This board, therefore, while it is not prepared to join in the outcry against all public institutions, nor to admit that private families alone are adequate to the task of caring for all who need care at public expense, does nevertheless favor the employment of the agency of the private family to as great an extent as is practicable, in the care of the dependent classes; and not only approves, but as far as its influence extends, would insist upon, as close a reproduction of family organization and influence as can be carried out. Its ideal of a public institution is not a hotel, nor a palace, but a community, a neighborhood, a village, under the supreme control of a single guiding mind and heart, adequate to the responsibility. Life within the walls of an institution upon the congregate system, prolonged as it often is, for seven or eight years, during the plastic period of childhood and early youth, is a poor preparation for the actual relations and duties of subsequent life. Personal freedom and recreation are there necessarily abridged; female influence is often, to a great extent, wanting; public sentiment is created and determined rather by the inmates than by the officers; many kinds of labor become impossible, and are delegated to servants; the sweet spirit of mutual confidence and affection grows less thriftily; the conditions in which the particular form of dependence originated are often reproduced; and the sense of caste is cultivated-so that Dr. Pierce, of the New York house of refuge, himself for many years an officer of a public institution, exclaims, "We are never to forget that all institution life is simply a necessary evil." We believe that the evil will grow less, in proportion as homes are substituted for barracks; and that even in an institution, this transformation is possible.

This point will be touched again, in considering the special wants of the insane.

The public institutions of Illinois, in their organization and management, and in the liberality with which they have been sustained by the General Assembly, are without exception an honor to the state. In all their travel and intercourse with the people during the last two years, the commissioners of public charities have heard but one expression of sentiment regarding them. The people desire and intend that they shall receive the same liberal support in the future, which has been extended to them in the past; and that as the resources of the state increase, with the growth of the country, they shall more and more perfectly afford. to the needy, who deserve help, such aid as a wise benevolence ought to render.

It was the intention of the board to embrace in the present report a historical sketch of each of these institutions, from their origin to the present time; the materials for such a sketch have been collected, and the history partly written. But the length of this report already, and the want of time for completing the work satisfactorily, compel its omission.

Such statements will be made, as seem most necessary for the information of the General Assembly, in order to present action.

I.-INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB.

The Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb was established, by legislative enactment, February 23d, 1839. The contract for building was not made until May, 1842. The school was opened on the 26th of January, 1846, with four pupils, under the superintendence of Mr. Thomas Officer. Mr. Officer, at the time of his appointment, had been for five years a teacher in the Ohio Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. He retained his position until 1855, when he resigned; and Mr. Philip G. Gillett, the present accomplished principal, was appointed in his stead.

The first portion of the building erected was the south wing. The centre building was completed in 1852. In 1853, a board of architects pronounced the front part of the centre building unsafe. It was accordingly taken down, rebuilt, and the north wing added.

This work was completed in 1857. In 1857 and 1858, steam heating apparatus was introduced into the centre building and north wing, connection made with the Jacksonville gas works, and the rear building and smoke stack erected. An old building, formerly used as a laundry and bath house, was at this time torn away. Extensive alterations and repairs in the heating apparatus, were made in 1865.

The number of directors, which was twenty, was reduced in 1849 to twelve; in 1857 to six, and in 1869 to three, exclusive of the principal, who has been (ex officio) a member of the board, from the time of organization.

Originally, pupils able to pay were charged for their board and tuition. The number of pupils of this class was found to be so inconsiderable that, in 1849, the legislature made the institution free to all. Originally, also, a steward was employed, and paid one dollar and a quarter per week for the board of each pupil, but in 1848 the steward was appointed agent, at a salary of four hun. dred dollars per annum; and in 1857 the legislature abolished the office of steward, and authorized the directors to employ a clerk. At the same session, the General Assembly enacted the law which allows the directors of the institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb and of the blind, to furnish poor pupils with clothing, at public expense, and present the bills to the state auditor, who thereupon draws an order for the amount upon the county. treasurers, payable to the order of the principal.

