opinion. Bloch, who quotes these opinions (_Neue Forschungen_,
etc., p. 370), says that the only possible conclusion is that De
Sade was sane, but neurasthenic, and Eulenburg also concludes
that he cannot be regarded as insane, although he was highly
degenerate. In the asylum he amused himself by organizing a
theater. Lacroix, many years later, questioning old people who
had known him, was surprised to find that even in the memory of
most virtuous and respectable persons he lived merely as an
"_aimable mauvais sujet_." It is noteworthy that De Sade aroused,
in a singular degree, the love and devotion of women,--whether or
not we may regard this as evidence of the fascination exerted on
women by cruelty. Janin remarks that he had seen many pretty
little letters written by young and charming women of the great
world, begging for the release of the "_pauvre marquis_."

Sardou, the dramatist, has stated that in 1855 he visited the
Bicetre and met an old gardener who had known De Sade during his
reclusion there. He told that one of the marquis's amusements
was to procure baskets of the most beautiful and expensive roses;
he would then sit on a footstool by a dirty streamlet which ran
through the courtyard, and would take the roses, one by one, gaze
at them, smell them with a voluptuous expression, soak them in
the muddy water, and fling them away, laughing as he did so. He
died on the 2d of December, 1814, at the age of 74. He was almost
blind, and had long been a martyr to gout, asthma, and an
affection of the stomach. It was his wish that acorns should be
planted over his grave and his memory effaced. At a later period
his skull was examined by a phrenologist, who found it small and
well formed; "one would take it at first for a woman's head." The
skull belonged to Dr. Londe, but about the middle of the century
it was stolen by a doctor who conveyed it to England, where it
may possibly yet be found. [The foregoing account is mainly
founded on Paul Lacroix, _Revue de Paris_, 1837, and _Curiosites
de l'Histoire de France_, second series, _Proces Celebres_, p.
225; Janin, _Revue de Paris_, 1834; Eugen Duehren (Iwan Bloch),
_Der Marquis de Sade und Seine Zeit_, third edition, 1901; id.,
_Neue Forschungen ueber den Marquis de Sade und Seine Zeit_, 1904;
Lacassagne, _Vacher l'Eventreur