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What is the proportion of idiots to the population? The data we yet possess do not seem to be sufficient to answer this question accurately, in regard to our own country, though approximations have been made towards a census of this class, in several States. In the mountainous districts of Europe the number of cretins, as already stated, is very great. In the Alpine districts they constitute from 5 to 10 per cent. of the population; in Great Britain, according to recent returns, there are over 50,000, a little more than one-half of one per cent.; in France, nearly or quite one-third of one per cent.; in this country, Connecticut has fully one-fifth of one per cent.; Massachusetts, accord-ing to Dr. Jarvis' late report, has about one-ninth of one per cent.; but this is undoubtedly far below the truth, for it is almost impossible to obtain, even with tolerable accuracy, the statistics of large cities; thus, in Dr. J.'s report, Boston, with 170,000 inhabitants, reports only 21 idiots, while Barnstable, with only 5,000, reports 25!

What are the causes of idiocy? Few questions are more difficult of full and satisfactory solution than this. We have already enumer-ated the alledged causes of cretinism, but we are satisfied that M. Niepce has not given sufficient prominence to one cause to which he refers incidentally, the bad brandy, ("mauvaise eau-de-vie,") which they drink in such quantities as to produce the most brutish intoxication.

In England and this country, intemperance on the part of one or both parents, is certainly the most prolific cause of fatuity, and when poverty, filth, recklessness, and intemperance are united, and the half starved inebriate, maddened with woe, drinks that he may forgot his wretchedness, we have a combination of circumstances which can hardly fail to produce idiocy in his offspring.

There are cases, however, and the number is quite considerable, in which we must look for other causes than intemperance or extreme poverty. For some of these the inter-marriage of near relatives, for one or two generations, is a satisfactory reason; for others, hereditary tendency to insanity, to scrofula, or to consumption; in others still, indulgence in licentious habits, or the attempt to destroy the life of the unborn babe, a practice which is fearfully increasing in our coun-try, must be assigned as the cause; ignorance, selfishness, and avarice, must be reckoned, also, among the sources of this fearful infirmity. It has often occurred that when one or both parents were so fully pos-sessed with the greed of gain, that intellectual and moral culture were wholly neglected, and in their furious pursuit of wealth they paused not for the rest of the Sabbath, thought not of the future, and heeded not the appeals of the poor, the sick, or the dying for sympa-thy or succor, their offspring have been idiots of the very lowest class.

In short, humiliating as the thought may be, we are driven to the conclusion that the vast amount of idiocy, in our world, is the direct result of violation of the physical and moral laws which govern our being; that oft times the sins of the fathers are thus visited upon their children; and that the parent, for the sake of a momentary gratification of his depraved appetite, inflicts upon his hapless offspring a life of utter vacuity.

We shall come to a better understanding of the objects to be attained in the treatment of idiocy, if we consider first the condition of the idiot before he has been instructed. When first brought to the Asy-lum, he is generally feeble, wanting in muscular development, often partially paralyzed, sluggish, and inactive; the circulation of the blood is very imperfect, especially in the extremities; there is a gen-eral unhealthy look; the nervous system is frequently deranged; the gait and voluntary movements generally awkward and irregular; he is usually addicted to slavering and automatic motion of the head, hands, lips, or tongue; the senses are undeveloped; the eye is per-fectly formed, but the retina communicates to the brain no definite idea of form, color, or size; the ear is without defect, yet often the sweetest notes of music and the most hideous and discordant sounds pass alike unheeded; the organs of speech are as perfect as those of Webster or Clay, but he is either entirely dumb, or utters only gut-tural sounds which convey no idea to others; his appetite, tastes, and habits are more gross than those of most animals; he often exhibits the voracity of the wolf, and the uncleanliness of the swine. His mind is as much degraded as his physical nature -- only his instincts of hunger, thirst, fear, rage, and resistance have been developed. It is needless to add, that while in such a condition moral emotion is impos-sible. Such is the condition of very many of those when brought to these institutions for training. It would be difficult to conceive of cases apparently more hopeless.

The object of training is to change this torpid, sluggish, inert con-dition, to health, vigor, and activity; to send the healthy red blood coursing through the veins and arteries; to overcome the automatic movements, and subject the nervous system to the control of the will; to substitute for the vacant gaze of the idiot, the intelligent, speaking eye, which recognizes the hues of beauty in the rainbow, and reads in the countenance of friendship, the look of reproof or the glance of love; to accustom the inattentive ear to recognize the stern tones of re-buke, or the gentle accents of affection; to notice and enjoy the melodies of the songsters of the grove, or the more expressive songs warbled by human voices; to accustom those lips which have hitherto uttered only unmeaning and discordant sounds, to speak, if not with all the graces of oratory, at least with distinctness and fluency.