Statistics of institutions for the blind for 1883-89-Part I. 15 Boston, Mass Iowa College for the Blind 1852 T. F. M'Cune.. 10 Wyandotte, Kans.. Kansas Institution for the Education of the 1867 G. H. Miller Blind.* Kentucky Institution for the Education of the 1842 Benjamin B. Huntoon, A. M Blind. Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind.. 1871 Mrs. Mary S. Lane Maryland School for the Colored Blind and Frederick D. Morrison. Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School 1832 M. Anagnos..... 1853 1872 .do. Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind. 1835 C. II. Miller * Statistics of 1887-88. a From Annual Report, 1887-88. 3 60 43 30 2: 5 55 667 93 35 1524 3315 3311 15 30 35 67 59 16 8 (240) 8 13 9 170 129 40 21 195 23 98 120 b From Annual Report. Statistics of institutions for the blind for 1888-89-Part I-Continued. 27 Cedar Springs, S. C South Carolina Institution for the Education of 1849 N. F. Walker. 2 1 1. the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. 4 3 5 106 50 138 208 14 8 16 28 Statistics of institutions for the blind for 1888-89-Part II. 23 North Carolina Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. 3, 100 60, 209 2 24 Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind. 2,000 (a) (a) 27,483 (a) 3,402 25, 027 49, 392 (a) (a) (a) 9 25 Oregon Institute for the Blind 4,000 56,000 1,800 12, 488 42, 710 26 Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. 150 4,000 2,000 2,000 32 27 South Carolina Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the 4,500 48, 000 76, 578 (52, 907) Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind Colored Youth. 1,420 40, 410 3,800 17, 000 19,000 Virginia Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind 50,000 34 School for Deaf and Blindd.. 2, 340 ཙེཡྻ 23, 600 7,500 12, 300 * Statistics of 1887-88. a See p. 1395. b From Annual Report of 1887-88. c From Annual Report. d Not yet organized; no funds. II.-EDUCATION OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED. GENERAL REMARKS. The first school for the care and training of the feeble-minded was opened by Dr. H. B. Wilbur in the village of Barre, Mass., in 1813. Soon after the opening of this school Dr. S. G. Howe, of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, opened a school at South Boston, Mass. New York was the next to establish a school, and Pennsylvania quickly followed. Since the establishment of the first institution 27 schools, public and private, have been opened, and nearly $1,000,000 were expended the past year for their support. In the plan of organization of the schools two departments are provided for-the educational and the custodial. The educational department embraces those receiving instruction not only in ordinary branches of a common school but also industrial occupations and manual labor. The custodial department has the care of those inmates to whom schoolroom exercises are considered unprofitable. An effort is made in this department to teach the pupils personal cleanliness and usefulness in domestic matters, and to break them of bad habits previously formed. The question that arises in considering the usefulness of these schools is, can the feeble-minded be educated and trained so as to be self-supporting? It is not claimed by the friends of this class of defectives that the greater number of them can be made self-sustaining, but it is well established that many that have been sent from the institutions are leading useful lives and are not burdens to the community or to their friends. Wherever adequate training has been given them the great majority of idiotic and feeble-minded children have been found susceptible of physical and mental improvement. It is therefore urged by all who are familiar with the facts that neither jails, nor county infirmaries, nor hospitals for the insane are suitable places for these unfortunates, but that institutions and homes as soon as possible be erected for those whose necessities demand such provision. THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The report of the committee of the Fifteenth National Conference of Charities and Correction on this subject may be briefly summed up as follows: That from 10 to 20 per cent. of those who are trained in these institutions are so improved as to enter life as self-supporting; that from 30 to 40 per cent. are made self-helpful and much less burdensome to their people, and that one-half of the whole number will need custodial care throughout life. Of the whole number of feeble-minded persons in the United States three-fifths are said to be distributed among the middle and poorer classes. The earliest efforts should be made toward the relief of this class of our population. The committee earnestly urge the placing of the permanently disabled in the custodial departments in buildings sufficiently remote from the industrial and educational departments of the institutions, and that they be treated by the same merciful system as the inmates of the educational and industrial departments. About one-sixth of the feeble-minded in the United States are in the schools and homes provided for them by public and private charity. The following resolutions were adopted by the conference: "Resolved, That the Conference of Charities and Correction assembled in Buffalo hereby urges on all the States where provision has not been made the early establishment of institutions for the feeble-minded as a prudential measure both humane and just. "Resolved, That this conference commends the institutions already established for the careful inquiry they are making into the causes of mental infirmity, believing that by contributing to the literature of the subject they will aid in diminishing this afflictive burden to both family and community, and will make a valued return for the public moneys used in their erection and support." NOTES FROM CATALOGUES, ETC. California Home for the Care and Training of Feeble-Minded Children, Santa Clara, Cal. The legislature at its last session appropriated funds for the purchase of a new site for the home. The committee has purchased a farm of 1,660 acres near the town of Glen Ellen, Sonoma County, Cal., for $50,000. Kentucky Home for the Care and Training of the Feeble-Minded, Frankfort, Ky.