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This report and suggestion were most ungraciously received by the majority of asylum superintendents, who contended that no improvement upon old methods was needed. To their criticism Dr. Wilbur responded, presenting his convictions and arguments in several articles, each new presentation of his cause more intense than the preceding, till the discussion became somewhat personal. Yet I am sure that no unprejudiced person could read his able productions upon the construction of insane hospitals and their management without appreciating the wide views, sound logic, clear statement, and whole souled enthusiasm of the writer.

So manifest were the improvements suggested, and so cogent the reasonings which proved their feasibility, his readers were convinced, and through them, indirectly, every asylum in the country has felt, and will continue to feel, his influence.

Because of the continued opposition of the Association of Medical Superintendents of this specialty, there grew up a society outside, called The National Association for the Protection of the Insane and the Prevention of Insanity, of which Dr. Wilbur was at one time president, and always an active member. Some members of this society were also connected with the older Association. One of this number, Dr. Godding, in his memorial article published in the Alienist and Neurologist, acknowledges, with both candor and justice, the purity of the motives that prompted Dr. Wilbur's course of action, and condemning the treatment he received from those "who would none of his reproof." This same writer quotes from a letter, written only a week before his death, in which Dr. Wilbur, alluding to the Association of Asylum Superintendents, says, "I have never had the slightest ill-will towards one of my old associates." We who were privileged to be most intimate with him can testify to the truthfulness of this assertion, whilst we also recognize the correctness of the added fact, "I am a zealous advocate of anything in the line of my convictions." To this persistency, which Cicero styled genius, he owed his success in life, and, because of it, the education of the feeble-minded in this country stands upon so broad a basis to-day.

Dr. Wilbur wrote the article upon Idiocy in "Johnson's Encyclopaedia," and at one time planned editing an extended work upon the subject. But the appearance of Dr. Ireland's excellent book, and the numerous cares devolving upon him, prevented its completion. Some of the chapters written with this intent were read at different meetings of our own Association, such as "The Classifications of Idiocy," "The Relation of Speech or Language to Idiocy," etc.

All these papers attest the high ability of their author as a writer, and are characterized by his usual breadth of thought. The subtle reasonings, clear deductions, keen metaphysical insight, and wealth of illustration drawn from the treasury of his personal experience lead us all to long for the book which he alone could have written.

His reports, embracing as they do the whole period from the inception of this work in America to the present time, are most valuable for historical reference, and also for instruction of whoever engages in like undertaking. Written in a plain, clear style, they are wholly free from the rhetorical flourish of scientific cant, or the opaqueness of modern metaphysics. Rereading these pages, we study the evolution, step by step, of a great charity, as illustrated by the personal experience of the writer. His early hopeful struggles and hard work, followed by great joy when the experimental school at Albany became the permanent Institution at Syracuse. His graphic delineation of the educational methods pursued, representing by individual cases the difficulties to be encountered, and the best means for overcoming the same. His care to arouse no extravagant expectations as to results, and the candid admission that the proportion of educable cases diminishes somewhat from his earliest estimates. The constant iteration (lest the people and the changing Legislature forget) of the one aim underlying the whole system of teaching from books, physical training, occupations and recreations, even, -- i.e., the ultimate practical helpfulness of each pupil. The close economy, making the State burden light as consistent with the greatest good of its beneficiaries. The quiet summing up of what has been absolutely accomplished by himself and others.

As the years pass on we note the inevitable growth of the custodial institution supplementing the educational, and utilizing for self-support the ability previously gained.

Through this whole period of more than thirty years we find no trace of ignoble ambitions, no seeking for self-aggrandizement or conspicuous surroundings, no lack of faith in ultimate success, no loss of interest, no faltering in the steady purpose of lifting to the utmost height those unfortunate little ones whom he found so low down in the social scale physically, mentally, and morally.