The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-01 00:00:00

ASYLUM FOB 11)101'..4

Then:day the ki u ,!, Da; electiO.. e! peas i
this asylum took place at the London Tavern. Toe
unfortunate and pitiable ohjt ces who were deemed
eligible to become candidates numbered 164, out of
which only 15 could be elected.
Sir G. CARROLL, on taking the chair, expressed his
gratification that the institution was gradually pro-
gressing, and that year by year it was enabled to
open its doors to those afflicted creatures, whose health,
comfort, and, if possible, restoration to reason, it
made its special care. He was convinced that there
was a large number of benevolent individuals who
only required to have their attention drawn to this
good charity to induce them to support it to the ut-
most. There were now two large asylums in con-
nexion with the charity, which required great care
and unwearied attention—almost every separate case
involving the necessity of a distinct treatment. lie
wished the public would visit those institutions, and
see the improvement that they were enabled to effect
in the condition of the hitherto helpless idiot. It had
come to his knowledge only that day that one of the
parents who had gone down to the asylum at Colchester
a short time since, and who had not seen his sun for 12
months before, actually did not know his own child, so
great was the improvement. He appealed to the
press for assistance, the press which was ever ready to
give its kind countenance to any institution which
deserved the support and sympathy of the public.
The great want which the society now experienced
was a large establishment where they could classify a
great number of patients, for which purpose 10,0001.
was required. It seemed a large sum of money, but
it was nothing compared to the large charities with
which the metropolis abounded, and which were so
liberally aided by private benevolence.
Dr. REED read the annual report. It was an ex-
tremely interesting document, but many of the details
which might engross the philanthropist we must ne-
cessarily omit. There was at present in the institu-
tion 180 patients, which, with the 15 to be elected,
would make 195. Physical training had the first
place among them ; and all the arrangements for
bathing, shampooing, and gymnastic exercises, had
been improved. In the schools there were classes for
reading, writing, figures, natural and scripture his-
tory, singing, drawing, and music ; and, besides these,
there were classes of gardeners, carpenters, shoemakers,
basketmakers, knitters, and netters. On the subject of
the success which had attended the operations of the
society (and with regard to which, at its forma-
tion, grave doubts were entertained), the report
stated that among those originally placed under the
care of the board from the commencement, three
years ago, there had been 25 unable to walk, 114 un-
able to teed, dress, or take care of their persons, 20
epileptic, 12 paralyzed, 68 dumb, and 25 under nine
years of uge, all subjects of physical infirmity and
mental imbecility. So helpless and unpromising a
family had perhaps never before been brought toge
ther. Of these 6 had been taught to walk, and 14
much improved in the use of their limbs, 27 who had
been dumb or made strange and unmeaning noises
were getting the use of articulate sounds and begin-
ning to speak; 48 had been taught to feed and dress
themselves, and to observe cleanly habits; 23 had
been taught to read, 27 to write, 11 to cipher, 1G to
draw. Some were taught music, nearly all singing,
and most of them were in the drilling or gymnastic
classes; 90 could attend with propriety on domestic,
and about 50 on public worship, and had pleasure in
doing so. Order had been established, good habits
had been formed, and there were health and happi-
ness among them. " May not then," concluded the
report, " the movement, as one of experiment, be
considered as complete ? and may it not from this day
be pursued as one of clear certainty, unquestionable
duty, and national importance ?"
A long report was appended from Drs. Conolly and
Little, and Mr. Callaway, M.R C S., the medical offi-
cers of the institution. Without committing them-
selves to any very strong expression of their impres-
sions and feelings, they gave utterance to their perfect
satisfaction at the progress of this " great att:impt,"
and their lively belief; founded on careful observa-
tions, that the grand design of the founders would be
eventually and completely fulfilled. The receipts of
the year for general purposes had amounted to 8,104/.
73. 41., and the expendidure 7,449/. 14e, leaving a
balance of 6541. 133. 41. The receipts toward the
building fund had been 2,3291., of which 1,5001. had
been invested, and 6401 remained in the treasurer's
hands.
The election then commenced, and terminated at
3 o'clock, when the names of the successful candidates
were announced.

