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The following extract from that report, gives such a full account of the views entertained by the trustees, of the principles which have guided them, and of the results of their observations, that we cannot substitute anything which would be equally useful in imparting the necessary information on the subject, and we therefore repeat it.

"A recurrence to our first report will show with what caution, not to say doubt, the trustees entered upon the discharge of their duties. The popular and current opinion that this class of afflicted humanity were incapable of any essential improvement, had not been entirely changed by the imperfect information we possessed of the efforts made in other countries. Still, enough had been ascertained to justify an experiment on a moderate scale. It had been discovered that the term "idiot'' very inaccurately described the different conditions of imbecility of intellect; that there were grades and degrees at great distances from each other that the effects of bodily injuries had been confounded with original organization; that ill treatment and neglect had obscured minds naturally healthy, and finally that by proper discrimination and training, adapted to each case, in many instances the intellect had been aroused or developed, and new creatures born into the world. Fearing to trust too much to the sympathies and glowing hopes which such facts were calculated to excite, the trustees, determined to test the experiment which the Legislature had authorized, by the same rigid rule which they would apply to any new theory in physics, viz: to see for themselves how it worked; to compare the condition of the pupils when admitted, with their condition at subsequent periods.

"They have done so; and they now say, as the results of their observations, of their comparisons, and of their deliberate convictions, that the experiment has entirely and fully succeeded. All the pupils have improved, some in a greater, and others in a less degree. But the single fact of some improvement settles the question for all experience shows that if a lodgment in the mind can once be made, it furnishes a foundation upon which further ideas, facts and combinations may be erected. This first lodgment is the turning point, and when it is accomplished, every thing follows with more or less rapidity, according to circumstances. We have witnessed this rapidity in some instances with surprise, not to say astonishment. The process is as curious as it is interesting, and the manner of it, by commencing with efforts to teach what many animals are capable of learning and advancing gradually and carefully, from step to step, in the scale of intelligence, is admirably described in the appendix to the report of the superintendent which accompanies this paper, and which will be found exceedingly interesting.

''The trustees therefore repeat and confirm absolutely what they intimated as their belief in their first report; that in almost all cases, and with very few, if any exceptions, those usually called idiots, under the age of 12 or 15, may be so trained and instructed as to render them useful to themselves, and fitted to learn some of the ordinary trades, or to engage in agriculture. Their minds and souls can be developed so that they may become responsible beings, acquainted with their relations to their Creator and a future state, and their obligations to obey the laws and respect the rights of their fellow citizens. In all cases, we believe, for we have seen what has been accomplished in apparently desperate cases, they can be made cleanly and neat in their personal habits, and enabled to enjoy the bounties of Providence and the comforts of life, and to cease being incumbrances and annoyances to the families in which they reside.

''All the pupils to be supported by the State, will be, from the pecuniary condition of their friends, proper subjects for public beneficence, and of those from whom compensation for board and tuition is received, many will be charged with small sums, adapted to the ability of their parents. Such is the plan of the asylum, which, from its nature, must be beyond the scope of individual enterprise. In this respect it differs from ordinary schools, and is like the institutions for the deaf mutes and the blind.

''It should be understood therefore, distinctly, that the institution is not designed for the wealthy, unless in a few cases where ample equivalent compensation is required for the benefit of the establishment but that it is designed for the poor and needy, who are also idiotic, and who can not be redeemed from that sad condition without the aid of the government. This is the simple and single proposition. The character of the State of New York for its noble charities, continued for many years under all circumstances, in providing for similar, but none more severe cases of affliction, such as the blind, the deaf and dumb and the insane, and for its munificence in furnishing education to all its children, who have capacity to acquire it, shows that the people of the State have sanctioned and approved the enlightened policy of their Legislatures, and are ready to sustain other Legislatures in judicious and economical appropriations to continue and perpetuate the same policy and the great interest taken by our fellow citizens in this asylum for idiots, evinces their appreciation of its peculiar blessings.