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There is always one painful consideration about such cases, and that is, though the person may not be insane, in the common acceptation of the word, he may be under the influence of physical irritation which he himself does not understand, and which he could not explain, if he did. It is possible that the little girl of whom I have been speaking may at times be under the influence of some pent-up constitutional irritation, which occasionally vents itself in boisterous laughter and wild pranks; for at times she indulges in them without any apparent cause. Grown people sometimes urge the state of their nerves or stomach in excuse for inequalities of temper which they would unhesitatingly punish in children by blows or reproofs. There is one conclusion to be drawn from such cases, which is very important, and that is, -- the lower the grade of intellect and the more narrow the capacity of the pupil, the more of care, and skill, and kindness does he require at the hands of his teacher. When the light of reason burns brightly, it may suffice for the youth's guidance; he may be neglected, or even misdirected, with less evil; but where it just glimmers in the socket, he cannot go safely alone a single step, and neglect or ill treatment may put it out for ever.

The child last referred to has already made very rapid progress in her studies. She has been under instruction only three months, and yet she has learned to use the manual alphabet with great ease and dexterity, and converses very fluently. Having learned to talk before she lost her hearing, of course she has now only to acquire the habit of making words with her fingers instead of uttering them with her lips. She still retains the power of articulation, and her voice sounds naturally and pleasantly, and we try to keep up the use of it, though she begins to like to use her fingers in conversation, and will probably soon prefer to talk with them entirely. She is fond of study, and will undoubtedly make a good scholar.

It has been stated in former Reports, that persons are not unfrequently blind in consequence of the scrofulous nature of their whole physical organization, or of some general tendency to disease. This feebleness of organization and tendency to disease sometimes pervade the brain and nervous system, and then there is weakness of intellect and want of moral energy. I do not mean that the two are necessarily connected, but that where there is feebleness of intellect resulting from a want of healthy tone in the brain and nervous system, there is usually a corresponding weakness of the moral sentiments. Such persons yield readily to the strongest impulses; and these in childhood being the animal appetites are unwisely indulged by the parent, or secretly abused by the children, until they become too rampant and strong to be controlled by any appeals to the moral sense.

Children are sometimes brought to us whose intellectual condition and apparent want of capacity would cause them to be rejected from common schools as incompetent to be taught, who, if left to themselves, would degenerate still farther into idiots, and yet who were probably born with a fair capacity. In some, the intellectual powers have been left in such entire inaction, or have been so completely cut off from any stimulus, that they remain as weak as those of infants. In others, they have been prostrated or weakened to a fearful and serious extent by habits which are almost fatal to any hope of improvement.

In saying that we are expected to teach, and in some cases do succeed in a good measure in teaching, children who are of so low a grade of intellect that they could not be taught in common schools, even if they had all their senses, I do not mean to disparage other teachers. I mean, that we can go to the necessary expense of time, and make the proper appliances, which they could not do without neglecting other scholars.

Cases of this kind, whether of children who are blind, or deaf, or merely weak in intellect, should be carefully attended to, if from no higher motives than those of a wise economy. I have no doubt, from personal observation of many poor creatures, who, reduced to the lowest stage of humanity, drag out a life of grovelling idiocy in the almshouses of this State, that they originally had capacity enough to become respectable and independent men, if they had been aided by proper care and training.

Among the first class which I have mentioned, that is, those who originally possessed a good physical organization and common mental capacity, but who had become dull and stupid for want of exercise of the body and stimulus to the brain, are found more girls than boys. Their parents, through ignorance or mistaken kindness, not only keep them as much as possible in-doors, and perhaps in a rocking-chair, most of the day, but encourage them to lie in bed and sleep as long as possible; they allow them to vegetate like plants, and supply them with abundant food and drink to favor their growth. Now the error, so common among adults in this community, of taking too little sleep, is not so fatal to the healthy tone of the brain as its opposite, especially when the slumber is favored and prolonged by warm covering and silence. The brain generally guards itself pretty well from overwork, and flags and nods or operates but feebly when exhausted; but it yields to the more insidious enemy, rest, and if wrapped in soft slumber all night, and indulged in dreamy listlessness all day, it will be brought with great difficulty to any vigorous and sustained action.