nected with this Institution, and the absolute ne-, cessity there is for retaining it in its present undivided state, and for the purposes for which it is now used. It not only secures that privacy which is indispensable to a proper treatment of every class of patients, and furnishes valuable supplies to the Institution, but also gives the means of manual labor and out-door exercise, which are such important remedies with a large part of the insane. No detailed account of the produce of the garden has been kept during the last year. It has, however, been very productive, and has furnished the Hospital with nearly the whole amount of vegetables used, of the best varieties, and fresh when required for the table. valuable collection of specimens of natural history, which has been very kindly deposited with us, will render us all under special obligations to those who may furnish us with the means of again filling our vacant shelves. Is Insanity on the increase, and is there suf ficient Provision for the Insane?—The fact stated in a previous part of this Report, that this Hospital has been full most of the time for some years past, frequently crowded, and during the year just closed has been compelled, in justice to its inmates, for a period to decline receiving patients except under the most pressing circumstances, will naturally lead to the inquiry, whether insanity is really on the increase in the community; and whether it is or not, the question must present itself, whether sufficient provision has been made for those who are thus afflicted; and whether every citizen can at all times rely, with certainty, upon finding suitable accommodations of this any time be so unfortunate as to require them. The patients have aided in every kind of work done in the garden, and a large amount of it has been performed by them. Their services have been valuable to the Institution, but still more so to themselves. In the acute stages of the dis-kind for himself or for a friend, should they at ease, labor is rarely admissible; but after this period has passed, the men who are willing to work in the open air, are almost universally among the most contented and cheerful, enjoy the most firm physical health, sleep most tranquilly at night, and have the best chance for a prompt and complete mental restoration. The Greenhouse is the pleasant resort for patients of both sexes during several months of the year, and it continues to furnish occasionally flowers or flowering plants for ornamenting the wards. The part of the crop of black Hamburg grapes raised in it and sold this year, being the produce of only twelve vines, realized the sum of $265 22. This sum was appropriated to the purchase of a neat Germantown wagon and harness, a one-horse sleigh, and a donkey omnibus, all for the use of the patients, as will be more particularly explained in a subsequent part of the Report. Should our grape culture hereafter prove as successful, the products of our Greenhouse will not only defray all its expenses, but do much towards supplying new books to our libraries, or adding to the stock of novelties for the amusement of the patients. Several hundred pounds of native grapes have also been raised in the open air, and used by the inmates of the establishment. Museums and Reading-Rooms.—The two Reading-Rooms are in daily use, and form a most valuable appendage to a Hospital. They are always comfortably warmed, entirely quiet, clear of improper behaviour, and guarded against the undue intrusion of visiters. The books and periodicals they contain are at all times accessible to the patients, and there is now a great variety of objects of interest open to the inspection of those who do not desire to read. None can thoroughly appreciate their value who do not see them regularly in use, or have not, as patients, been in the habit of resorting to them. The probable early removal of a large and These questions possess a peculiar interest for every individual. Insanity is a disease from which no rank in life, no age, or sex, or calling can claim exemption; and it is one that can but rarely be managed advantageously except among strangers; and commonly, only in institutions specially arranged for its treatment. The prevalent impression obviously is, that insanity is increasing in a much greater ratio than the population of our country; and if this be so, it is certainly the part of prudence to look abroad for the causes, and, if possible, to suggest a remedy. It is not difficult to understand that there may be elements in operation in this country more likely to produce mental derangement than in most others; but at the same time it must also be conceded that other causes elsewhere prevalent, are here absent, and which, different as they are in their general character, tend to produce nearly the same effects. While the general prevalence of comfort among our whole population, the comparative ease with which nearly every individual may earn a livelihood, and the absence of tyranny and a grinding oppression of the poor and dependent, ought to contribute no less to the mental than to the physical well-being of the whole community; still, some of the characteristic traits of our people, originating in this happy state of things, tend to a different result. The very active and wide-spread commercial speculations of our citizens, the incessant taxing of the mental and physical powers to their utmost, the absorbing pursuit of business, aiming at rapid success, and the hasty accumulation of wealth, is a state of constant mental anxiety, of labor without relaxation; and it is too often a mere lottery, in which great and sudden good fortune is the exception, and loss and disappointment the more common, though less noted results. Besides, the tendency of such a mode of life, persevered in for a series of years, is often to render an individual, when the time for retirement (to which he has long been looking with anxiety) has actually arrived, unable to enjoy it. Unexpectedly, he finds the change totally different from what he had anticipated; he discovers, with