PART IV.] SECRETARY'S REPORT. [CHAP. II. teachers, and five by deaf-mute teachers. The education of these classes has been attended with the usual interest and success; but while all are taught through the medium of sign language, the opinion is becoming more prevalent, that a considerable number would derive greater benefit from instruction in articulation, thereby acquiring sufficient intelligible speech for all practical purposes. What proportion can be thus instructed, is still a matter unsettled; yet no means should be spared to give to every deaf-mute the very best education which science, and skill, and faithful instruction can impart. Honest effort to test and establish the methods of instruction best adapted to benefit and improve each class of mutes, should receive the earnest sympathy and encouragement of every humane and intelligent observer. Further information relative to the Hartford Asylum and its pupils will doubtless be communicated by the Board of Education, which exercises supervision over all deaf-mutes supported by the State. (3.) The Eye and Ear Infirmary. The Report from this Institution exhibits the following results for the year-Total receipts, $16,570.37, chiefly from three sources, board of patients, $1,176.40; interest on permanent investments, $5,359.88; legacy of Mrs. Abigail Loring, $5,017.33; State appropriation, $5,000. The expenditures amounted to $10,144.03; and the property of the Infirmary at the date named, to $127,966.35. The number of patients treated the past year was 3,843, of whom 336 were house patients; while of the whole number, 2,793 were treated for diseases of the eye, and 1,050 for diseases of the ear. The patients were residents of the following places:-Boston, 1,935; other parts of Massachusetts, 1,658; Maine, 100; New Hampshire, 49; Rhode Island, 12; Vermont, 20; Connecticut, 8; other parts of the United States, British Provinces and foreign countries, 50. Since its establishment, in 1824, the Institution has relieved nearly eighty thousand beneficiaries. From its small beginning, commencing with limited means and with a single room, it has become a charity of important magnitude, dispensing its INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND. benefits to largely increasing numbers, and promoting the successful advancement of this branch of medical science. In view of the increasing wants of the Infirmary, it is proposed to ask the legislature of 1869 for the same amount ($5,000,) that was granted by the last. (4.) The Institution for the Blind. Dr. Howe, the Secretary of this Institution, has performed a valuable service by presenting, in his Annual Report, just issued, an interesting compilation of its history and administration, commencing with the first public measures initiated in this country for the education of the blind by Dr. John D. Fisher, of Boston; at whose instance, mainly, an association of gentlemen was formed, in 1829, for the promotion of this noble benefi cence. The result of that movement was the incorporation of the New England Asylum for the Blind, which was the first establishment of the kind upon this continent. After some time spent in collecting information at home and abroad, and in preparatory trials, the Institution was finally opened to the public in 1832, with only six pupils, in a private residence in Boston. It soon attracted public attention, liberal subscriptions were received, and the legislature made appropri ations for the support of indigent blind children whom the Governor had been authorized to place in the Institution, the annual appropriation for this purpose having been increased. from $6,000 for the first, to $25,000 for the present year. From this and subsequent efforts, often embarrassed by pecuniary necessities, though almost parsimoniously frugal in expenditure save for the happiness and education of the blind, but ever inspired by liberal policy in the fulfilment of its true mission, the Institution has risen to a sphere of extensive usefulness. Five or six years of care and training in the Institution, enables most of its unfortunate inmates to engage in some useful occupation. Referring to its constant aim to help the blind to help themselves, and so to lighten, as much as possible, the burden which blindness imposes upon the Commonwealth, Dr. Howe says: PART IV.] SECRETARY'S REPORT. [CHAP. II. "The main object of the Institution is to train up the pupils in virtuous and industrious habits; to give them useful knowledge; to cultivate and strengthen their mental and bodily powers by regular and constant exercises, adapted to their peculiar condition; to make them hardy, and self-reliant, so that they may go out into the world determined not to eat the bread of charity, but to earn it by any honest work; and to live and die anywhere rather than in an asylum or almshouse." For the accomplishment of this object, the establishment is wisely divided into School or Juvenile, Music, and Work Departments, in which the day is occupied with study and oral instruction, lessons and practice in vocal and instrumental music, and work at some simple mechanical occupation. Inmates of the Institution. Speaking of the number of inmates and their probable increase, he makes the following statement: "The number of inmates reported at the close of the last financial