'plus ou moins laconiques, plus ou moins verbeux, surajoutés à l'énergique iduos des Grecs, qui rest encore aujourd'hui • intact, sans équivalent comme sans définition.' Nor can any dimensions of the head, except in the extremest diminutiveness, nor other measurements often relied upon, be regarded as true criteria of idiotcy; though it is remarkably curious that in an immense number of cases examined by Dr. Down of Earlswood, as we shall see hereafter, the formation of the mouth was abnormal, and the face had unequal sides. The mental manifestations are not always regulated by the volume of the brain, but by its quality and condition, and those of the whole nervous system. The body is but the instrument, the mind the unseen musician, and the strings must be in tune or no harmony can be produced by the most skilful hand. Thus the corporeal state of the idiot being disordered, discord results from the agency of the mind upon it. it. All that can be said of what the idiot really is terminates in this-that an idiot is one wanting in power, greater or less, to develop and manifest the normal human faculties by reason of organic defects. The general peculiarities of body are all abnormal, including health, temperament, members, as hands, wrists, legs, and feet. The nerves of motion and sensation are without due action. Hence arise irritability or apathy, spasms, epilepsy, and chorea. Hence also the prehension, touch, smell, hearing, feeding, mastication, deglutition, digestion, secretions, circulation, and speech are faulty, the last in many cases absent. Yet the inability to speak, though often apparent, is not always real. A boy who was never heard to utter an articulate sound, and had reached about fourteen years of age, was suddenly heard to chant a psalm in the night with correctness. Of course his teacher made use of this sudden exhibition, and he now speaks constantly. Another pupil, who had always been mute, was nevertheless brought to write legibly on a slate, and some one having rubbed out his writing in his absence, he became much excited, and angrily asked, Who rubbed out my slate?' These were the first words he had ever been heard to utter, but afterwards he became induced to speak.

As the bodily condition is abnormal, so is the manifestation of mind in idiots. Attention, perception, will, comparison, judgment, combination, invention, foresight, and reflection are all imperfect in various degrees. Yet nothing further can be safely stated as a generalisation, than that as a rule the perceptive powers are defective, the fancy frivolous, and the whole bearing more or less eccentric. Some are vociferous, grinning, and facetious; others mutter, mope, and sulk, and are very

vicious. Again, many are mild, affectionate, and tractable, while others are violent, depraved, filthy, and repulsive. What the facetious will say no one can guess under any circumstances. One that was reproved by the clergyman for laughing in church, said, 'You should have looked at your book, and you would not have seen me.' Another, corrected for stealing, and asked to promise not to repeat the fault, replied. 'I will not do so again, if you will give me everything I want.' The ideas of these poor creatures have no definite regulation, Hence, joy, drollery, anger, sorrow, and loquacious nonsense alternate without reason. The classification of idiots is no easy task, and it is well said by Dr. Howe, that

'The highest of the lower class of idiots can hardly be distinguished from the fool; the least stupid of fools can hardly be distinguished from the simpleton; and the highest among simpletons stand very near the level of hundreds who pass in society for feeble-minded persons, but still for responsible free agents. These latter, indeed, are looked down upon by the crowd, but then the crowd is looked down upon by tall men, and these in their turn are looked down upon by the few intellectual giants of each generation who stand higher by the whole head and shoulders than the rest. This view of the gradation of intellect should teach us not only humility but humanity; and increase our interest in those who are only more unfortunate than we are, in that their capacity for seeing and understanding the wisdom, power, and love of our common Father, is more limited than ours, in this stage of our being.'

It may be added to what has been already said in the foregoing sketch of idiots, that some idiots actually possess special powers, only abnormal in being above the common standard as relates to music, the art of drawing or modelling, and in powers of memory and arithmetic, and instead of dulness, imperfection, and deprivation, have, in some direction or other, a strange exaltation.

Enough, we conceive, has been said to show how unpromising was the hope that any efforts could be effectual in essentially bettering the condition of idiots to any social, moral, or useful extent. All endeavours, too, had long been retarded by want of physiological knowledge, by parental and common prejudices, by the hopeless exterior of the majority of cases, and even by an idea that amelioration, if possible, would be of no advantage by reason of the non-responsible being thus made responsible.

The way is, however, now clear of such obstacles to progress, and there is ample, indeed universal proof, that the idiot can be greatly improved and often beneficially educated. From what has been before stated, it may be readily supposed that the

