INTEMPERANCE has been for ages the withering curse of the race in nearly every part of this world. It has feasted alike upon the innocency of childhood, the beauty of youth, the amiableness of woman, the talents of the great, and the experience of age. It has disgraced the palace and crown of the prince, the ermine of the judge, the sword of the chieftain, and the miter of the priest. The temperance reform, commenced nearly fifty years ago, has awakened the public conscience, exposed these frightful dangers, and called into existence a multitude of agencies seeking in various ways the removal of this deadly plague. But though multitudes have been saved, the great sea of intemperance has been in no sense diminished, while the adulteration and drugging of ardent spirits in our day have greatly intensified the horrors of dissipation. Intemperance is a disease often inherited from ancestors, and otherwise contracted through the criminal indulgence and perversion of the appetites. The habitual drunkard is a wreck, as completely as the idiot or the maniac, and merits confinement and treatment. Drunkenness, like insanity, yields promptly to treatment inits early stages, but after long indulgence becomes well-nigh incurable. During the last quarter of a century, many humane and thoughtful persons, appalled with the havoc of this gigantic evil, have inquired anxiously for some system of treatment by which the recovery of the inebriate might be secured. In 1854, the New York Legislature chartered the State Inebriate Asylum, which was located on a large farm at Binghamton, and has become, through able management, a great and successful institution. One has since sprung up on the Pacific slope, and others in different parts of the country. In their annual report of 1862, the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections recommended to the Legislature the establishment of a similar institution in this city. As no action was taken by that body in relation to it, the Commissioners, in their report of 1863, renewed the subject with great earnestness and ability. In these appeals they showed that multitudes of persons went from the dram-shop to the police-station, and from the police courts to the Workhouse, from whence, after a short stay, they returned to the dram-shop, to run the same round over and over again for years, until they at length died on their hands as paupers or criminals, and were laid in the Potter's Field. In 1864, the Legislature passed an act authorizing its establishment, and the Asylum was begun in 1866. The building stands on the east side of Ward's Island, on an elevated and beautiful site, which could scarcely be excelled. It was at first proposed to limit the size of the edifice to the accommodation of 150 inmates, but in view of the necessary outlay for the heating, lighting, washing, and cooking apparatus, it was finally decided to add two wings to the main structure, and thus provide accommodations for 400 patients. The Asylum is a three-story brick, with a front of 474 feet and a depth of 50 feet, and cost, in its original construction, exclusive of furniture, $332,377.08. It is one of our best public buildings, and was erected for a noble purpose. Croton water is conducted to it through an iron pipe six inches in diameter, laid on the bed of the East River from One Hundred and Fourteenth street, which empties into a reservoir ten feet deep, and one hundred feet in diameter.

On the 21st of July, 1868, the Asylum was formally opened to the public, with appropriate services, and on the 31st of December the resident physician reported 339 admissions. During 1869, 1,490 were received, and during 1870, 1,270 more were admitted. The inmates are divided into several classes. The larger number thus far admitted have been transferred from the Workhouse, or some of the other institutions, and have returned to their vices, for the most part, as soon as their terms of commitment have closed. There are also three classes of pay patients—one class paying five, another ten, another twelve or more dollars per week—which are furnished with rooms and board corresponding in style with the price paid. Of the 339 admitted during the first six months, but 52 were pay patients; of the 1,490 in 1869, but 147 contributed anything toward their support; and of the 1,270 admitted during the year just closed, but 165 were pay patients, 30 of them being females. The rules of the Institution were at first exceedingly mild, the patients were relieved from all irksome restraints, paroles very liberally granted, and every inmate supposed intent on reformation. But this excessive kindness was subject to such continual abuse, that to save the Institution from utter demoralization a stricter discipline was very properly introduced.

The Asylum is furnished with an excellent library of solid standard volumes, with billiard-room, and other forms of amusement. It has an immense chapel, in which divine service is regularly conducted. As the inebriate patients have not filled the building, the Commissioners have temporarily assigned the eastern wing to a class of disabled, indigent soldiers, citizens of New York, who are organized into squads, and perform such light labor as their wounds and infirmities will permit.