This is, after all, the most curious and interesting Institution under the control of the Commissioners. Idiocy has existed in all ages and countries, but no effort appears to have been made for the improvement of this class until the seventeenth century, and no considerable progress made in their education until within the last fifty years. The present century has, however, witnessed the establishment of large institutions for their benefit in France, England, Switzerland, and in various parts of the United States. In 1855, the State of New York erected a fine Asylum at Syracuse, at the expense of nearly $100,000, with accommodations for one hundred and fifty pupils, which has since been generally well-filled. A large number of persons, representing every degree of imbecility, have annually been thrown on the care of the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections, for whom little was done, more than to supply their physical wants, until 1866, when, with grave doubts of its success as a means of mental development, a school, under the direction of Miss Dunphy, was established. It began with twenty pupils; in 1867 it had increased to forty-two; in 1868 to over seventy, and at this writing to one hundred. The Asylum is a tasty three-story brick structure, with wings, well divided into school-rooms, dormitories, refectory, and other appropriate apartments. It contains at present, besides officers and teachers, 141 persons, whose ages vary from six to thirty years, and who represent nearly every phase of an enfeebled and disordered brain Here are boys of eight years whose enormous heads far outmeasure the Websters' and Clays', others of twenty-five with whiskers and mustaches, whose skulls are no larger than an ordinary infant of ten mouths. Some are congenital idiots, born to this enfeebled state, others have been reduced to it by paroxysms, or other casualties. They are divided into two general classes, the hopelessly imbecile, and those capable of some improvement. The forty-one composing the first class at present show but transient gleams of thought or understanding, and are lost for the most part in ceaseless inanity.

They spend much of the time during the pleasant season in the pray-ground set apart for them, a portion of which is covered with canvass to screen them from the sun. Those admitted to the school enter the primary class, from which most of them are afterwards advanced to the two higher classes. The first lessons taught are cleanliness, order, and obedience, of which many of them seem to have no previous conceptions. The next consist of color and form.

Many idiots have an infantile fondness for bright colors, hence these afford a medium for instruction. As they have no mental control and are destitute of all analytical qualities, the common order of teaching must be reversed, hence words are taught before the letters. A card containing the words "chair," "hand," "book," or "table," printed in large bright letters, is held up before them, by which means they are at length taught the names and definitions of things. The matter of speech is often difficult, as many of them have impediments. The success of this school during the first four years of its history is surprising. The author visited it in 1868, and again in 1870. The school at the second visit exhibited marked improvement. The scholars were all tidy and orderly, their countenances having perceptibly brightened. We asked them various questions in geography which were promptly answered. The advanced class read from the large Reader, in a creditable manner. In singing they almost excel, following the instrument with great exactness. Many make fine progress in penmanship, and a few study instrumental music. One of the girls, who began as an ordinary pupil four years since, is now a teacher in one of the departments. Mathematics are the most difficult things for them to learn, in which they seldom make much progress. A few able to pay board have been admitted at the moderate rate of eight/dollars per month. More of this unfortunate class exist in community than is generally supposed, probably several to every one thousand of the population. Idiot schools are valuable, raising many to thoughts and toil who had hitherto been totally neglected, offering also the only test by which a proper discrimination can be made between the true idiot and persons of feeble mind or of slow and imperfect development. The Commissioners have performed a commendable service in the establishment of this school, and have been remarkably successful in their selection of teachers.