basis of all attempts to effect this object would be to commence first with endeavouring to ameliorate the condition of the body. The true principle is, that there is mind in all these wretched members of the human family, and that its manifestations are only hindered by a defective organism. The first care, then, must be to put the instrument as far as may be in tune. Upon this has depended the success of all the recent experiments, and like consequences have been found in all places, because everywhere it has been regarded as certain that the vigour and force of manifestations of mind depend, though in what way may be a matter needing fuller inquiry, on the state of health in certain parts of the bodily organisation. To attain this requisite condition, the only mode is to endeavour to put the whole system into a healthful power of action, as far as can be done by suitable appliances to raise the depressed physical powers. Hence gymnastic exercises are adopted, varied according to the different stages of advancement, to bring the muscles into due action in the upper extremities, in the trunk, and in the lower limbs; and upon these a great amount of ingenuity has been expended. In every asylum there should be both an open and a covered gymnasium, with soft ground and ample space, and attendants extremely careful that no falls occur. The things to be aimed at are development of instinctive muscular action in the inert, to promote the health of the bodily organs, and a better oxygenation of the blood in the lungs. Torpor must be awakened, and overexcitement allayed; and it must be borne in mind that nearly every sense is wrong, so that one cannot be made compensatory to another, as in the cases of blind pupils and deaf mutes. The vacant eye must gradually be trained to see, the ear to hear, while the voice must be instructed how to utter aright. Thought must be elicited and power to learn. Obedience must be gained by kindness and firmness without severity, and right habits encouraged for daily life. All sorts of inducements must be held out to secure some proper employment, and as the mind improves it must be a great object to raise it to God, to religion, to duty, conscience, hope, and moral sense. The choice of masters and teachers is by no means easy. They must be born teachers, devoted to their work, men in whom no weakness is visible, endued with extreme patience, and able to command with calmness, force, and decision. Great medical tact and skill are also needed, and that gentle treatment of invalids which caused a youth at Earlswood to say, 'I love the doctor better than my mother.' It is only such a person who will observe with practical advantage the needful

psychological indications, such as are briefly enumerated by Mr. Sidney in his lecture to the Society of Arts. He says:

:

'Idiots are perceived to have certain wants, tastes, appetites, inclinations, desires, repugnances, fears, and preferences, shown in some way or other peculiar to each individual, and indicating that, though fettered, obscured, and disordered by a defective bodily organism, there still exist certain limited sensations, sentiments, and perceptions, which, if rectified, will tend also to rectify their manifestations and emancipate them from their circumscribed condition. If an idiot can distinguish his food, he has some perception; if he shows a longing for things which please him, he has some internal and external sensations; if he can choose between two objects offered him, he has some comparison and judgment; if he yields to gentle persuasion and severity of manner, he has some understanding; if he has any tastes, however limited, there is something occupying his mind. In all these the trainer sees capacities for improvement. His principle is, that these unfortunates not only are endowed with the animal instincts and propensities, but with the feeble germs of those better qualities which are superadded to our physical nature, and which never could occur in the best-trained lower animal, even if its perceptive faculties were more acute than theirs.'

It is from such observations that the true method of treating idiots has been derived. Every idiot case is a problem, and such problems have only been well solved in recent institutions, because there all efforts are concentrated on this one object, and all imaginable appliances are provided. As may be concluded from what has been said before, the great point is a good dynamic condition of the body, only to be gained by wholesome air, proper medical attention, exercise, and diet. If the digestion and the secretions are wrong, the nervous system soon becomes disordered, and there is no due response from one organ to the stimulant applied to the other, because the nerves, which are the wires of the vital telegraph, have lost the power of conducting. We often see an idiot with a feeble body, a moral sense obscured or perverted, and an understanding clouded by dark and doleful shadows, yet with a nature that will not be quiet, without balance of any of the functions bodily or mental, and seeming as if it were impossible for him to manifest obedience to any influence or law. appetite depraved beyond control makes him ready to prey on the filthiest and most disgusting garbage, and to seize with a brutal propensity anything that comes near him. Every desire is unreasonable, and what he demands, if he can speak, and what he babbles and cries for if he cannot, is always unreasonable and mostly hurtful. But when the skilled physician has furnished the required medicament for due stimulus of his

VOL. CXXII. NO. CCXLIX.

E

An

digestive organs, directs his nutriment aright, controls the ravenous craving for food, and after a time effects a change in the brain and nervous forces, an exercise of self-control becomes possible, and in consequence a reconstruction, as it were, of the whole physical and moral being. Certainly the most hopeless generally are idiots afflicted with epilepsy, which are a numerous class, and beyond the reach of any certain cure, yet their malady may be much subdued as regards the frequency of attacks and their violence, by invigorating inducements to cheerfulness, by employments to which the sufferers have shown an inclination, and by such modes of living as experience suggests.

From the description given of the commencement of the Asylum at Highgate, it may be readily conceived how much experience was needed before idiots received as inmates could be rendered at all tractable. Yet such is the result of perpetual practice that it is now speedily accomplished. At Earlswood the reception is so kind, and the aspect of the place so attractive, that Dr. Down, the resident physician, finds little trouble with the pupils when first left there by their friends. Inquiry is carefully made of those who bring them, into their history, traits of character, predilections, repugnances, and habits. The objective facts relative to their bodily condition, and the state of the organs of sense are, of course, well observed and registered, to which is added due vigilance. The first concern is to eradicate bad habits, and as soon as may be, to engage the pupils in some occupation bringing them praise and encouragement, instead of the contemptuous rebuffs too many of them have been subject to. These employments are of the simplest kind; as the unravelling cocoa-fibre for mats, splitting rods for baskets, and preparing horsehair for mattresses. Besides these gentle inducements to do something, the improvement of the bodily condition before alluded to as most essential, and the eradication of all evil habits, are matters of daily and hourly care. After this comes classification for sleeping, meals, school, drill, and such employment in what may be called a trade or business as the pupils may show to be of their own preference. For cases that are less hopeful, all that can be done is careful supervision and the tender treatment which makes them in a degree comfortable. All this is insured by the care of the physician and the assiduous attention of the matron and the well-chosen staff.

A few years since schools for idiots would have been classed amongst the wildest of projects, but they have not only been successful as regards their primary design, but have afforded