the subscribers, and are maintained gratuitously.
The receipts of the Asylum are thus, to a certain
extent, a common fund for the support of all the
inmates; although those who maintain
themselves receive special advantages according to
the amount of their payments. But none of
the inmates, however poor they may be, are
deprived of any of the essentials of comfort. A
patient who pays a hundred or a hundred and
fifty pounds a year may have a separate apartment
and an attendant entirely to himself; but
as regards the necessaries and comforts essential
to health and enjoyment of life, the rich and the
poor are on the same footing.

I fully expected that the sight of so many
idiotic creatures in a body would be exceedingly
painful. It certainly was painful; but far less
so than I could possibly have imagined.
Contrary to my anticipation they were all clean, and
neat, and tidy in their dress. Moreover, the
majority of them exhibited an activity of body
and a cheerfulness of expression which I had
never before witnessed in persons so manifestly
deficient in mental power. This deficiency was
strongly marked in every face. The manifestations
are very similar in all cases,—a deformed
head or jaw, a wide loose mouth showing the
gums, large irregular teeth, a fixed stare, and
an imbecile smile that comes and goes in a
mechanical manner. These peculiarities told
plainly that the persons I saw before me were
idiotic; but their manner and bearing
conveyed no idea of their being useless and
helpless.

The kindly system of the institution had done
its work. Many of these poor creatures, when
they were first brought to Earlswood, were in a
condition inferior almost to the brutes. They
were confirmed in filthy habits; they were at
times perfectly torpid and completely insensible.
All the gates of their understanding were as
firmly locked as if they had been sealed by the
hand of death. They had ears and could not
hear; eyes and could not see; tongues and could
not speak. And now, here on this lawn, were
these self-same creatures, all more or less
awakened to life and understanding, running
and leaping, laughing and chatting, asking and
answering questions, and contending with each
other in a high spirit of emulation in all kinds
of games, while the workshops, the garden, and
the farm offered a hundred specimens of their
work in almost every department of art and
industry.

The Rev. Edwin Sidney, a benevolent clergyman,
who takes a deep interest in this institution,
and who is one of its chief benefactors,
has given a most interesting account, from
observations made at various periods since the
year 1859, of the working of the system, and of
the progress made by the various inmates. In
the course of his visits, Mr. Sidney has been
enabled to watch the treatment of idiots from the
first day of their admission into the asylum
until, in some instances, they have been rendered
fit to mix in society. The system pursued
by Dr. Down, the resident physician and
superintendent, resembles, in some degree, the
graduated process by which the raw produce
of nature is slowly and patiently converted
into works of arts and usefulness—with this
difference, that the human raw material is
never treated roughly, but always tenderly and
gently.

On the reception of a pupil, the first step is
to inquire from friends the history of the case,
and to discover the peculiar predilections and
repugnances of the individual. Certain objective
facts, as weight, height, shape, condition of
the organs of sense, and powers of prehension
and locomotion, are carefully registered.
Then follow personal observation and comparison
of habits and propensities with the accounts
received from friends. These are the data for
treatment, and instructions in accordance with
them are given to the attendant or nurse. The
first efforts are directed to the eradication of
bad habits, such as tearing the clothes and
wallowing in the dirt. After this, if there
exist sufficient power, the pupil has proposed
to him, occupations: such as unravelling cocoa
fibre for matting, splitting rods for baskets,
and the result of his labour, whatever it may
be, is always received with praise instead of
blame.

When the pupil is indolent, morose, or stubborn,
the example of good fellow-pupils is tried,
and the imitation of their conduct is encouraged.
If he prove incapable from low physical power,
the physician's skill is exercised on diet, attention
to the condition of the skin, and due medical
treatment. The physical state is held to be of
the greatest importance, and the appliance of
gymnastic exercises is regulated by it. These
exercises are first to the upper extremities, and
then to the lower and the trunk, and the lessons
are enlivened by music.

From the examination of many hundred cases,
Dr. Down has found that a malformation of the
mouth and the palate is a physical characteristic
of nearly all idiots. It is not surprising, therefore,
that many of them are mute, semi-mute,
or indistinct in utterance. But even the worst
of such cases are successfully treated at Earlswood.
The method pursued is curious. For
example, if the sounds to be caught were those
of the letter T, the teacher would first hold up
a top, which the pupils are made to name
collectively; then a letter, and lastly a pot. In
the same manner for D, he would show pictures
of a dog, a ladder, and some object coloured red.
Hence, when a learner can name every object
in the collection, he is able to utter the required
words correctly. The result has been that many
who could scarcely articulate a sound, can now
speak intelligibly and with tolerable correctness.
Pictures play an important part in conveying
ideas to the pupils, and many of them have
learned all they know from pictures. Some
of them, who are incapable of reading and
writing, have become expert draughtsmen, as
may be seen from various specimens of their
artistic works which adorn the walls of the
Asylum.