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We have seen that in our asylums encouragement is wisely given to certain amusements, and when they become exercises of ideality they are improving. Such are the charades and pantomimes at Earlswood, and in the Pennsylvanian Asylum they have curious original plays. A young child in the normal condition amuses himself greatly by personifying things about him -- making one chair his horse, another his carriage, whipping away as if his imaginations were realities. An uneducated idiot never does this, nor till he begins to advance does he ever find a way to amuse himself that at all approaches to the likeness of an ordinary child, any approximation to which is an encouraging sight to those who have the care of him. Every phase approaching the normal is hailed with much pleasure, and mimic play, whether at an imaginary meal, or horses, or any little thing, is a proof of progress. When invention appears, it denotes an approximation towards the imagery of healthful childhood, and there is hope that much may accrue from it. In the volume from which our American cases have been taken we are told that the pupils were so much awakened, as to have originated a drama so peculiar that the like, probably, has never been played, except it may be the "Malade Imaginaire." This farce, for so it is, they called "The Doctor." One boyfalls in a violent epileptic convulsion, well assumed; a girl, called "the good old soul," nurses the patient, shouting for the doctor. In comes the doctor, generally tardy, but now very brisk, and administers his remedies, while the patient indicates returning consciousness by showing the greatest disgust for them. Another pretends a bad fever, and the doctor is hurried off, till at length half-a-dozen victims are prostrated, and the doctor is in the most ludicrous perplexity. The compiler of the narrative, Dr. Kerlin, of Germanstown, describes this "as a most amusing drama;" but the most extraordinary part of it is, that it should be entirely due to the fancy of the imbecile actors.

Whatever may be thought of these specimens of idiots under culture on the other side of the Atlantic, they are all much surpassed by an individual at Earlswood, described by Mr. Sidney, as proving how possible it is for one defective in many powers to have special capabilities beyond the ordinary standard. Some years ago a boy came under the care of the establishment belonging to this asylum, then at Essex Hall. He was of well-proportioned frame, but with a singularly formed head, and wild, sullen, and with scarcely any speech. He was in fact the pupil who was six months learning the difference between a dog's head and his tail. If spoken to he uttered by no means pleasant sounds, and when corrected would run away and hide himself if possible. It is not necessary to give in detail the history of his progress, but his accomplishments at this time are such as to enable him to earn his own living and even more in the establishment, while his smile is most agreeable, and his manners very attractive, indeed refined. Yet even now his speech is scarcely intelligible to those who know him well, and he has not a quality of any kind which could enable him without guidance to manage even small sums of money, or the simplest economy of daily life. Yet he is a carpenter and cabinet-maker, the workman to whose skill is due a great deal of the neat furniture of the house; and he can paint, glaze, and varnish in excellent style. Many of the doors are made and finished by him. He runs with the rapidity of an American Indian fences so as to compete with a good master, and plays the drum in the band. More than this, he has made a model of a man-of-war which has been several times exhibited in London, and accomplished his first attempt at this achievement merely by seeing a drawing of one on a figured handkerchief. He was told that the instant it was launched it would fall on its side for want of ballast and due calculation, but would not believe it till he witnessed the disaster, to his own dismay. Another effort was made, and the finish, proportions, and general plan are now perfect. He was furnished with metal guns by the generosity of a member of the board, and to hear him explain his ingenious methods of proceeding, as he stands before his model, is perfect unlike any-thing else ever seen or heard; while his meaning must be more than half guessed, from his want of words and expression. He is now making a model of the 'Great Eastern' iron ship, thirteen feet long. He has made all the working drawings, and will accomplish the feat admirably. From morning to night he is constantly employed, and when his regular work in the carpenter's shop ceases for the use of the house, he spends his time in these sort of fancy works, including a gigantic flying kite, and in copying fine engravings. These drawings, in dark and coloured chalk, are most meritorious, and many of them, framed and glazed by himself, adorn the corridor and other parts of the asylum. One was graciously approved and accepted by the Queen, who was kindly pleased to send the artist a present; and Mr. Sidney had the honour of showing some of them to the Prince Consort, no common judge of art, who expressed the greatest surprise that one so gifted was still to be kept in the catagory of idiots, or ever had been one. His Royal Highness was particularly astonished, not merely by his copies of first-rate engravings, but by an imaginary drawing made by him of the siege of Sebastopol, partly from the 'Illustrated London News' and partly from his own ideas. He dislikes writing and holds it very cheap, and, like the ancient inhabitants of certain portions of the American continent, would make his communications pictorial. If offended and intending to complain, he draws the incident, and makes his views of things about the house and his requests known in the same way. He has made a drawing of the future launch of his great ship, himself the principal figure, and all the inmates of the house cheering him and waving their caps. In short, he has seemingly just missed, by defect in some faculties and the want of equilibrium in those he possesses, being a distinguished genius. He is passionate in temper, but relents and punishes himself; he set a trap for Dr. Drown, when he offended him, but was very sorry for it; he kicked a panel out of a door, in a rage, and afterwards refused to go to Brighton on an excursion of pleasure because he did not deserve it for this misconduct. He is conscientious, gentle, and generally well behaved, and is now considered on the staff, dines with the attendants, and, some say, he fancies the establishment could scarcely go on without him. He has a brother afflicted with the same malady as himself in the asylum, to whom his attentions are constant and affectionate. To explain the physical and psyschological mysteries of such a human being is beyond the present powers of any known science, and must puzzle the most ingenious speculators on the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital divisions of the human skull, as indicating idiotcy or normal powers. There is no knowing what an idiot can do till tried, and such as can be taught nothing in one way may learn much in another. For instance, a girl clever at arithmetic persisted in calling the first three rules contrition, consumption, and distraction, instead of their proper names. The youth thus described, with all his cleverness could never he made to understand that an annual sum paid quarterly would equal in amount the same paid weekly; yet another, stupid at all other things, will make arithmetical calculations, mentally, of great extent, with perfect accuracy and marvellous readiness.