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Thirty-six beds have thus been added to the accommodations of the asylum. The total cost of these additions, including all necessary furniture for such an additional number of pupils, has been but $11,500.

With the remaining $18,500 of the appropriation, a new building, attached by a corridor to the north wing of the present building, can be constructed, that will provide for the remainder of the additional number suggested in the last report.

After this is done, the probable present wants of the State in the way of a strictly educational institution will have been met. When in the growth of the State, or from a more extended knowledge of the practical benefit it confers upon pupils, or from a greater readiness on the part of parents to commit their unfortunate children to a State institution, then the question as to the best method of enlarging the State provision for such a class can be intelligently met.

This much may now be said in view of the experience of the New York Asylum for Idiots for a period of more than twenty years. The charity is obviously not only a timely but a practical one. With every increase of its means of accommodation there has flowed into it, from all portions of the State, a number equal to its new capacity. There is abundant record in its files of correspondence, from parents or parties interested, of the measure of success that has attended the work it was founded to do; and the actual cost, whether in the way of building and appliances or in the matter of current annual expenses, has been entirely within the expectations of its original projectors. The relative cost, as compared with other State institutions, in both these respects, may be seen by an examination of the table in the last report of the Board of State Charities.

When the increased accommodations provided by the recent State appropriation shall be completed, that is, by the commencement of the next school year of the asylum, September 1st, 1872, the annual current expenses of the institution will be proportionately increased. The board would, therefore, ask of the Legislature that the annual appropriation be raised from $25,000 to $32,000. This will enable them to maintain and educate 160 pupils, instead of 120, the number now provided for.

Other details as to the affairs of the asylum will be found in the report of the superintendent, which is herewith annexed.

JAMES W. TITUS.
FRANKLIN TOWNSEND.
HENRY N. POHLMAN.
LAKE I. TEFFT.
ALLEN MUNROE.
LYMAN CLARY.
B. W. LEAVENWORTH.
GEORGE F. COMSTOCK.
JOHN T. HOFFMAN, Governor.
NELSON K. HOPKINS, Comptroller.
ABRAM B. WEAVER, Superintendent of Public Instruction.

SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.

To the Trustees of the New York Asylum for Idiots:

GENTLEMEN. -- The twenty-first annual report of my administration of the affairs of this institution is herewith respectfully submitted.

I first present a summary of the statistics of the asylum for the past school year, ending September 1st, 1871.

The whole number of pupils connected with the asylum during that period was 149. The average attendance was 145. The number in actual attendance for school year, and receiving their support exclusively from the State treasury, was 116. The number paying part tuition was 11. The number paying entire cost of board and maintenance was 18. The actual cost for board and instruction of each pupil, on the average, was $208.39. This estimate includes expenditures of all kinds, annual repairs to buildings, and renewals and wear of furniture. During this period there was but one death among the pupils. This was a case of tubercular consumption, following hooping-cough. This was almost the only case of sickness of any severity during the entire year.

There are of course, among so large a number of exceptional children, more or less occasions for the application of an alterative and tonic treatment, and of minor surgical practice. The diet and the regimen has to be planned with reference to a general constitutional infirmity on the part of the pupils. But, with such precautions, a very marked exemption from serious sickness has been the rule from the very commencement.

Our present number of pupils is 153. With the increased capacity of the institution, this number will soon be increased to 170. The only drawback to the satisfaction of the officers in the performance of their duties lies in the fact that there is a gradual accumulation of custodial cases, that are out of place in an educational institution. These interfere somewhat with the legitimate purpose for which the asylum was founded.

This occurs for several reasons or happens in several ways, that may be summed up in this general statement. More or less of the number of pupils admitted have no actual homes or no friends who have the ability or disposition to care for them properly after a due residence at the asylum.

In a circular lately received at the asylum from the educational bureau at Washington, this inquiry, among others, is made of the superintendent: "how many pupils have been dismissed cured?" This circumstance is mentioned to correct an error that prevails to a certain extent, even with those who understand that this is an institution for the training and teaching of idiots, and not a place of custody or home for life for those admitted here.