1868.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 303

Turning from this strange character in the sad drama of
life, we passed from alcove to alcove, until we were ushered
into a spacious apartment furnished with a heautiful table,
(the gift of one of the generous patrons of the Institution,)
at which two graceful and accomplished gentlemen were
amusing themselves at a game of billiards. You would have
supposed that it was a contest tor superiority between two
gentlemen of wealth, who were endowed with all the ac-
complishments of polished life. And yet they were lunatics
How little would one have suspected that they were the con-
fined inmates of an insane asylum, when he beheld the
prompt suspension of the game, the graceful recognition of
our presence, the polite salutation, even the surrender of the
cues, with a courteous invitation to engage in the recreation.
the calm placidity with which they mildly looked upon the
attempts of their experienced performers, and the modest re-
ception of the compliment upon their skillful exhibition of a
knowledge of the game.

Passing from the contemplation of these wealthier inmates,
the attention of your committee was next directed to the un-
fortunate patients from the various counties of the State, who
were the recipients of their benevolent charity and protec-
tion. In the apartments set aside for this class of patients,
the same scrupulous care for their comfort was visible, the
same neatness of attire, and the same freedom from severity
if treatment were equally apparent. Engaged in promena-
ding along the corridors, or seated in their comtortable re-
cesses, (for we cannot call them cells,) were to be seen the
afflicted poor of our rural districts. Everything that was
calculated to arouse the angry feelings of the patient, or fret
his spirit by the exhibition of the implements of forcible re-
straint, was studiously and judiciously awarded. The ordi-
nary bars that guard the windows of the prison-house were
concealed, by the net-work of wire, that shielded the aper-
tures through which the bright beams of sunlight sparkled
to banish the dreary gloom of the cell ; no heavily bossed,
cumbrous, or chained door, on grating hinges turning, shut
in from human gaze the idiotic occupant.

Moving midst scenes like these, your committee could not
withhold their admiration at the progress of science, the
triumph of the profession, and the salutary benefits spring-
nig from the humane and milder system of modern times,
which has banished the scourge, the chain, the cord, and all
the cruel implements that formerly constituted remedial
agents for the management of the disordered intellect.
Within the walls of this cherished institution we beheld the
silent and salutary workings of philanthropy. With phy-
scians skilled in their profession and devoted to their chari-
table labors ; with words of encouragement met by grateful