BLOOMERISIVI.
(From the Morning Chronicle.)
The Bloomer ladies generally have no right to com-
plain of the ill success of their agitation, for they have
challenged public criticism in that way which, in
England, we have not yet learned to think other than
offensive. Lady lecturers are rare in Europe ; and
when they take up subjects verging on critical mat-
ters, a greater amount of decorum, modesty, and dis-
cretion is demanded than has been presented to us at
Miss Kelly's Theatre, or in the Holborn Hall. At
present Mrs. Foster is an exception to her sect, but
even in her clever management the crucial experiment
was fatal. To have seen a Bloomer settles Bloomerism.

It is not the trivial witticism about the wife wear.

ing the breeches, nor the unhappy suggestion of
the George Sand and INLardeur school of morals,
with which this dress has unfortunately been con-
meted, that will do all the mischief ; but the cos-
tume itself is its own condemnation. " Pillows under
all arm-holes" are, perhaps, a female abomination—
hat then they may plead precedent. They are as
old as the Bible, at least in the English trans-
lation--" ten or fifteen pounds of petticoat round the
body, and balloons in the sleeves," are neither grace-
ful nor reasonable we admit—" sixteen square yards
of skirt" merely " depositing strata of thick black
slosh on the ankles, and turning their wearer into a
walking mop." is certainly a feature suggestive of
nothing agreeable—and English fashion, which, with-
out Transatlantic prompting, has encased our females
in shaggy paletUts with large pearl buttons, has, we
allow, little ground to object to the andro-gynous
aspect of the "pettiloon" or " pantalette." Nor in-
deed can any of us, with any show of propriety, ob-
ject to the novelty of a costume which, anyhow, every
English girl under fourteen has worn this many a
year. But all these objections to every existing
fashion fail utterly in demonstrating the propriety of
the new one. We do not pretend to have been
initiated in the greater mysteries of the gynaceunz ;
and we therefore content ourselves with an
American lady's criticism on the Bloomer costume,
which we cite with the more satisfaction as it is ex-

pressed in that rich vernacular, which so graphically
exceeds the powers of any masculine pen. "If "
and the dilemma is to us insuperable--" if," says Airs.
Jane Swi‘shelm, " the trowsera are loose at the ankle,
they goflip-fiap ; if gathered to a band and falling
over in a putf, they go slip-slap as one walks. If
there is a ruffle to fall down on the top of the foot, it
gets in the mud, and is as ugly as the longest skirt.
If it is drawn up to be convenient, as much of the foot
and ankle is exposed as need be in a moderately short
skirt. Then the trowsers, all of them, give a general
appearance of dropsical legs." An Aristotelian .:;orit(s
of dilemmas—" either flip-flap or slip-slap; the
division is exhaustive : there is no tertium quo!. If
long, dirty ; if short, immodest, and a common nature,
dropsical-looking, in all cases. Is not this enough to
condemn Bloomerism pure and simple?
Swisshelm helps us to another illustration. ln
stooping far enough to lift a thimble"—but
our American ally is here again more gra-
phic than we wish to be. Only let our readers
imagine how a stooping Venus would look, simply
braceata et tunicata, with the natural rise and fall of
a " vent" which, in its standing position, is only to
reach "two inclus below the knee"—tho regulation
cut —and then let us idealise the modesty of a
Bloomer female "visibly trowsered to the waist !"
And so as to another class of objections we admit
their force, but they do not prove Bloomerism. Fite
hundred wrongs do not make a right. It may be
quite true that one absurdity involves another, and
that the quantity of petticoats—we beg pardon,
" underskirts"—is in some mathematical proportion
to the square of their density and volume. In other
words, that one petticoat, like one fool, makes many,
and that crinoline is like a zoophyte, self-propagating
—or, to phrase it differently, that when a woman
getsinside a quilted balloon of the present mode, or a
tub constructed of horsehair cordage, catgut, cane,
and whalebone of a past fashion, she wants clothing
to protect her from her clothes. But, we repeat,
admitting the absurdity of all this, there is some
intermediate stage where taste may be found between
this style of dress, which the Bloomers so effectively
demolish, and what has been called the " forked