brightest spots of human civilisation. Its intensity has also been much increased by the impression which so long prevailed, that it was almost incapable of any palliative, and certainly of anything in the shape of a remedy. Modern science and an enlarged philanthropy are, however, gradually removing this unhappy idea, and are showing that there is no class of unfortunates of our species to whom enlightened treatment may be applied with a more cheering hope of success. In this country, on the continent of Europe, and in America, reports of the results of the efforts we are about to describe, are all equally replete with assurances that the increasing physiological and psychological knowledge, which is due to the researches of the strong-minded, is gradually becoming a great and unexpected boon to the feeble. These feeble ones are also shown to be far more numerous, both in the Old and New Worlds, than was generally imagined, and may in truth be numbered by many thousands, making an appalling array in the ranks of miserables. Mr. Byrne in his Treatise on Lunacy and Law, which is in our list of books, speaking of idiots, says: That there are thousands of such is fully borne out by the Report of the Poor Law Board (1862-3), where it appears that on the 1st of January 1862, there were in 649 unions and parishes 34,271 insane paupers, of whom 18,311 were idiots' (p. 12). Now, though the idiot requires a special treatment, and one totally distinct from the lunatic, being in fact absolutely injured by his contact with the insane, yet the only place provided for him is the county asylum, which of course subjects him to a treatment the opposite of being suitable. From page 20 of the same report, it appears that a new statute has been enacted, called An Act to provide for the Education and Maintenance of Pauper Children in certain Schools and Institutions,' 25 & 26 Vict. c. 43. This Act enables the guardians of a union to contract with the managers of any institution supported wholly or in part by voluntary contributions, for the education of idiotic persons, and to pay for their maintenance and education a sum not exceeding the cost of their relief in the workhouse. present, however, such institutions are by no means in sufficient number to meet the want of them; but happily many intelligent and influential minds are now becoming acquainted with the subject, and alive to the serious duties it entails.

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Nearly up to the present time the miserable idiot has been regarded as one of a Pariah caste, rather to be ignored as much as possible than sought out and succoured. Till the beginning of this century, idiots were regarded either with superstitious

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*

awe or abhorrence, and it is even said that Luther would fain have had one put to death as a monster filled with Satanic possession. In 1803 Abercromby, after Foderé and Wenzel†, who wrote upon Cretins, turned his thoughts to the improvement of their condition; and in 1819 Dr. Poole communicated an important treatise on the subject to the Encyclopædia Edinensis. Light, however, broke in slowly and feebly. We are told by Mr. Scott, that in the year 1839, Dr. Vosin, a French physician,, gave in London some Orthophrenic lectures, which were apparently for the purpose of drawing attention to an institution he was connected with in France, called the Etablissement Orthophrenic, which was specially directed to sufferers from mental weakness. No interest, however, was awakened by these lectures. Mr. Scott goes on to inform us, by a quotation from a German paper, that the instruction of idiots has succeeded. The problem theoretically and practically has been solved by M. Sargent in conjunction with Mr. Sachs, first teacher of the establishment (the Deaf and Dumb Institution, Berlin), and this solution has been successfully proved and acknowledged by our eminent physicians Dr. Barry and Dr. Joseph Müller. So fully assured are the Prussian Government of the complete efficacy of the system, that a portion of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Berlin is to be permanently set aside as a hospital for idiots, where the most effective methods of education can be tested and 'carried out. In September 1844, M. Sargent had twelve pupils, and employed a master to assist in their instruction, and two females to take care of them, the whole being most anxiously attended to according to his own plans. All were imbeciles and some idiots of a very low grade; but in time they became improved. Two of them were deaf mutes, and others were unable to walk or help themselves in any way; but those who could hear had more or less learned to speak, and some to sew, to draw and to write, while several played about cheerfully like other youths, appearing ameliorated both in body and mind. A deaf boy who was one of the worst cases, ⚫ washed and dressed himself daily without assistance, walked, ' and even ran about the house and yard, and was learning to draw,' though his actions were not all exempt from the appearance of his malady. Such is the account of the fruits of M. Sargent's treatment.

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The large work of M. Édouard Séguin was published at

* Traité du Goître et du Cretinisme : 1800.

† Ueber der Kretinismus: 1802.

Paris in the spring of 1846. It had been preceded by several pamphlets by the same author, and an extended notice of them appeared in the pages of Mr. Scott, who dedicated his book, from which we have already quoted, to Lord Ashley, now the Earl of Shaftesbury, the friend and promoter of so many philanthropic projects. M. Séguin's first efforts were directed to ten idiots in the Hospital of Incurables at Paris. Their success received the approbation of the Council General of Hospitals, and the Academy of Sciences commended his writings on the results which subsequently followed his method at the Bicêtre on the idiots there. Under the title of Traitement 'Moral, Hygiène, et Éducation des Idiots,' he has comprised the following topics:-The reflections which idiotcy had suggested to him the most remarkable observations on idiotcy and imbecility furnished by his practice--the methods of treatment which have been proved to be most efficacious-and the confirmed opinions which have arisen from ten years' active experience.