year was one hundred and twenty-seven. During the year fifty-four have been admitted, and nineteen discharged, leaving the present number one hundred and sixty-two, which exceeds that of any previous year. "There is reason to suppose that it will be still further increased, and that more applicants will present themselves than can be accommodated in the present building. "Indeed, it can hardly well be otherwise. The advantages of the Institution are becoming known throughout New England. The facilities for travel are increasing. Parents are less reluctant to send their children a great distance from home. "There are at least as many blind in New England as there are deaf-mutes, and they are equally in need of, and equally benefited by special instruction. But the long existence of the School for Mutes has made the feasibility of teaching them well known in every part of New England, so that more than two hundred and fifty are sent to the Connecticut Asylum, and to the School at Northampton. When the feasibility and advantage of educating the blind shall be equally well known, there will be as many applications for admission to this Institution. Present indications warrant the belief that within five years, at least two hundred and fifty FINANCES OF THE INSTITUTION. blind children and youths will require the means of education at the hands of the State." The average number of inmates during the year was 147,— an increase of 23 over the preceding year. The average cost per annum, based upon the current expenses of the Asylum, is stated at $249.75 each, making the average weekly cost $4.80, -in both cases, a very considerable reduction from the previous year. Finances. According to the inventories of real and personal estate belonging to the Institution,-including the Workshop and Asylum proper, the aggregate amounted, September 30, 1868, to $208,311.13, divided as follows: real estate, $155,000; personal, $53,311.13; of the latter, $35,000 belonging to the Asylum, and the remainder to the workshop, which is carried on independently of the school. The total receipts of both Departments for the year were $74,079.99, from the following sources: State appropriations, $28,750; from other States and from individuals, for the support of pupils, $9,913.87; donations, $1,701; miscellaneous sources, $4,583.41; laundry work, and articles manufactured in the Work Department, $29,131.71. The aggregate expenditures were $72,010.31, viz.: current expenses of the Asylum, $36,713.94; extraordinary expenses for repairs and improvements, $3,975.34; current expenses of the Workshop, $14,746.45; stock and contingent expenses for the same, $16,574.58. A recapitulation shows the following results: Asylum, -total receipts, $15,155.81; total expenses, $16,082.30; Workshop, total receipts, $33,390.71; total expenses, $31,321.03. The schedule represents the resources thus: Asylum,bills receivable, $6,402.34; Workshop,-bills receivable, and stock and cash on hand, $11,283.17-total, $17,685.51. Liabilities: Asylum, $944.55; Workshop, $22,172.27—total, $23,116.82; net balance against the two, $5,431.31. Another form of analysis exhibits a balance of liabilities in favor of the PART IV.] SECRETARY'S REPORT. [CHAP. II. Asylum amounting to $5,457.79, and against the Workshop, $10,889.10,-leaving the aggregate net balance against the two as before stated. Re-organization. The long contemplated re-organization of the Institution. upon some plan in nearer conformity to a cottage or family system, is still anxiously desired by its friends. The main structure, originally built for a hotel, and altered at considerable cost to carry out the congregate system ever since maintained, is yet very far from, being well adapted even to its present use. In order to remedy, as far as possible, the defects of the structure, to which are so largely attributed the inconveniences and evils growing out of the system itself, the Legislature of 1868 made an appropriation of $15,000, on condition that an equal sum should be raised from other sources, to finish the projected improvements. It was found on subsequent investigation, that the necessary enlargements, improvements and apparatus would cost not less than $60,000; and although the additional amount required might probably have been raised by subscription and the sale of the Workshop lot and building, it seemed, as the Report says, a formidable sum to expend for improvements on the present system, especially as they would not adapt the premises to the better one so long contemplated, but might retard, indefinitely, the period of its adoption. In addition to this, the largely increased demand for building lots in the neighborhood made it certain that the estate could be sold for a much larger sum than ever before. In his review of the subject and the action of the Trustees, Dr. Howe communicates the following result : "These considerations brought up the question whether this was not a more favorable opportunity than would be likely again to occur for re-modelling the Institution, and introducing all the improvements which an experience of thirty years has shown to be desirable. This question was decided in the affirmative after a good deal of thought and discussion; and a resolution was passed by the Trustees not to draw the sum appropriated by the legisla |