New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-08-07
THB IMBEClLR.

Gagged and chained, clad in scantJ and hardly de-
cent clothing, fed upon the coarsest food, lodged
upon bundle of straw, covered with vermin and
wallowipg in filth presenting spectacle 30 shock
ing that he who saw it once cOnd never forget it.
Its counterpart we trust, would be sought for now
In vain in any part of this country
This disposition of the insane, however, gener~
alton ago, was not because our fathers were more
cruel Il an we are but because they were less en-
lightened. An insane man might be dangerous to
the public safety his friends might not be able to
bear the expense of his confinement and care;
there was no other public institution but the aims
house TO which he could be sent; and to that ac-
cod ngly, he was consigned. Consigned to its
solitary conference.-the iron cage-its chalns-its
deprivation of any but the dimmest light-its want
of aiI-its flth-tl whatever might have been his
first condition, madness would at length possess
him as though he were torn by more than legion
of devils. We remember, as we write, sceoe oil
this sort which we saw in childhood, and shudder
as we remember.
The maxim in those days seemed to be that
they who could not take care Of themselves were
to receive from others the least possible care by
which life could be sustained. The deaf and dumb
man was held aloOf from almost all communion
with bis kipd the blind man was set aside as an
almost tterly helpless and ptiable creature; and
the idiot was lett to nope and NOV BY the way
side-tbe least wretched of them all, however, be-
cause unconscious of the deprivations which set
him apart from the rest of bis kind. The idea had
not then been born that to these unfor innate crea
lures could apply the great Christian law, " Boar
ave one another's burdens" The mantle of true
charity had no fold with which to cover them.
They were pushed outside the circle of human
sympathies.
The world is better now because it is wiser.
The causes of these abnormal conditions of hu-
mainly have been made the subject of scientific
analysis, as well as of tender, Christian charity;
and almost We " see him that was possessed with
"a devil, and had the legion, sitting, clothed,
" and in his right mind" The acutest intellects
and the most unwearied patience have been de-
voted to the duty of giving eyes to the blind,
voices to the dumb, to shedding light again upon
the da1kened mind and dispelling the darkness
where no light had ever been. The present age
has reason to be proud of its material triumphs,
of its suhugation Of the great forces OF nature to
the will of man. 1t has still more reason to be
thankful that the divine philosophy of the Christian
Religion has received a new and practical appllca-
ton to human life in It's humblost and most painful
relations.
In nothing has the success achieved by gener
GUS and seli-dery ing philanthropy been markedas
in the treatueut of the mentally imbecile. Of oil
the unfortunate these were the most wretched; and
none the less SO that they were unconscious OF their
misery. Deprived of human reason, and its place
not supplied, III many cases, even by mere Animal
instinct the uhthinking could not recognize In their
condition any appeal to aid and compassion. The
absolute idiot, TIL within few years, has only not
been killed by his fellow. creatures, while he has been
locked upon, except perhaps by his mother, with
loatbirg and contempt. But Christian benev ,ence
has at length taken pity upon hs condition, and
almost created life beneath the ribs of that death
A school for this unfortunate class has recently
been established in this city BY Mr.. James b.
Richards. This gentleman was one of the first, in
this country, who recognized the possibility OF
tanning into living flame the duest light that
gllmmered in any human soul, and his success as a
teacher Of mbeciie children in the State institu
tons of Massachusetts and Pennsy lyana has been
very marked. 1t is an interesting physiological
fact, that he is the son of parents who were the
first missionaries to Ceylon, and that he was born
at time when his father and mother were alb
stIbed, with pious, self denying devotion, in at
tempts to nstill iqtO the simple and uncultiyated
minds Of the heather the light of spiritual aud in
tellectua truths. The son seems to have in
herted their devotion to the needs of the
most humble, and what may have been
10 them an acquired skill 10 attaiaing through
patience and perseverance, and unwearied asslduty
an influence over the feeble intellect of the IN
tutored neophyte and awakening al interest in
things new and strange, ard difficult to understand,
has become in him an irresistible power over fee
BILE minds, and an intuitye aptitude at their de-
velopment and training. We know Of no more in
terestiDg exhibition than Mr. Richards, 10 his
school, surrounded by his pupils, some Of whom
were, before they were put in his charge, OF the
most troublesome class of uncomfortable idiots and
Others destitute of even mere animal instinct, but
all now subjected to complete control, under the
almost magnetic Influence of his firm yet tender
will, and their feeble minds brought into activity
and growth full of pleasure to Themselves in cases
where il was believed no mind existed.
Acting upon the general principle that the imbe-
Giles fret necessity is recognition Of facts whe-
Their within himself, or beyond his personal iden-
tty, tie teacher laboriously, and without
moment 9 Impotence, or moments relaxation