Previously to the time of the publication of the volume last noticed, but not before its author had commenced his work amongst idiots, the late Dr. Guggenbühl had been engaged in endeavours to ameliorate the dreadful condition of cretins. He had observed that young children affected with cretinism were chiefly found in the valleys, and he conceived that their removal to more elevated places, together with proper treatment, might work a great change in them. Cretinism neglected degenerates into the lowest idiotcy, and exhibits the human form in its most repulsive state. Čretins were divided by Dr. Guggenbühl into four classes: the atrophied, with emaciated bodies and paralysed extremities-rickety, with soft bones and bent limbs-hydrocephalic, with chronic water in the head, and cretins diseased from birth, the worst and most intractable. It is said, however, that where there is a goître from birth, the brain is not so much deteriorated as in other cases. The cretins under the care of Dr. Guggenbühl were removed from the low places to a retreat on the Abendberg, a hill 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, and situated in one of the most splendid scenes of Switzerland, surrounded by snowy peaks of the Mönch, the Eiger, and the Jungfrau, and looking down on the fine Vale of Interlachen and the lovely Lake of Brienz. From this unique institution, true cretins are said to have returned to their families more or less restored to health in body and mind. That the plan of the Abendberg is the right method for cretins is beyond doubt, and there is recorded a remarkable instance of the complete cure of cre

tinism in the person of a Dr. Odet, once resident at Montpellier, who was in childhood a cretin, but recovered, passed through a professional education, and became the author of a book on Cretinism. A pupil of Dr. Guggenbühl was sufficiently cured to become a schoolmaster, and was capable of instructing his scholars, more or less, in four languages.

While these and other institutions were being formed in Europe, the philanthropists of the western hemisphere became alive also to their importance and value. It seems as if some providential impulse were given at this moment simultaneously to the friends of humanity, to arouse themselves to the aid of the most repulsive and pitiable of its sufferers. In 1846 the authorities of Massachusetts appointed the well-known Dr. S. G. Howe, so celebrated for his treatment of the blind and deaf mute Laura Bridgman, to inquire into the condition of idiots in the commonwealth, and to discover if anything could be done in their behalf. The reports of Dr. Howe exhibit the greatest zeal, energy, and talent, and he brought all the force of his powerful and original intellect to bear upon this object, with the happiest consequences. Without being prepared to admit the correctness of all his conclusions in his published theories of the causes of idiotcy, which are, in our view, of far too speculative a nature, without adducing sufficient facts for his generalisations, we cannot but regard his labours and their fruits with real satisfaction. He assures us that his hopes and expectations have been fulfilled amongst the children trained and instructed. Several,' he says, who were in a state of hopeless idiotcy have gained useful knowledge; most of them have become cleanly, decent, docile, and industrious; and all of them are happier and better in consequence of the efforts made in 'their behalf.' Some of these were in a state of drivelling impotency, unable to do more than swallow their food: they had no speech, no apparent understanding, and their habits were disgusting. They became gentle, docile, and obedient, governable by the simplest means, able to work, speak, and read, comparatively happy and intelligent, as well as useful, and stood before their friends as rescued ones, through the treatment they received.

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Pennsylvania followed this example by founding a kindred institution, which comprised at once a hospital for the unhealthy, a gymnasium for physical culture, a school for such as could be led on to learn, and provision of workshops and land for the exercise of mechanical, horticultural, and agricultural industry, with a view to the self-support of the inmates. At the request of the managers of this asylum, the legislature of New Jersey

granted an appropriation for the maintenance within its walls,. of fifteen feeble-minded children. The building was most carefully constructed and placed on an eligible site, with an unfail-ing supply of the best spring water, and sheltered from the cold winds by a grove of ten acres, the shade of which was regarded as a great boon in summer. The promoters of this asylum state their conviction that it is necessary for the advantage of the young imbeciles in their training, that they should be collected together in numbers.

. Childhood,' they assert, in all conditions needs society; and those who are of natural mental powers cannot adapt themselves to those of feeble mind. Under the most favourable circumstances, an imbecile child at home has a tendency to solitude or exclusiveness; it cannot play with other children, and they cannot join in its amusements. It is a lonely being. However loving and tender its associations may be, it lacks suitable companionship. It needs to be with those who are like itself. Its instincts lead it to fellowship with its own grade and stamp of mind, and this association produces friction, and friction produces growth. There is an unconscious self-culture resulting from the mere force of association. In this lies one secret of success in institutions for the feeble-minded.'

New York was not behind in like projects for the Idiot. The first step was taken by the Hon. Frederick Backus, a member of the Senate, in the winter of 1845 and 1846. He introduced a bill for the establishment of an asylum for idiots, which passed the Senate by a vote of eleven to ten. Though at first. agreed to by the Assembly, it was ultimately rejected by a vote of fifty-eight to forty-seven. Dr. Backus, however, was not daunted by this defeat, but laboured with the greatest zeal, communicated with M. Sargent, of Berlin, and embodied translations of his reports in the document he again presented to the legislature, and at length effected his object by the aid of the governor, but not without another previous defeat. When agreed upon, the nature of the institution was accurately defined, especially that it was not to be merely custodial, but an establishment for the management and education of young idiots; an extension of the blessings of education of an appropriate character to a class of persons of a teachable age--not deaf mutes or blind-whose faculties are not susceptible of development under the customary conditions and facilities of a common education.'

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While these institutions were being established on the continent of Europe and in America, this country also, whose benevolence knows no limits but the boundaries of human want, became alive to the necessity of special provision for the idiot.