Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-11-21

Tested as in the manner in which the unfer-
tn dtes Of humanity are treated.
It may be that the hearts Of the people of
former times felt as keenly as those of the
present generation for those deficient in in.
tellectual culture, or in physical, mental or
moral health; but the brain of the people
bad not yet comprehended how those moral,
mental, or physical maladies could be cured
in the human family. Pinel first dared to
strike eff the chains of the maniac and to
throw open the doov of his worse than
prison house and bring him forth from filth
and impurity into the enjoyment of the light
of heaven and the smile of humanity; he did
far more for the human race than had been
done by any military hero of either ancient
or modern times.
Under the instruction of that great act of
beroism, judgment and humanity, the whole
civilized world has changed its opinions and
conduc! in regard to the insane, until now
they are cared for and furnished with all the
comforts, safety, care and attention which
the powers of government, aided by enlight-
ened humanity, can bestow; and thousands
are thus restored to society, to their families
and to themselves, who formerly would have
been doomed to the life and to the death of
the rsving maniac.
The blind and the deaf have also had their
claims upon the human brotherhood allowed,
ard now they, too, are taken care Of, aud
instructed TO become benefit instead of q
burden to themselves and the public. In
some instances the deaf have been taught to
speak even, and to read the speech of Others
by the motion of the lips; and the blind have
been taught such handicrafts as they can
follow without the aid of sight, and theze
unfortunates have no longer been burden
10 the community.
Idiots, with all their responsiveness, have
rot repelled those with large warm hearts.
AS early as 1918, attempts were made at the
American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at
Hartford, Conn, to instruct some idiots. In
1924 DR.. Belhomme, of Paris, published au
essay on the possibility of improving both
the ply sical and mental condition Of idiots,
which, probably, was the cause of few
being instructed for short time at Bicetre,
an Insane Asylum, in the year 1928, and in
the Salpetrier three years later. Two years
later still, in 1888, DR.. Vossin attempted to
organize school in Paris expressly for the
instruction of idiots, but without success
and in 1889 he and DR.. Leuret revived the
school at Bicetre, which was the first per-
manent school for the instruction of idiots
of which the writer has any information.
In 1S4O DR.. GuggenbuhI, at Abeudberg,
commenced his school, that has since become
so famous, and which attracted the attention
of the late Horace Mann, then Superintend.
ent of the Common Schools of Massachu-
setts and Of Dr. S. G. Howe, who had charge
of the Asylum for the Blind at South Bos-
ton. But it is probable that DR.. VIM. Awl,
at that time Superintendent of the Lunatic
Asylum at Columbus, Ohio, was the first
person who called the attention of Govern.
ments to the propriety of establishing idiotic
institutions in the United States. His efforts
were as early as 1874.
While DR.. Sequin had been laboring for
the idiots in Paris, and DR.. Guggenbuhl at
Abendberg, Herr Saegert, of Berlin, teacher
Of deaf mutes, had his attention drawn to
the idiotic. In 1910 he received idiots into
his school, where they have been taught ever
since. His success, and that of others, led
some benevolent ladies in England TO estab.
lish schools on small scale at Bath, at
Brighton and at Lancaster. DR.. John Con-
nelly, the Rev. DR.. Andrew Read and Sir S.
M. Peto united their efforts in l847 to estab-
lish an institution on a larger scale than
those at Bath, Brighton and Lancaster They
rented extensive buildings at Higbgate and
at Colchester, where idiots could be cared for
and instructed, and then collected funds
with which the Royal Institution for Idiots
was erected. 1t was completed iu 1856.
1t contains near FIVE hundred beds, but
still does not furnish accommodations for all,
and Essex Hall has been arranged as a per-
maDent school. There are two small private
schools for idiots in Scotland. The philan-
thropists Of our own country have kept pace
with the progress of those in Europe. Ex-
perience soon taught that the idiots should
have schools separate from the blind and
deaf. In lS4S DR.. H. B. Wilbur opened a
school for idiots in Barre, Massachusetts,.
The Massachusetts, experimental school,
under the superintendent of DIR. Howe, was
opened little later Almost Immediately
the New York school, at Syracuse, was
opened, and shortly after, that of Pennsylva-
MIA, and more recently, the Ohio Idiotic
School at Columbus, under DR.. R. Y. Pat
terson, has been opened.
But modern philanthropy has not been
confined to the insane, the blind, deaf dumb
and imbecile, but has extended to others of
the unfOrtuDates, until many who were for
merly considered beyond the reach Of any
humanitary effort are now recognized as the
proper subjects of its consideration and care.
Howard visited the prisons Of England,
ard, by giving his thoughts to the world,
the debtors and felons of both continents
have had their conditions investigated, and
In many regards improved. Prison disci-
pline associations, and those connected with
them, are silently but speedily solving some
Of the deepest problems of humanitary
science, and are powerful appliances in for
wardiDg human progress. Those sick in
body or deficient in any of their senses have
asserted their claims upon humanity, and
those claims have been allowed to the fullest
extent. But those sick in intellect and those