The act of incorporation provided that the auditor shall pay over annually to the president and directors, out of the interest of the school, college and seminary fund, a sum not exceeding one quarter of one per cent. upon the whole amount of the said fund. This law is still in force. In 1851 an additional fund was created for the education of deaf mutes, consisting of one-sixth of a mill upon each dollar's worth of taxable property in the state, to be taken from the tax of two mills on the dollar authorized to be assessed and collected for paying the ordinary expenses of the gov ernment. The law was repealed in 1855. The other sources of income have been state appropriations and the proceeds of sales of farm produce and manufactured articles.

The following is a list of the receipts of the institution, from 1839:

Thirty Years' Receipts of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and

Total receipts....

4459 33 66,411 35 7073 54 115,900 56

9484 73 109,532 11 10,376 19 145,844 74

Aggreg. $75,130 51 $61,706 89 $581,922 50 $123,563 02 $48,254 99 $890,577 91

.$890,577 91

6000 00
7675 00

18,871 77

The receipts to December 1st, 1868, were $744,733 17; the total number of pupils admitted, from the opening of the school until that date, was six hundred and eighty-two; which would give, as the average amount expended upon each pupil, $1091 98, of which $10386 44 was contributed by the state, and $55 54 derived from other sources.

Extensive tours have been made by the principal, on two or three occasions, with a class of mutes, who have given public exhibitions of the methods and results of instruction, which have everywhere interested and delighted large audiences, and have done much to disseminate a knowledge of the institution, and extend its beneficial influence.

In the fall of 1868, instruction in articulation was introduced, as an experiment, into the school. Two classes were formed, one of mutes from birth, and one of semi-mutes, or mutes who had lost their hearing in early life. This experiment, in the hands of persons who had faith in its success, and were determined to succeed,

has amply repaid the time and labor expended upon it, and the board of charities earnestly approves of its continuance.*

The condition of this institution is in nearly every respect exceedingly satisfactory. The discipline, teaching, industrial training, personal care of inmates, care of property and funds, and records kept, are all worthy of high praise.

There is a crack in the south wing of the building, which justifies the anxiety felt by the principal concerning its safety, though the walls may stand for years. The board is informed, that there are signs of a gradual settling of the foundations, and enlargement of the fissures.

The institution is crowded, at present. The dining room, which

"In teaching speech to the deaf, the eye and the sense of touch are chiefly employed to enable the pupil to understand the difference between opening the mouth to emit or draw a mute breath, and the utterance of a sound. This the pupil is soon made to perceive by placing one hand upon his teacher's throat and one upon his own, and causing him to feel with his own hand the vibrations in the trachea, which result from the sounding of the voice, and also to feel those emissions of breath which are caused by the production of certain sounds. The pupil having been encouraged to utter a sound, is then taught to observe that the trembling motion felt when a sound is uttered, varies in degree or intensity, with the varying positions of the facial muscles, the muscles of the throat, and the emission of the breath, and he is prompted to imitate these variations. The names of the letters are not taught, but the powers. The letters of the alphabet are classified, and the labial, gutteral, dental and nasal sounds, and those which are combinations of two or more of these, are taken in such order that the pupil may discern differences in their similarities. The consonants are classified so that the pupil may know whether a breathing is required, as in f, p, s, th, sh, or a murmuring, as in v, z, b, a, g, m, etc., care always being taken not to call them by their ordinary alphabetical names. Each sound of the vowel a, is taught separately, by teaching simple words, in each one of which there is a different sound of the vowel; each sound must be taught and practiced separately, till it is acquired, and so on with the other vowels. The letter h is the most easily taught; this is done by breathing upon the pupil's hands, and teaching him to breathe upon it himself. When he can do that, he has the power of the letter h, then other letters are selected whose powers are easily learned.

"After they have mastered the powers of all the letters, the combinations follow; first, those in which consonants are placed before the vowels, then those in which they are placed after the vowels, and simple words, which are pronounced like the combinations, although spelled differently; at the same time simple sentences are taught in which these words occur. Every new word, every new sentence learned, seems like a new conquest, and makes them more eager to be able to express themselves in spoken language. Their intense desire to learn to speak, after it has once brought its fruits, insures all the attention which alone makes it possible to the teacher to instruct them. When they want to know or tell any particular thing, they look as if their souls were a blazing torch within them, which shows itself in their expressive eyes."-Miss Cornelia Trask's Essay before the Western Social Science Association, 1870.