Library Collections: Document: Full Text

The large work of M. Edouard Séguin was published at Paris in the spring of 1846. It had been preceded by several pamplets by the same author, and an extended notice of them appeared in the pages of Mr. Scott, who dedicated his book, from which we have already quoted, to Lord Ashley, now the Earl of Shaftesbury, the friend and promoter of so many philanthropic projects. M. Séguin's first efforts were directed to ten idiots in the Hospital of Incurables at Paris. Their success received the approbation of the Council General of Hospitals, and the Academy of Sciences commended his writings on the results which subsequently followed his method at the Bicetre on the idiots there. Under the title of 'Traitement Moral, Hygiène, et Education des Idiots,' he has comprised the following topics: -- The reflections which idiotcy had suggested to him -- the most remarkable observations on idiotcy and imbecility furnished by his practice -- the methods of treatment which have been proved to be most efficacious -- and the confirmed opinions which have arisen from ten years' active experience.

Previously to the time of the publication of the volume last noticed, but not before its author had commenced his work amongst idiots, the late Dr. Guggenbühl had been engaged in endeavours to ameliorate the dreadful condition of cretins. He had observed that young children affected with cretinism were chiefly found in the valleys, and he conceived that their removal to more elevated places, together with proper treatment, might work a great change in them. Cretinism neglected degenerates into the lowest idiotcy, and exhibits the human form it its most repulsive state. Cretins were divided by Dr. Guggenbühl into four classes -- the atrophied, with emaciated bodies and paralysed extremities -- rickety, with soft bones and bent limbs -- hydrocephalic, with chronic water in the head, and cretins diseased from birth, the worst and most intractable. It is said, however, that where there is a goiter from birth, the brain is not so much deteriorated as in other cases. The cretins under the care of Dr Guggenbühl were removed from the low places to a retreat on the Abendberg, a hill 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, and situated in one of the most splendid scenes of Switzerland, surrounded by snowy peaks of the Monch, the Eiger, and the Jungfrau, and looking down on the fine Vale of Interlachen and the lovely Lake of Brienz. From this unique institution, true cretins are said to have returned to their families more or less restored to health in body and mind. That the plan of the Abendberg is the right method for cretins is beyond doubt, and there is a remarkable instance recorded of the complete cure of cretinism in the person of a Dr. Odet, once resident at Montpellier, who was in childhood a cretin, but recovered, passed through a professional education, and became the author of a book on Cretinism. A pupil of Dr. Guggenbühl was sufficiently cured to become a schoolmaster, and was capable of instructing his scholars, more or less, in four languages.

While these and other institutions were being formed in Europe, the philanthropists of the western hemisphere became alive also to their importance and value. It seems as if some providential impulse were given at this moment simultaneously to the friends of humanity, to arouse themselves to the aid of the most repulsive and pitiable of its sufferers. In 1846 the authorities of Massachusetts appointed the well-known Dr. S. G. Howe, so celebrated for his treatment of the blind and deaf mute Laura Bridgman, to inquire into the condition of idiots in the commonwealth, and to discover if anything could be done in their behalf. The reports of Dr. Howe exhibit the greatest zeal, energy, and talent, and he brought all the force of his powerful and original intellect to bear upon this object, with the happiest consequences. Without being prepared to admit the correctness of all his conclusions in his published theories of the causes of idiotcy, which arc, in our view, of far too speculative a nature, without adducing sufficient facts for his generalizations, we cannot but regard his labours and their fruits with real satisfaction. He assures us that his hopes and expectations have been fulfilled amongst the children trained and instructed. "Several," he says, "who were in a state of hopeless idiotcy have gained useful knowledge: most of them have become cleanly, decent, docile, and industrious; and all of them are happier and better in consequence of the efforts made in their behalf." Some of these were in a state of drivelling impotency, unable to do more than swallow their food: they had no speech, no apparent understanding, and their habits were disgusting. They became gentle, docile, and obedient, governable by the simplest means, able to work, speak, and read, comparatively happy and intelligent, as well as useful, and stood before their friends as rescued ones, through the treatment they received.