ts. A great many of them are hardly able
to take care of themselves. They are unfit to teach or train common
children; how much less to take the charge of idiots, whose education is
the most difficult of all!

The commissioners ascertained, mainly by personal observation, the
condition of three hundred and fifty-five idiotic persons who are not
town or state paupers. Of these there may be, at the most, five who are
treated very judiciously; who are taught by wise and discreet persons,
and whose faculties and capabilities are developed to their fullest
extent; but the remaining three hundred and fifty are generally "in a
most deplorable condition as it respects their bodily, mental, and moral
treatment."[51]

[51] One would hardly be credited if he should put down half the
instances of gross ignorance manifested by parents in this enlightened
community [the State of Massachusetts] in the treatment of idiotic
children. Sometimes they find that the children seem to comprehend what
they hear, but soon forget it; hence they conclude that the brain is
soft, and can not retain impressions, and then they cover the head with
cold poultices of oak-bark in order to tan or harden the fibers. Others,
finding that it is exceedingly difficult to make any impression upon the
mind, conclude that the brain is too hard, and they torture the poor
child with hot and _softening_ poultices of bread and milk; or they
plaster tar over the whole skull, and keep it on for a long time. _These
are innocent applications compared with some, which doubtless render
weak-minded children perfectly idiotic._--DR. S. G. HOWE.

What a striking illustration have we here of the necessity of diffusing
correct physiological information more widely among the masses than has
yet been done even in enlightened Massachusetts!

The commissioners come to the unquestionable conclusion in their report
that "nothing can afford a stronger argument in favor of an institution
for the proper training and teaching of idiots, and the dissemination of
information upon the subject, than the striking difference manifested in
the condition of the few children who are properly cared for and
judiciously treated, and those who are neglected or abused. There are
cases in our community of youths who are idiotic from birth, but who,
under proper care and training, have become cleanly in person, quiet in
deportment, industrious in habits, and who wo