with Dr Watson as principal. Its existence becoming more generally known, the number of candidates for admission increased so greatly beyond the means of accommodation that a larger and more commodious building was found to be absolutely necessary. An appeal for f uuds to erect such a building was made and liberally responded to, and an eligible plot of ground was taken iu the Old Kent Road, London; and on the llth of July 1807 the late duke of Gloucester laid the foundation stone of the new building. Since its foundation 4094 children have been admitted. In 1862 a branch was started at Margate, and after twelve years experience the committee of management were influenced to erect a permanent building for the accommodation of 150 children. It was formally opened by the Prince of Wales on the 19th of July 1876, with Mr R. Elliott as head master. The asylum, with the branch at Margate, is supported by voluntary contributions, legacies, donations, and dividends from stock. The average income is about 12,000 a year. There are at present 317 pupils in attendance, who come from all parts of the kingdom. The ages of admission are 8 to 11|, and the children are elected by votes of the subscribers ; and, with a view to assist that class of the deaf and dumb whose friends are able to pay for their board, the committee receive children upon the payment of 25 per annum. Those children whose parents or guardians are unable to put them to some useful trade on leaving school are apprenticed by the charity. Since 1811 the number of children apprenticed has been 1515, and the total amount of premium 14,632, 16s. Various institutions for similar objects have been formed on the Continent. The asylum for the deaf and dumb at Paris, which was formerly under the management of the Abbe Sicard, has for its object not only to enable the pupils to communicate their ideas and to form the under standing, but also to qualify them to earn their subsistence. On quitting the asylum they are all capable of following a trade or profession. Their apprenticeship begins on their first entering the institution, and is terminated when their education is finished. Institutions, formed more or less upon the model of that at Paris, have been established in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Baden, Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Austria, Saxony, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, Hanover, Brunswick, the Free Towns of Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, the United States of America, Canada, Mexico, and Bengal, to say nothing of those in Great Britain and France. The American annals of 1873 give us 35 Ameri can institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb, containing a total of 4253 pupils namely, 2393 luales and 1860 females, 378 of whom are semi-mutes. The latter number includes all the deaf who have acquired language through the ear. In Canada there are 4 institutions with 292 pupils, of whom 220 are males and 72 females. Out of this number 17 are semi-mutes. The first institution for the education of deaf mutes in America was opened on the 15th April 1817. The circumstances which led to its establishment are as follows : A deaf-mute little girl in the family of Dr Cogswell, an eminent physician in Hartford city, attracting some attention, it was soon afterwards found that there were other deaf mutes in the country. It was decided to send some one abroad to acquire the art of educating them ; and to establish a school for this purpose funds were raised, and the Rev. F. H. Gallaudet, D.D., was selected for this work. He left the United States, May 15, 1816, to execute this mission intrusted to him. The Institution was incorporated by the Connecticut Legislature in May 1816, under the name of the Connecticut Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. Mr Gallaudet returned to America in August 22 of the same year, accompanied by Mr L. Clerc, a deaf-mute pupil of the Abb Sicard. They immediately commenced collecting funds to start the school. The enterprize excited general interest, aiid individuals and churches contributed liberally. The sum of $12,000 was raised in the course of a few months, $5600 having been obtained in Massachusetts, above $2000 of which was collected in the city of Boston. After this school had been founded, the need of other schools was at once felt ; and the New York Institution was opened in 1818, that in Pennsylvania in 1822, the one in Kentucky in 1823, Ohio school in 1829 ; and others followed till the number reached to 35, the last of which, a day school, was opened at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1871. In America, and in almost every country in Europe except Great Britain and Ireland, the state successfully undertakes the instruction of the deaf and dumb. All the institutions are munificently supported by large annual appropriations from the local legislatures, the state regarding it as a primary duty that the deaf and dumb, the blind, &c., shall not be excluded from those educational privileges accorded to every member of the community. In a spirit of enlightened liberality, highly creditable to the United States, the Government of that country adopts the deaf and dumb as " wards of the commonwealth," and in the most generous manner acquits itself of its obligation towards them. The following facts have been taken from the official reports of some American institutions :- The number of pupils in the Indiana Institution in the year 1870 was 186 ; for these the State had granted a sum of 50,000 dollars, which is equal to 10,400, or 56 per annum for each pupil. A still further sum of 42,500 dollars, or nearly 9,000 sterling, was given for the erection of some additional buildings which the requirements of the Institution demanded. Every other State in the Union provides for its deaf-mute ward with similar gene rosity. It is to be hoped that the day is not far distant when the deaf and dumb in Great Britain and Ireland may be congratulated on the inauguration by the legislature of a humane and beneficent policy on their behalf. In many of the large towns where institutions are established, associations iu aid of the deaf and dumb are springing up and carrying on most important and valuable work. Their first business is to seek out neglected children and to get them placed in some special school. Situations are procured for those on leaving school whose parents are unable to do anything for them, and the education com menced at the institutions is carried on by means of lectures; and as little benefit is to be got by attending the ordi nary church services, meetings are held on Sundays, when suitable religious exercises are performed, portions of Scrip ture explained, and an address given by spelling with the assistance of such signs as may be found necessary. The missionaries connected with these associations call upon them at their homes, in this way making themselves familiar with their condition; the. sick are visited and receive consolation ; and the distressed, infirm, and aged are assisted. These associations, while rendering assistance to the deserving, endeavour to make them help themselves, and help only at the point where otherwise they would be lost ; and it has been made a rule that when one loses his place through any fault of his own, he cannot claim the assistance of the association to find another for him. There seem to be few societies which have a greater claim on public sympathy; and that it deserves recognition is testified by the great good it is doing to this neglected and isolated class of persons, many of whom would otherwise have pro bably acquired habits of idleness and intemperance. In the English census returns for 1871 we find that only 529 deaf mutes, out of a total of 11,518, of whom 51 were imbeciles and 26 blind as well as deaf and dumb, were inmates of workhouses in England and Wales. That small proportion affords evidence of the fact that by means of education the deaf and dumb may be transferred from the dependent and burdensome class into the self-supporting class of the community.