-We are sorry to learn of the total destruction by fire of this home. It occurred on May 3, 1889. We are very glad to learn that no lives were lost. Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded, South Boston, Mass.-"We found it difficult to break away from the traditional and conventional form of institution building, which is the outgrowth of a theory that large numbers can be more cheaply provided for in a single large building of three or four stories in height than in smaller and lower buildings. The fallacy of this theory has lately been demonstrated in a number of places, the most notable and saccessful instance within our knowledge being at the Willard Asylum for the Insane in New York. * * * "By a slow process of evolution and elimination the plans were worked out to the best of our ability, and were submitted for the approval of the governor and council, in accordance with law. *They were approved, and we were permitted to expend $60,000 in construction. Building has gone on daring the summer, and now, as it is approaching completion, we are happy to say that it will be completed to the last detail, including boiler house, laundry, steam heating, and grading, within the sum approved." Minnesota School for Feeble-Minded, . Faribault, Minn.-The superintendent says: "In the school department, which comprises the school proper and the manual training feature, is centered the principal activity of the institution. The plan of training which we refer to as the coordinate system has been maintained-that is, individual children under instruction are occupied during short periods at a time only at one thing, and these periods alternate between the school and manual training rooms, in which the work is being conducted simultaneously. * * * "Constructive occupations are preeminently adapted to child training, as proven by the experience of kindergarten and manual training schools everywhere." The New Jersey State Institution for Feeble-Minded Women, Fineland, N. J.-This is a new institution and appears in our tables for the first time. "The managers consider themselves fortunate in having secured so desirable a property, and especially a building so well equipped for the immediate reception of inmates, there being accommodation at the present time for 20 feeble-minded women." The Garrison Home and Training School for the Feeble in Mind, Cranbury, N. J.-During the past year this institution was established at Cranbury, N. J. It is a private home for the feeble in mind and is conducted by the Rev. C. F. Garrison. Haddonfield Training School for Girls Mentally Deficient or Peculiarly Backward, Haddonfield, N. J.-This is a private institution; the number of its pupils is limited to ten. The managers feel assured of the success of the school. * Nebraska Institution for Feeble-Minded Youth, Beatrice, Nebr.-The superintendent in his report says: "The buildings, for which the last legislature made appropriations, have been completed. The building will be a great improvement on the present one in the way of convenient arrangement, as well as being much more pleasant. It is well ventilated, having separate vent flues and fresh-air flues for each room." * * "The experience of older institutions of this kind is, that large tracts of land are not only a matter of economy, the farm products largely supplying the institution, thus greatly lessening the cost of maintenance, but are also of great usefulness in the training and physical development of the children, agricultural pursuits being particularly adapted to persons of this class. Again, since the majority of the people of our State are engaged in farming, the pupils should be taught that which they will be able to follow under the direction of their parents when returned to their homes." Ohio Institution for Feeble-Minded Youth, Columbus, Ohio.-The trustees of this institution have asked the legislature for an appropriation of $100,000 for the purchase of suitable farming lands. Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-Minded Children, Elwyn, Pa.-Samuel A. Crozier, president, says: "Our free fund continues to invite the beneficent thought of the charitable; we gratefully acknowledge donations and bequests to this worthy object, amounting during the year to $12,000, raising the invested fund at this day to $101,000." Superintendent's annual report; manual teachers; "With the beginning of the current year seven ladies were added to our corps of teachers, under the title manual trainers,' who, by their alternation with the school teachers, bring all the educable children of the school department under intelligent care and direction for fifteen hours out of the twenty-four. The whole staff is divided into two details, five and a quarter months each, the manual teachers of the first term being the school teachers of the second, and so alternately. I have long been of the opinion that neither the insane nor the feeble-minded should be under any less than the painstaking, continuous, and concientious care of educated people; that long hours with illiterate, irresponsible people of the servan· class is not promotive of cure or improvement. I am sure that one loud-spoken, uncouth, dictatorial attendant will do more harm to the nature of a child in the few hours that he or she may have it in care than can be eradicated by the best normal training, under the direct care of matron and teacher, during the other hours of the day." |