surprise, that long habit has rendered the excitement, the toil, and the anxieties of business, great as they may have been, among the necessaries of his existence; and irksome as he may occasionally have found them, he now concludes that they are infinitely preferable to the ennui which presses so heavily upon him. Fortunate is the man thus situated, who can take a hearty, permanent interest in other pursuits, who can engage in works of benevolence or of public utility, that will render him not only a benefactor to his species, but will preserve him from an indulgence in habits that may ruin him physically, and from yielding to feelings which may seriously impair the functions of his mind. The causes referred to, apply most directly to men; but the gentler sex cannot fail to be indirectly influenced by whatever affects the mental, physical, and social condition of their fathers, husbands, or brothers, as much in the bright days of a high prosperity, as when the dark clouds of adversity gather thickly around them. Many of the habits, too, of a community steadily advancing to what we complacently call the highest degree of civilization, while not tending in any way to improve the physical health of its members, seem to be specially calculated to prepare them for the reception of a long train of nervous disorders, among which the diseases of the mind will ultimately have a prominent place, and fall, not least heavily, on those who are to be the mothers of the next generation. There are modes of life of growing frequency in the present day, which deprive those who pursue them eagerly, not only of natural rest at natural hours, but subject them to various indiscretions of living, and to a variety of excitements, which, injurious to any one, are, in their ultimate effects, almost ruinous to youth. The wrong is often commenced much earlier than is commonly supposed, and the foundation for the mischief is firmly laid in the tender years of life, when the responsibility ought often to rest on others, much more than on those who are hereafter to be the greatest, though not the only sufferers from it. Next to the common neglect of the proper physical training of the young, from infancy up to full maturity, one of the most unfortunate of prevalent errors, is the mode frequently adopted of unduly and prematurely taxing the mental powers of children. When the body and the mental faculties are trained harmoniously together, the result cannot but prove satisfactory; but if either must be neglected, it is far better for the individual that he should have, when arriving at manhood, only good sound health, and a capacity for future intellectual labor, than to possess the highest mental cultivation with a physical organization that renders all his acquirements more of a burden than a blessing. It is a grievous wrong to any child, but especially to one that seems precociously endowed, to have the mind seriously occupied too early, or urged too strongly and too steadily. Proud as the happy parents may be of the first results of such a course, there are sure to be bitter fruits in store, that will become obvious at a future day, and unfortunately too late to be fully remedied. Such a child need only to be taught how to study, and kept from idleness, with its attendant vices, by appropriate physical occupation, and if blessed with good health and correct moral habits, he will in good time do all else that is desirable. Although he may not make his mark in the world quite as soon as if he had sacrificed every thing else to early advancement, his time will surely come, sooner or later; and when the mark is made, it will be the more distinct and enduring. The defective modes of training children; imperfect systems of education for the young; the kind of literature which of late years has formed the reading of so many in the community; the courses of life which custom and example lead so many to pursue; intemperance in all its forms, not in drinking and eating alone, but in all the pursuits of life, even in the prosecution of lawful objects, are among the causes which prepare the mind for that illy-balanced condition which allows some of the most honest and best-disposed in the community to become the victims of artful knaves, or to waste their time, risk their domestic happiness, and jeopardize their permanent mental integrity, in investigations and pursuits unworthy the attention of intelligent beings. All these causes, too, tend fearfully to render the mind illy fitted to bear up against the reverses of life, and to meet, with calm resignation, the af flictions and sorrows which all are liable to be visited with. These and many other reasons might be suggested, why some apparent increase in the num ber of cases of insanity might not unreasonably be expected. They certainly are sufficient to show why the disease should be of frequent occur rence; but it will probably be found that the number of cases among us has not increased in a greater ratio than that of the general population. The more common provision of institutions for the treatment of the insane, the various ameliorations that have been made in their condition, the more prevalent belief that insanity is a curable disease; and, above all, the growing conviction that there is no more stigma to be attached to an individual for having functional disease of the brain, than of the stomach or any other organ; or that a resort to what all experience has shown to be the most speedy, safe, and certain means of cure, is any more a reproach than leaving home to effect a restoration from any other malady, have brought more prominently before the pub lic those who are laboring under this disease. In past days, many of all these would have been kept out of observation, and if thought to be incurable, their very existence concealed, and an effort made to have the memory of them forgotten. This change of public sentiment, and the course now generally adopted for the relief of those suffering from insanity, might thus lead a careless inquirer to regard as conclusive proof of an alarming increase