GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, October 1, 1861. SIR: At the second session of the last Congress eight thousand dollars ($8,000) were appropriated "for (1) repairs and painting of four western or first erected sections of the hospital edifice, including additions to the furniture, and also of the gardener's and farmer's houses and the out-buildings and fences thereof; (2) for ice-house, including preserving cellar; (3) for extension of stable for the storage of hay and other fodder, and shelter of farm wagons and carts; (4) enclosing two sides of farm-yard with brick wall; (5) improvement of the grounds; (6) forcing and green house, including heating apparatus; and (7) for fitting up two bowling alleys, one in the basement of each wing. During the spring and summer, the 1st, 3d, 4th, and 5th improvements provided for have been in progress and are now completed, or carried as far as the appropriation contemplated; and the preservation, durability, beauty, productiveness, and convenience which, each in its place, are the result, fully justify the outlay. The stables and stable-yards are now complete, and are believed to be models in durability of construction, capacity in proportion to their cost, and in conveniences for the proper care of every domestic animal and bird. The changes in the appearance of the grounds are most striking, though much has yet to be accomplished before full justice is done either to their extraordinary susceptibility of ornamental and useful improvements or to benevolent objects of the institution. The brick kilns and lumber piles of eight years standing have been removed from the front of the hospital edifice; the grounds have, for the most part, been brought to a proper grade; some progress has been made in gravelling the walks and drives; a thousand trees have been planted and twentyfive acres have been fertilized, subsoiled, or underdrained, and sown with grass seed; and besides fine crops of grain earlier in the season, we are this autumn rewarded with a rich green landscape, which is grateful to the dullest sense in our whole household. The ice-house will be built by the arrival of the winter solstice; the bowling alleys will afford employment in their construction, and amusement in their use in mid-winter when out-door labor or amusement is impracticable; and the forcing-house will be in readiness to anticipate the "annual miracle of nature" in the early spring. For the year ending June 30, 1863, the following estimates are respectfully submitted: 1. For finishing, furnishing, heating, and lighting additional accommodations in the east wing, rendered necessary by the sudden increase of the insane of the army and navy by the war, $5,000. 2. For further improvements of the grounds about the hospital and of the farm, $2,000. 3. For continuing the stone and brick wall already forming the exterior of the boundary of the hospital grounds for a distance of 241.77 rods, in pursuance of the design of eventually enclosing the whole tract in the same way, $10,000. 4. For changing the location and grade of the public road leading past the hospital gate towards the city for a distance of about 150 rods, and building a substantial stone bridge over Stickfoot branch, $4,000. The first estimate will barely meet wants that are pressing even to-day. The second item will complete, or nearly so, a class of improvements which are now well under way, and should be prosecuted with diligence, inasmuch as time and nature are the indispensable agencies of the maturity both of the field and the landscape. The third and fourth items were suggested in my last report, and recommended by your predecessor. The chairman of the House Committee on the District of Columbia examined the proposed improvement of the road, and expressed himself strongly in favor of its execution; and many other members of Congressall, I think, to whom the enterprise was explained-also favored it, but, in consequence of the extreme poverty of the treasury, to which, for some time after Congress assembled, the members looked in vain for their own salaries, no appropriation was made for either of these objects. As a repetition of the reasons which led me last year to recommend the continuation of the wall and the improvement of the road would occasion unnecessary printing, I beg leave to refer you to the last paragraph on page 17, and through pages 18 and 19 of the edition of my last annual report, printed for the use of the hospital, (a copy of which is enclosed herewith,) which is accompanied by maps calculated to illustrate the text cited. The views there expressed have been not only confirmed by another year's experience, but there has since been added to the reasons then expressed in favor of the improvement of the road the important one, that the highway from the navy yard bridge, past Alexandria, Virginia, and towards Piscataway and Port Tobacco, Maryland, has become a military thoroughfare and a line of fortifications. It is sincerely believed that had the $4,000 asked last year been expended early in the spring, as at first proposed, the saving before the end of this calendar year in the less number and less wear and tear and depreciation of horses and wagons necessary for the transportation of troops, supplies, cannon, and other munitions of war up to the wretched tortuous hill road, by which the ascent to this table land is gained, would have fully equalled the cost of the improvement. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. CALEB B. SMITH, Secretary of the Interior. C. H. NICHOLS, REPORT OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF The Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. WASHINGTON, November 5, 1861. SIR: In compliance with the acts of Congress incorporating and providing for the support of this institution, I have the honor to report its operations for the year ending on the first day of July last. For detailed information touching the immediate management of the institution and the progress of the pupils, I beg leave to refer to the report of the Superintendent, hereto annexed, marked A., and the report of the examining committee, marked B. The treasurer's report, marked C, shows the sources of income and the receipts for the last year, viz: From private subscriptions... $400 00 From the United States, per act of Congress of the 16th February, 1857, for maintenance and tuition of indigent pupils.. From the same, under the act of May 29, 1858, for salaries and incidental expenses... 