Thirteenth annual report of the New York Asylum for Idiots : transmitted to the Legislature, January 28, 1864 / New York State Asylum for Idiots.

  • New York State Asylum for Idiots
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thirteenth annual report of the New York Asylum for Idiots : transmitted to the Legislature, January 28, 1864 / New York State Asylum for Idiots. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a negative enjoyment. As a general rule, those who send pupils to the institution appreciate this improvement of condition, and when they do not quite meet one’s expectations in that respect, they are still quite unwilling to remove them, even when re¬ quested to do so. It will not be w7ondered then that these circumstances have a tendency to make those in charge of an institution like ours too readily satisfied if it fulfills this last and lowest function that belongs to it, viz: the proper custody of the idiot. Again, the relation of the public generally to our State charit¬ able institutions is not the most fortunate one that could be devised to secure the fullest accomplishment of the purposes for which they were founded. The relation is a remote one, both as to the means of support furnished and the results accomplished ; so remote as not to be duly felt, and in general to preclude much individual sympathy or co-operation. The immediate agents of the various charities are thus left without the highest stimulus to the faithful performance of their various duties. I might add, that it thus occurs quite unavoidably that the relation is too exclusively a fiscal one. Given so much money and so much to be accomplished numerically and in relation to the design for which the appropriation is made. The money can be estimated and so also the number of beneficiaries; but whether or not the other condition is properly fulfilled can only be assured by a widely and deeply felt public interest. But the public, or the legislators who represent the public, feel—with the necessary grant of pecuniany means—that their whole duty is fulfilled toward the classes to be cared for. Nevertheless, with all these obstacles, general and special, to the complete accomplishment of the design of this institution, it may be said that it has, in the main, achieved the purpose for which it was established. Education, here as elsewhere, has con¬ ferred a lasting blessing upon its recipients. It has elevated them in the scale of being. It has enlarged the scale of their enjoyment. It has been applied to meet the varying conditions of their peculiar infirmity, so that they have become more self- conscious, more awake to the circumstances by which they are surrounded, more intelligent, more capable of usefulness and of taking care of themselves, more correct in habits, and more obedient and affectionate. All this has been done by stimulating a growth from within, so that one might predict, what experience
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