of the disease, what is only among the good results of an improved public opinion on the subject. (To be continued) fice to be sent to prison for thirty days, begging it as an extreme favor, that being shut up where they cannot get rum they may thus acquire the power to resist temptation to drink. All such appeals are felt to be powerful arguments in favor of total prohibition." Our boasted motto for legislation is, "the greatest good to the greatest number." We have furnished a small sketch of the good resulting to those who indulge in the use of stimulants, viz: the loss of property, a prison and an Almshouse. We will now proceed to show the amount of good which the greatest number, viz: the taxpayers, derive from the license system. If four THE GRAND JURY OF PHILADELPHIA, COURT OF fifths of the commitments to prison be the direct ef QUARTER SESSIONS, ON ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS. The Grand Inquest could not fail to perceive the lamentable effects of intoxicating liquors in every step of their progress. They have no doubt that they are the most potent cause of poverty, wretchedness and crime. Indeed they have no hesitation in declaring that three-fourths of all the mischiefs that afflict the community, are the immediate or remote effects of alcoholic liquors. There are 2116 licensed taverns for retailing ardent spirits, located so as to suit the convenience of all. We have also 1247 licensed beer houses. These together make 3363 places licensed to accommodate our citizens with liquor. If we allow one half of the number for unlicensed places, viz: 1681, it will give us altogether 5044 places where we can exchange our money for intoxicating drinks. Our object is to show that it ought not to be a matter of surprise that so much mischief is produced by our present license system, and we are not left to conjecture in this matter; we have positive data for our conclusions. During our visit to the County Prison, we were informed by the officers and directors that the commitments this year would probably amount to 12,000, and that four-fifths of them have heretofore been occasioned by intoxicating liquors. This would give us the number of 9,600. fects of this system, would it not be perfectly fair to The "House of Refuge" is the very best and Again, in our visit to the Almshouse, we were most useful institution that we have for the refortold that three-fourths of their inmates were re-mation of juvenile delinquents. Here they enduced to poverty from the same cause. Their average number last year was 1853-three-fourths of this number would be 1389. Here, then, we have positive evidence from these two institutions, that our groggeries have ruiued nearly 11,000 men and women. But this is not all. The Mayor's Clerk has kindly furnished us with the turnkey's report for 1853, by which it appears that of 9112 prisoners, 3818 were committed for intoxication and 4034 for crimes induced by intoxicating liquors. The gentleman alluded to, remarks, "that we have occasional calls from poor fellows to draw up a pledge for them to swear and sign, that by some binding operation of this kind, they may feel resolute enough to resist temptaMore frequently, calls are made at the of tion. ter young, before they become hardened in vice, affording an opportunity to give their thoughts. and their habits a useful and virtuous tendency. But of the 342, the average number last year, a very large proportion have found their way to this school from the effects, either immediately or remotely, of intoxicating liquors. In the report of one of the teachers he observes, that "it is a fact too abundantly corroborated to need further elucidation, that many who find a refuge in this institution have inhaled, from earliest infancy, an atmosphere fearfully contaminated by the pestiferous miasma of profanity, intemperance and their kindred vices; that they have had their birth in the house of want and suffering, and have been cradled, too frequently, in the lap of dissipation, and received their first lessons from unhallowed lips." This institution is most admirably managed by highly respectable committees of men and women, and we have no doubt that their labors of disinterested benevolence are well rewarded. The total cost of site, buildings, and furniture of the institution is $348,000. Deducting the amount earned by the boys from the total expenses for the year, it leaves the net cost $19,415 65. It would be a moderate estimate to charge to our license system $20,000 annually for this institution. Here the boys earn $7,851 75 per annum; and if a house of correction could be established in which the inmates of our prison could be forced to labor, it would be a blessing to themselves and the public. In this way the prisons in some of our States afford a revenue to the treasury instead of a drain. prompting them to the rescue. Let us have a Prohibitory Liquor Law, say they, and we will take care that it be enforced. Our city and county were never so well prepared to enforce such a law as at present. Let the Legislature, therefore, pass a Prohibitory Liquor Law, which shall be sanctioned by a vote of the people, and there need be no fears about its execution. Then, we trust, that a large portion of the $470,593 which it costs the community to protect society against the evils of the present system, would remain in the pockets of the people, and they would be relieved from a large amount of the crimes that now afflict the community. WM. NEAL, Foreman. THE INQUISITIVENESS OF CHILDREN. If the above statement be correct, $170,953 must be drawn directly from the pockets of the One of the distinctive qualities of our nature, people annually to pay for protecting society is the principle of curiosity. The disposition to from the crimes and mischiefs occasioned by pry into the how and the why, is sometimes seen 3363 places furnishing alcoholic liquors. Pover- from the very cradle; and is always to be regard ty, crime and wretchedness, the direct effects of ed as-an auspicious token: it being in fact the the system, are increasing in