from the comparatively rapid development of the former.

In our own country more satisfactory data exist for determining this
point. The movement for the instruction of idiots commenced almost
simultaneously in New York and Massachusetts. The first school for
idiots in this country was commenced at Barre, Massachusetts, by Dr.
H.B. Wilbur, in July, 1848; and the Massachusetts Experimental School,
by Dr. S.G. Howe, in October of the same year. There are now in the
United States six institutions for the instruction and training of this
unfortunate class, namely: the Massachusetts School, at South Boston,
still under the general superintendence of Dr. Howe; a private
institution for idiots, imbeciles, backward and eccentric children at
Barre, under the care of Dr. George Brown, being the one originally
founded by Dr. Wilbur; the New York State Asylum for Idiots, at
Syracuse, of which Dr. Wilbur is the superintendent; a private school
for idiots and imbeciles at Haerlem, N.Y., under the care of Mr. J.B.
Richards; the Pennsylvania Training School for Idiots, at Germantown,
Penn., under the care of Dr. Parish; and an Experimental School,
recently organized, at Columbus, Ohio, under an appropriation from the
State legislature, presided over by Dr. Patterson. Of these, only the
first three have had an experience sufficiently long to offer any
reliable results from which the success of idiot instruction can be
deduced.

The solution of the question, whether the idiot can be elevated to the
standard of mediocrity, physically and intellectually, is not merely one
of interest to the psychologist, who seeks to ascertain the metes and
bounds of the mental capacity of the race; it is also of paramount
importance to the political economist, who wishes to determine the
productive force of the community, physical and intellectual; it is