Connecticut western news., 1871-09-01
The Unfortunate.

MR. EDIToR.-I have thought since the establishment of your paper in our midst, that it might be we'll to ask the favor of space in your columns, in which to give briefly, the history of labors for the inn provement of feeble minded children and youth, in this and other counties, and to speak with some particularly of the work in our state, We have in our corner of the state, an institution of great public im- portance, which has been quietly solving a problem of vast interest to all right think ing citizens. This problem is, that such an institution is necessity in every state or large community, and that the relief afforded to families and friends, and the benefit conferred upon the individuals by training and care, is as great as that affor- ded any other unfortunate class which requires special means for instruction and elevation, or relief, as the Deaf and Dumb, the Blind, or Insane.
 The function performed by this and kindred institutions, completes the circle of our human charities. Latest, but not
  recently ,he whip. the, stocks. and the chains used |" control the insane were thrown away, the homes of kindness, gentlcness and love substituted in their place. The change was made about the commencement of this Century. Tue in- terest which attached to the experiments of Pinel. aroused attention to all kindred classes.
 A citizen of France brought to the di- rector of one of the large asylums wild boy, caught in the woods subsisting upon nuts and roots, and desired his education. This boy excited a lively interest in the minds of the thinkers and philosophers, and one party pronounced him idiotic, and others ''simply sntsresy uaataugAt." After six years of care he had not learned to value, or willingly wear his clothing, and efforts to educate him failed.
 Nearly forty years passed before any institution was established, designed espec- ially to benefit the class represented by the wild idiot of Aveyron. In 1888 a school for them was established in Paris. In 1842 a portion of the Bicetre, one of the large hospitals for the Insane at Paris, was set apart for their instruction. In 1889 or lS40, a Swiss physician established an in- stitution for Cretin idiots, upon the high Alps. In Germany, school was estab- lished at Berlin in 1s42, and one at Leipsic in l846. Three schools were established in England about 1S46, at Bath, Brighton, and at LaDcastor. The first school in this country was established by Dr. H. B. Will bur, in Massachusetts in I849.
 The state of Massachusetts established an experimental school in 1S4S, which resulted in founding state institution in 1851. The state of New York next fol lowed. Then Pennsylvania, and next in order Connecticut, Kentucky, Ohio, ard Illinois. There are now more than twenty European schools for this class and eight American. Every state in this country which has established an institution fol imbeciles has enlarged it, and the principle is fully recognized that accommodation. should be provided for aU of the class who can be benefited by training.
 It is not improper in this connection to say that so far as is known, tn, first systematic efforts to educate an i'm beetle, (with the exception of those whicl Pinel and Itard bestowed upon the wilC boy of Aveyron in 1sO1,) were made il our own state. In 1878 feeble-mindet child was received at the American asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at Hartford, ant kept there until her death in 1924. Var ious others were received there, the natur of their infirmity being we'll understood and intelligent efforts made to educat them, fact of which we may well fee proud. In my next, will give histor, of the establishment of this school in Sails bury. K.