Litchfield enquirer., 1856-05-15
Improvement Of the Idiot,

bury, one OF the commissioners appointed By
the last Legislature to find out the necessities
d oQr State in relation to the treatment and
tralsing of Idiots, an article from the pen of
d. y. z. Brockett Of Hartford. DR.. B. has
evidently spendsmuch time and attention in de-
vislng means for the amelioration and improve
ment Of the condition Of this unfortunate class,
and in the phamplet before US gives an interest
ing statement of what has been done for them irf
other countries and States. Ilspeaking of the
causes Of idiotcy, he says:
In England and this country, intemperance
on the part of one or both parents, is certainly
the most prolific cause of faulty, and when
poverty, filth, recklessness, and intempcrance
are united, and the half starved inebriate mad
dened with woe, drinks that he may forget his
wretchedncss, we have combination of cir
cumstances which can hardly fail to produce
idiocy in bis offspring ed -. @.
There are cases. however and the number is
quite considerable, in which we must lock. for
other causes than intemperanee or extreme pow
erty. For some of these the inter-narriage of
near relatives, for one or two generations is
satisfactory reason for Others, hereditary ten
dency to insanity, to scrofula, or to consump-
ton in others still, indulgence in licentioi,s
habits or the attempt to destroy the life of the
unborn babe, a practice which is fearfully in
ereasing in cur country, must be assigned as
the cause ignorance, selfishness and avariee.
must be reckoned, also, among the sources of
this fearful iniirIhity 1t has often occurred
hat phaua 10th II
possessed with the greed for gain, that inteliec-
tual and moral culture were wholly neglected,
and in their furious pursuit of wealth they pans-
ed not for the rest of the Sabbath thought not
OF the future, and needed not the appeals of the
poor, the sick, or the dying for sympathy or
suecor. their offspring have been idiots OF the
very lowest class.
In short, humiliating as the thought may be,
we are driven to the conclusion that the vast
amount of idocy, in our world, is the direct re-
suit Of the violation of the physical and moral
laws which govern our being that oftentimes
the sins of the fathers are thus visited mon
their children and that the parent. for the
sake OF Il momentary qualification of his depray-
ed appetite, inhiets upon the helpless offspring
a life of utter yacuity
AS to what can be done the Doctors re-
ply is emphaticaly to the effect that the only
remedy is the establishment of special schools
for idiots:
Nearly, or quite one-half are tenants of our
aims houses or houses of correction. Full one
half Of the remainder are children of parents
who are stepped to the lips in poverty for
these, whether in the aims house or ont of it
there can be no improvement, except by remoy-
al from their present associations. Fed with
improper or innutritious food, often allowed the
use Of Intoxicating drinks, generally idle, often
made the sport Of thoushtless children and
adults, without shame or sense of decency. filthy
and degraded, they are pests in community. Of
ten cxerting o depraving influence overs,the
young which no subsequent instruction can re-
move. Nor are the imbeciIe children of the
wealthy generally benefited by their parents
wealth, if allowed to remain at home. The
sluggish. inactive temperament, and gluttonous
appetite, which arc the greatest obstacles to
success in their treatment at Asylums, are PAM
pered and indulged at homeland it often oc.
ours that the worst pupils, in an Institution for
Idiots, are the children of the rich In the pre-
sent condition OF society we see no alternative.
These helpless and degraded fellow creatures
arc on our hands, and we must provide for their
instruction aud improvement if we can remove.
in part, the blighting, whitening results of viola
ted physical laws. let us do SO for they are
the victims not the offenders.
The following eloquent extract does honor to
the Doctors head and heart. Let us hone
that events will verify it
We are firm believers in "the good time
coming - we are satisfied that the race is max
ing progress, that as an eminent statesman has
well said, the frightful number of those ufor-
tunatcs, whose ranks cucumber the march of
insane, the idiotic, the blind,
the deaf, the drunkards, the criminals, the pau
pers will dwindle away, as the light of knowl-
edge makes clear the laws which govern cur
Bnt in the words of the same elo.
luent writer, in the meantime let none of them
be lost let none OF them be uncared for but.
whenever the signal is given Of a man in dis
tress,no matter how deformed, how vicious, how
loathsome, even, he may be, let it be as a call
to help brother"
The commissioners appointed last year will
report to the present Legislature earnestly in
favor OF an institution in Connecticut for the
and training of these unfortunates.
and we hope prompt and effeetual response
will be given to their appeal. 9@ sac
slsS ------>~>~- A.
Another Murder. 3
Last Sunday evening, a party of Irishmcn as
'embed at the house Of bernard STANLEY, near
The Messrs. Parker's min in Westv;Ile swo