a fearful ratio. In germen of all future improvement; the genuine 1848 the commitments to the County Prison bud of intellectual fruit. Nor is it scarcely conwere 4578. Last year they were 11,633. This ceivable, how great advantage might be taken of year they will most probably be 12,000. Now such a toward disposition, were it under the conwhat is the remedy for this terrible scourge?stant management of superior skill united with Nothing but a Prohibitory Law. Some persons patient industry. But, in the nurture and trainhave become so familiar with the sight of ing up of children, this important particular, is, drunken men, and so long accustomed to the pre- for the most part, overlooked, and their early cusent state of things, that they can scarcely realize riosity either damped or misdirected. And in the extent of the evil. But suppose that alco- this way many are made dullards, or frivolous, holic liquors, instead of destroying both the men- who might have been shaped to intellectual extal and physical faculties, operated injuriously cellence. upon the eye only; that every draught weakened the delicate nerve of that organ, until total blindness ensued; that instead of drunken men we should have our city full of sober blind men. Some one half blind, and the eyes of moderate drinkers merely growing dim. We should then have but little use for our prison, but our Alms House would be crowded with blind men and women. This state of things would soon rouse the people. A prohibitory law would be demanded. Even the right of search would be granted, and the total annihilation of an article that so effectually destroyed the eyes of men and women would be instantly decreed. And yet the destruction of eyes is nothing in comparison with the loss of reason. Far better would it be for the community, and far better for all concerned, especially the wives and children, to have ten thousand sober blind men than ten thousand drunkards with two good eyes a piece. If any dispute should arise about this question, let the wife who has lived with a drunken husband several years of her life decide it. The evils of intemperance fall most heavily upon the workingman and mechanic-those whose labor is their only wealth. Their good common sense is Children come into a world, where, to them, everything is new and strange; a world, of which, and of all therein, they are utterly ignorant. And how do these newly-born citizens of the world act? Why, just as persons come to years would act under like circumstances. God hath given them an appetite for knowledge, and they seek after it with ardency, What is this? What is that made for? How is it done, and why is it so? These, and scores of similar questions, are asked by children, and to them the information they inquire after is material, though their questions may seem trifling in the eyes of those to whom the things were long since known. Were their inquiries properly encouraged, it would lead them to think for themselves; it would put them upon the exercise of their reason as well as of their memory. At the same time, if there were observable in them a forward pertness, or any real impertinence, it might easily be checked without damping their curiosity. I have seen fathers so stately and stern, that their children scarcely dare speak to them, and much less familiarly to question them. And I have seen schoolmasters who would requite the familiar question of a little pupil, with a fright ening frown, if not with a hard blow. Thus the young mind is pinioned, and then bid to soar. At this uninformed period of life, children are not only inquisitive, but ready to believe everything they hear. And if parents are deficient in giving them the information they are seeking, they naturally endeavor to gain it from others. And thus incorrect, if not dangerous, ideas may be, and doubtless often are, infused into their unsuspecting minds. J. MOTT. There is, perhaps, not anything in this world. that is more talked of and less understood than the business of a happy life. It is every man's wish and design, and yet not one in a thousand knows wherein that happiness consists. We live however in a blind and eager pursuit of it, and the more haste we make in a wrong way the further we are from our journey's end. Let us therefore first consider what it is we would be at, and secondly, which is the readiest way to comSENECA. pass it. THE GOVERNMENT OF THOUGHTS. Man being made a reasonable, and so a thinking creature, there is nothing more worthy of his being, than the right direction and employment of his thoughts: since upon this depends both his usefulness to the public, and his own present and future benefit in all respects. Those who call others to repentance, should themselves lead a life of seriousness and purification. WILLIAM FORSTER. Ah! know ye not, in Israel A Prince is fallen to-day, A just man, from the ills to come, The Church is clothed in mourning: On mission high and holy, He braved the watery main, And many a faithful heart rejoiced To welcome him again. Thrice had the veteran warrior And trod our western wilderness, Whose voice he knew from childhood, And followed where it led; For "perfect love" reigned over him, Meekly, he journeyed onward, While from his heart and from his lips, Fell gentle benedictions, Nor from the galling chains of sin However named, the "bondsman" claimed A pilgrimage of years, For poor down-trodden Africa Thoughts of the distant and the loved, "Better to die and be with Christ:" Were the blest words he said, And, in a far-off stranger land, Near Holston's billowy wave, A voice is calling silently, From that lone Martyr's grave. Oppressor, list its meaning, Ah, heed the solemn warning voice, It tells thee that a martyr's prayers God will avenge his own elect, Who're groaning to be free: But where will be the oppressor, Quailing before the majesty Of the Omniscient One, Dealers in "slaves and souls of men," And bowed beneath that "Word of God," Call on the rocks to hide them from Hush! mercy's voice is whispering, And He designs rich fruit shall spring Non-Slaveholder. |