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The resolution of Judge Byington passed both houses, and Dr. S.G. Howe, so well known for his labors in behalf of the blind, Judge Byington and Gilman Kimball, Esq., were appointed Commissioners. Their reports were very full and able, and conclusively demonstrated the necessity of providing for the instruction of the unfortunate class whose condition they had investigated. For the purpose of testing the capacity of idiots for instruction, however, an experimental school was established at South Boston, under Dr. Howe's personal supervis-ion. This resulted in the establishment, in 1851, of the "Massachu-setts school for idiotic and feeble-minded youth," at South Boston, of which Dr. Howe has a general oversight.

It is not to be understood, however, that idiots had not been instructed, in this country, previous to the Autumn of 1848, the period when the experimental school, at South Boston, was organized. Indeed, there is reason to believe that their instruction had been attempted, with success here, prior to the first efforts in Europe. As early as 1818, an idiot girl was admitted into the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, at Hartford, Conn., and remained under instruction till 1824. Others were received during nearly every subsequent year, and some of them made very considerable progress. In all, thirty-four idiots have been pupils at that institution, and the suc-cess which has followed the efforts for the instruction of several of the cases, of which we have a detailed narrative, would do no discredit to any Asylum for Idiots, either in Europe or this country.

In 1839, an idiot boy was received into the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and remained for three years, under the instruction of Prof. Morris, with very favorable results.

The same year, Dr. S. G. Howe commenced the instruction of an idiotic blind child, at the Perkins Institution for the Blind, in South Boston.

In July, 1848, Dr. H. B. Wilbur, of Barre, Mass., who had for sev-eral years taken a deep interest in the condition of idiots, opened a private institution for their instruction, which, both under his admin-istration and that of his successor, Dr. Geo. Brown, has met with the most gratifying success.

Other gentlemen in Massachusetts devoted a large measure of zeal and energy to the promotion of this good work. Among these it may not be invidious to name Mr. George Sumner, whose eloquent letters from Europe, describing the school at Bicêtre, rendered effi-cient aid to the incipient organization of the Massachusetts School for Idiots, and Dr. Edward Jarvis, whose valuable statistics on the sub-ject of insanity and idiocy, recently published, have laid the country under obligation.

The Legislature of New York, though before any other in taking cognizance of the subject of idiocy, was more tardy in its action than that of Massachusetts, and it was not till 1851 that an experimental school was established at Albany, and Dr. Wilbur, who had already had three years experience in the instruction of imbeciles, at Barre, was elected its Superintendent. In 1854, the corner-stone of the State Asylum for Idiots, was laid at Syracuse, and in August, 1855, the school at Albany, already permanently established, was removed to the new edifice. The Asylum occupies a commanding site, to the southwest of the city of Syracuse, and while its architectural beauty renders it an ornament to the enterprising city whose liberality secured its location, and to the State whose munificence provided such ample accommodations for this hitherto neglected class, its inter-nal arrangements are so admirable as to make it a desirable model for institutions of the kind.

With an edifice so well arranged, a superintendent in whom are combined, in a remarkable degree, those traits of character which mark the successful instructor, and a corps of teachers of extraordi-nary efficiency, it is not surprising that the results attained by the Asylum, even at this early period of its history, surpass those of any institution of the kind in this country or Europe.

Pennsylvania has also established a school for the training of idi-ots, at Germantown, now in its third year of successful progress under the care of Mr. J. B. Richards, who was connected with the Massachusetts experimental school during the first two or three years of its history. The recent accession of Dr. Seguin to the corps of instructors in this school, can not fail to increase, very greatly, its reputation.

During the past year, Connecticut and Kentucky have taken the first steps toward the establishment of similar institutions.

Having thus hastily sketched the history of this humanitarian move-ment, it remains for us to discuss the objects proposed in the treat-ment of Idiots, the means by which these objects are accomplished, and the results thus far attained in the most successful schools.

It may be well, as a preliminary step, to answer two or three ques-tions which meet us at the threshold of our investigations. And first, what constitutes idiocy? "The type of an idiot," says Dr. Seguin, "is an individual who knows nothing, can do nothing, and wishes nothing; and every idiot approaches more or less to this maximum of incapacity." Of the many definitions which writers on this subject have essayed, no one appears entirely free from objection; and though we can hardly hope to escape falling into the same condemnation, we are disposed to offer one which shall, at least, possess the merit of brevity. We should define idiocy, then, as the result of an infirmity of the body which prevents, to a greater or less extent, the develop-ment of the physical, moral and intellectual powers.