No. 49.

IN SENATE,

February 6, 1836.

ANNUAL REPORT

Of the Central Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb.

STATE OF NEW-YORK,

SECRETARY'S OFFICE.

SIR

Albany, 6 Feb. 1836.

To the President of the Senate.

I have the honor to transmit herewith the annual report of the Central Asylum for the deaf and dumb, which I have just received from the directors of that Institution.

I avail myself of the opportunity to state, that my annual report on the deaf and dumb will be presented to the Senate in a few days,

I am, very respectfully,

Your ob't serv't,

JOHN A. DIX.

Senate, No. 49.]

A

REPORT.

The directors of the Central Asylum, for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, would once more present their annual report to the Legislature and people of the State of New-York:

They feel a grateful sense of divine goodness, inasmuch as they can again say that they have been blessed with health, and that the Institution under their care has not been visited by sickness, except in one instance, of short duration.

For the arrangements about the Institution, we would beg leave to refer you to the last report, with the exception, that as there were so few whose parents wished them to learn shoemaking, that we discontinued it, and the male pupils have been engaged at printing, gardening, &c.

At the time of making our last report, there were thirty-one pupils in the Institution, since when, nine have left, and nine commenced. Of the pupils here, five are from counties east of this, six from this county and Delaware, and the remainder from counties west of this. Of the thirty-one now here, twenty-four are supported by the provisions of the statutes, two by the county of Montgomery, the others by their friends.

The law authorizing the supervisors of the several countics to select and send pupils at the expense of the county, is inoperative, except in New-York, Dutchess and this, while there are instances of deaf mutes being supported at the alms-houses in some of the counties.

For the state of the funds of the Institution, we would refer you to the report of the treasurer, annexed hereto.

Our Institution has been enabled to furnish instruction only, to those who were sent here, as we have not had the means of affording them the opportunities which are given them at other Institutions in the United States, in furnishing a variety of mechanical employments, but we have endeavored to do all we could for their benefit.

It has not been from a parsimonious disposition of our legislators that this has been the case, but from a want of information on the subject of their wants, and the inabilities they lie under. We trust, however, that now an inquiry is going forth through the State, that will result in more enlarged views of their actual condition, and the benefits they may receive from instruction. Many have left the Institution, and are now dispersed throughout the State, carrying information to those with whom they come in contact, and showing the practicability of bringing them out of the darkness in which they are shrouded, and making them respectable and useful citizens. Of those who have left this Institution, eleven are married, and as far as our knowledge extends, they make good parents and citizens, and are capable of transacting business for themselves.

But look at the uninstructed, as they are scattered over our country, a prey to the unprincipled, a burden to society, or a source of anxiety to their friends, as long as they are upon the stage of existence. And so they must remain, while not only the legislators, but the parents and friends of the mutes themselves are uninformed and unwilling to place them in a situation to overcome their disabili ties. The Legislature may place the means before them; but unless the friends of the mutes exert themselves to inform the parents or guardians, they may still refuse the proffered boon. One cause of their refusal, is the terms annexed to it; but were the law such as to give the means of instruction to every one in the State, without distinction, we think that less reluctance would be felt, and it would remove many difficulties which now exist, both before and after their admission into an Institution. At first, they had to call upon the overseers of the poor, and procure a certificate of their inability, and then give bonds for providing suitable clothing for the pupils, &c.; the first of which was often the reason why so many refused to permit their children to attend school. And now, when the Superintendent selects them, they frequently say, that they will not send their children, because the overseers of the poor