Fourth annual report of the trustees of the New-York State Asylum for Idiots.

  • New York State Asylum for Idiots.
Date:
[1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fourth annual report of the trustees of the New-York State Asylum for Idiots. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    “ In the first message of Gov. Hunt, the attention of the Legis¬ lature was again called to the subject, and the recommendation was renewed that an institution should be established for the benefit of this long-neglected class. “ Not resting with the mere mention of the subject in his mes¬ sage, he exerted himself personally to accomplish so desirable a purpose. He invited Dr. Howe, Superintendent of the Massa¬ chusetts Blind Asylum, under whose supervision an experimental school fur idiots had been already established there, to visit Al¬ bany and give an exhibition of the results of training and teach¬ ing in the case of some of the pupils then under his charge. “ This had its desired effect. The sympathies of the members of both branches of the Legislature were warmly enlisted, and an act was passed at the adjourned session, establishing an asylum for idiots, with a sufficient appropriation for its existence for two years. Trustees were appointed by the Governor whose names were a sufficient guarantee that the experiment would be fairly tried, and whose opinions as to the result of the experiment would have a controlling influence upon the action of future Legis¬ latures. Providentially a very excellent building for the tempo¬ rary accommodation of the asylum was at once obtained, in the vicinity of Albany, and no delay was experienced in the reception of pupils. u In less than a year from the first appropriation—at the ses¬ sion of 1852—the number of State pupils in the experimental school, was increased to 30. “At the session of 1853, a still more decisive test of the confi¬ dence the new institution had inspired in the public mind, of the practicability of the work for which it was designed, was given. A bill was passed making an appropriation not only for its con¬ tinuance in its present form, but for the erection of suitable build¬ ings for its accommodation, thus placing it upon the same footing with the other State charitable institutions. u Steps were immediately taken by the trustees to carry out the design of the Legislature. It was soon found, however, that