- nuiescunt beatam spem spectantea. The vesti- bule opens into a long gallery lined with bones from the floor to the roof; the arm, leg, and thigh bones are in front, closely and regularly piled together, and their uniformity is relieved by three rows of skulls at equal distances. Be- hind these are throi -n the smaller boes. This gallery conducts to .'everal rooms resembling chapels, lined with bones variously aiWnged. One is called the "Tomb of the Revolution," another the "Tomb of Victims," and contain the bodies of those who perished eitbe in the early period of the revolution, or in the massacres of September. Calculations differ as to the number of bones collected in this vast charnel house, but it is 'estimated to contain at least the remains of 3,000,000 human beings. A map of the catacombs and quarries under the city has been drawn up by the order of the municipal authorities. These excavations are 3,000,000 square metres in extent. CATAHOULA, an E. central parish of Louis- iana, bounded E. and S. E. by Tensas and Black rivers, S. and S. W. by the Saline; area, 1,970 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 8,475, of whom 4,083 were colored. Catahoula lake is in the S. part. It is watered by the Washita, Tensas, Black, and Little rivers, several of which are navi- gable by steamboats through the parish and on its borders. Near the Washita river the sur- face is partly occupied by hills. The soil in some parts is fertile, and lies upon a bed of sandstone. The chief productions in 1870 were 76,165 bushels of Indian corn, 6,528 of sweet potatoes, and 8,872 bales of cotton. There were 1,449 horses, 8,062 milch cows, 7,360 other cattle, 1,751 sheep, and 12,372 swine. Capital, Harrisonburg. CATALANI, Angelica, an Italian singer, born at Sinigaglia about 1785, died in Paris, June 13, 1849. When only seven years old she attracted general attention by the remarkable power and purity of her voice. People went in such numbers to the convent of St. Lucia, near Rome, where she received her education, to hear her, that the police had to check the pressure of the crowd. In 1802 she made her debut in opera in Rome with marked success,' and afterward fulfilled engagements in the principal cities of Italy. She next appeared in Italian opera in Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, and London, where her singing created the greatest enthusiasm. In 1815 she returned from Eng- land to Paris, where for about four years she was connected with the management of the Italian opera in coSperation with her husband, M. de Valabregue, formerly a captain in the French army. In this enterprise she was not successful. Her clear, powerful voice electri- fied the English, especially in " God save the King; " but her influence over continental au- diences was not so great. She sang in Ger- many, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and Russia, returning also occasionally to her native coun- try, and afterward again made her appearance in Paris, but without meeting with great suc- cess. In 1830 she withdrew from the stage, and devoted herself at Florence to the educa- tion of her three children, and established a free singing school for girls. In June, 1849, during the revolution in Tuscany, she went to Paris with her daughters, but almost imme- diately after her arrival she fell a victim to the cholera. She had amassed a large fortune. CATALEPSY (Gr. /car^Y"?; seizure), a non- febrile affection, occurring in paroxysms, and characterized by a sudden deprivation of in- telligence, sensation, and voluntary motion.