3,425 94 3,000 00 From the State of Maryland, for the support and tuition of indi The same report shows that the whole amount received has been drawn from the treasury upon the drafts of the president, and (in his absence) the secretary in favor of the superintendent. The superintendent's account, attached to his report, marked 1, shows for what objects the moneys drawn by him have been expended, and the balance on hand, amounting to $128 28. Treasurer's report, marked C, shows the receipts of the institution from the fund derived from " Washington's Manual Labor School and Male Orphan Society," applicable to the promotion of manual labor by the deaf and dumb and the blind, amounting to $623 48. As the institution has not the buildings in which it can teach mechanical trades, nor the grounds on which it can teach horticulture and agriculture, it is proposed to invest the moneys derived from this fund until these deficiencies can be supplied. During the year past eight pupils have been admitted into the institution and three have left, leaving the number on the 1st day of July last thirty-five, and showing an increase of five during the year. Their names and residences are given in paper marked 2, annexed to the superintendent's report. Since June 30 there have been three admissions into the institution and one dismissal, so that the entire number under instruction is now thirty-seven. At the end of the first year of its existence, July, 1858, the number of pupils in this institution was seventeen; at the end of the second year, twenty; at the end of the third year, thirty; and at the end of the fourth year, thirty-five; with the addition of two since and a prospect of further increase. It thus appears that the troubles of the country have as yet had no sensible effect on the progress of this benevolent institution, and it is devoutly hoped that its claims may not be forgotten amidst the excitements of war and the clash of arms. I cannot refrain from inviting special attention to the specimens of composi tion by some of the older pupils attached to the report of the examining committee. There is a beauty about them seldom, if ever, equalled by children of the same ages with all their senses, after many more years of faithful instruction. They constitute the highest testimonial to the fidelity of our superintendent and teachers. But it is sad to reflect that, although the institution can do so much to improve the minds of its pupils, it can do so little on account of want of shops and ground to accustom the boys to manual labor, and fit them for earning a living when they leave the institution. Cannot the government even now devote a few thousand dollars to this object? I ought not to close without paying a just tribute to our superintendent. To his judgment and skill in the selection of teachers, the discipline of the pupils and general management, the institution is mainly indebted for the high rank it has already attained among the benevolent institutions of this and other lands. To the Rev. Dr. Samson and J. P. Ingle, esq., our thanks are due for their laborious and searching examination of the pupils of the institution at the end of the last summer term. The regulations of the institution are hereto appended, marked D. Hon. CALEB B. SMITH, Secretary of the Interior. AMOS KENDALL, President. Officers of the Institution. Patron.-ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States. President.-Hon. AMOS KENDALL. Secretary.-WILLIAM STICKNEY. Treasurer.-GEORGE W. RIGGS, JR. Directors.-WILLIAM H. EDES, JAMES C. MCGUIRE, JUDSON MITCHELL, DAVID A. HALL, Rev. BYRON SUNDERLAND, D. D. Superintendent.-EDWARD M. GALLAUDET, M. A. Instructors of the Deaf and Dumb.-JAMES DENISON, P. B., MELVILLE BAL- Instructress of the Blind.-Miss MARY T. G. GORDON Matron. Mrs. THOMAS H. GALLAUDET. Assistant Matron.-Mrs. SOPHIA G. HUNTER. A. REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT. To the president and directors of the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. GENTLEMEN: Since the date of my last annual report to you, the periods of instruction and vacation have succeeded each other, as directed in your regulations; and although at one time apprehensions were entertained that the difficulties of the country might compel us to suspend our operations, and scatter our pupils, a kind Providence interposed in our behalf, and we are still permitted to pursue our peaceful avocations, with none to molest or make us afraid. The admissions to the institution during the year ending June 30, 1861, were eight; three pupils left us, and the number enrolled at the close of the year was thirty-five. Since June 30 three children have been admitted and one dismissed. The number of pupils connected with the institution since the date of my last report is forty-one. Deaf mutes, males, 19; females, 16-total 35. Blind, males, 3; females, 3-total 6. During the greater portion of the year the health of the pupils has been good. But in the months of January and February diseases of the throat and lungs prevailed to a considerable extent. Three severe cases of pneumonia, two of pleurisy, and ten of catarrhal fever were under treatment at one time. Fortunately no case terminated fatally, and in a few weeks all were apparently restored to perfect health. The respective classes have made satisfactory advance in their various studies, and were examined at the close of the year by the committee appointed by you for that purpose. I would call your attention to the fact that the specimens of composition appended to the report of the examiners were, in every instance, written by those who were either born deaf or became so before acquiring the least knowledge of language. I make special mention of this because I have observed in some reports of examination of deaf mutes very beautifully written exercises, purporting to have been prepared by pupils who had been deaf from infancy; whereas, in fact, the writers had gained a more or less complete knowledge of language before losing their hearing. To publish these fluent essays without a word of explanation as to the character of their authors is eminently unjust both to those whose acquirement of language has been wholly by laborious study, and to those who have so patiently led them through the labyrinthine mazes of our vernacular. The corps of instructors has recently been increased by the addition of a teacher of drawing and the arts of design. Mr. Peter Baumgras, of Washington, an accomplished artist, has been engaged to fill this position, and many of the pupils placed under his tuition already show decided talent. Deaf mutes have in numerous instances attained distinction as artists, designers, and engravers; and it is believed that the addition of the branch referred to will prove of lasting advantage to those whose natural ability may enable them to profit by the instructions thus afforded. Improvements to the amount of about six hundred dollars have been made on the property of the institution within the year, including a convenient laundry and an additional school-room. The buildings are in good repair, but it is vital to the continued prosperity of the institution that enlarged accommodations be provided. Every available foot of room is now occupied in dormitory, schoolroom, and dining hall; and yet there is reason to expect that in the year now |