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Of the admissions, 137 were young, improvable pupils; 53 males and 42 females were over fourteen years of age, large proportion of these adults being cases capable of much improvement; 28 were feeble physically and of the idotic type; 15 were cases of spastic paralysis; 11 were of the Mongolian type of idiocy; 6 were insane and not feeble-minded; 5 were totally blind; 4 males were of the semi-insane criminal type; 4 boys had shown mania for setting fires; 4 were hydrocephalic; 2 were cases of sporadic cretinism; 1 was a case of pseudo-muscular hypertrophy; 1 was totally deaf. Some of the cases appeared in several of the above groups.

Of the 180 cases discharged during the year, 48 were kept at home by their friends for various reasons; 4 were kept at home to attend public school; 2 went to work for wages; 4 ran away and were not returned; in 4 cases the parents moved to another State; in 2 cases the family went to Europe; 1 was transferred to the new Maine school; 1 was discharged as insane and not feeble-minded.

Fifteen cases 1 male and 14 females

were committed to insane hospitals. Six of these cases were admitted during the year, and were insane and not feeble-minded when admitted. The other cases illustrate the fact that the imbecile is very likely to develop quite typical forms of insanity as a part of his life history.

Sixty-two epileptics 37 males and 25 females were transferred to the State Hospital for Epileptics at Palmer by order of the State Board of Insanity. These epileptics, all over ten years of age, were difficult to classify with the feebleminded, and their removal has greatly improved the classification of our patients. The epileptic patients themselves can be treated with much greater success in a hospital for epileptics.

Forty-five of the older boys were transferred to the Wrentham school by order of the State Board of Insanity. These boys were at once put to work assisting in the development of the new institution.

For another year the inmates and employees have enjoyed remarkably good health. As in previous years, for weeks at a time there has been no serious case of acute illness. This immunity from disease is largely due to the active outdoor life,

well-ventilated buildings, simple, wholesome food and especially to efficient and thorough hygienic supervision by the medical staff. The small number of cases of tuberculosis is especially noticeable.

In the early summer there were 50 cases of measles, 40 children and 10 employees. One very feeble patient died as the direct result of the disease, and 3 others were so enfeebled that they succumbed to other diseases within a few weeks. In the autumn 21 cases of scarlet fever developed, with 1 death.

One of the detached hospital blocks is always kept in readiness for the care of the cases of contagious and infectious disease which are certain to occur at frequent intervals among a large population of children. The new hospital block, or ward, was occupied in September. It is roomy and sunny and affords ideal accommodation for ordinary cases of illness. We now have room in the hospital for 44 sick people. The small number of cases of acute illness has allowed the hospital wards to be used largely for the care of little children who are exceedingly delicate and feeble but not actually ill. Some of these are cases of helpless, bedridden idiocy, who need constant nursing and tender care. The attached diet kitchen makes it easy to serve nutritious and appetizing food. On sunny days the beds of these little patients are drawn under the shade of nearby trees, or into the adjoining outdoor pavilion. Our present hospital facilities enable us to secure almost ideal care for these most helpless children.

There were 24 deaths during the year, a very small number considering the large population and the feeble physical condition of many of the inmates. Five deaths were from acute pneumonia, 3 from epilepsy, 2 each from measles, organic disease of the brain and pulmonary tuberculosis, and 1 each from gangrenous stomatitis, influenza, exhaustion of idiocy, septic endocarditis, rheumatic fever, chronic heart disease, gastro-enteritis, tubercular meningitis, scarlet fever and acute peritonitis.

The following table shows the ages of the 1,311 inmates in the institution at the close of the year ending Nov. 30, 1908:

The work of the school and training classes shows development and progress. An additional kindergartner has been added to the teaching staff, making better classification possible. Every child of school age is receiving the training which he seems to need.

The room formerly occupied by the hand work is now thoroughly and conveniently equipped for the training classes, with abundant equipment for the training of the special senses, color and form discrimination and hand training in great variety. Nearly all the school material in this department was made by our boys in the manual training room.

Especial attention is paid to finding a place in our community life where the graduates of the schools are given work in which the school training may be directly utilized and exercised. For instance, all the bedding, linen and clothing issued from our storerooms thousands and thousands of individual pieces each year is marked with pen and indelible ink by girls who were taught to write in our schoolrooms. Each of the kindergartners

and class trainers has an efficient and happy assistant who is a graduate of the schools. One of these girls even assists with simple copying and clerical work in the office.

Physical training in the broadest sense will always be one of the most important means of improving the physical and mental condition of the feeble-minded. Every pupil of suitable age in the school receives regular physical training. Formal gymnastics, musical and rhythmical drill, military drill, the ordinary games of children, competitive games and athletic contests are used in great variety, under tactful and efficient direction.

In suitable weather much of this work is carried on outdoors. The new cinder running track on the athletic field is a valuable addition. The running races and other track events, and the baseball, football and basket-ball games, are eagerly contested, and do much to develop and interest our pupils. Even the larger girls have two baseball nines who play weekly games, with great enthusiasm.

The manual and handwork classes were transferred to the new manual training building at the beginning of the fall term. The boys' manual classes occupy the first floor. One room is devoted to sloyd; one to mattress and pillow making; one to actual making of useful articles of wood at separate benches; one to painting, brush making, sandpapering, net making, mat making and cane seating; one to shoe repairing; and the weave room contains six hand looms, where the boys weave first-class crash for towels, and serviceable and attractive rag carpets. The convenient arrangement of separate tables and stock boxes for each industry greatly facilitates the systematic handling of the large numbers of boys who daily spend a short time at several of these occupations. This training is not for the brighter boys alone, but is successfully given to many boys who are not capable of strictly school work. As far as possible this manual training is directly applied towards the production of results which have practical intrinsic value. The needs of a large institution furnish an outlet for everything the boys make. The fact that the boy sees his handwork put to actual use is a most powerful incentive.

The second floor in the manual building is devoted to the girls' handwork classes. One large room makes a convenient

domestic training room; one is a class room for teaching sewing; one has a spinning wheel, three knitting machines, three looms, tables for cutting, sewing and braiding rugs for rag carpets, a table for hand looms and a table for sewing braided rugs; another large room contains tables for separate classes in pillow lace making, basket making, knitting, crocheting, embroidery and fancy work, hooking rugs and a frame for net making. Each table is devoted to its particular industry, and holds the stock box for that industry, with the necessary materials, tools and appliances all ready for work. Each table is large enough to accommodate a class of twelve. The class comes in and is immediately put to work, with no time lost assembling material. A bulletin board on the wall at the head of each table or loom or machine shows the names of the pupils in each class, and the hour for that class. This organization permits a large number of pupils to receive the training, with no confusion and no loss of time. One class quietly follows another all day long. As with the boys, this hand training is applicable not only to the brighter pupils, but to many who will never be capable of being trained in the schoolrooms. The facilities afforded by this new building have enormously added to our power to develop our pupils.

In the domestic science room classes of girls receive accurate instruction in ordinary housework. They are taught to wash dishes, to make a fire in the kitchen range, to brush the stove, to wash a potato, to properly boil or bake a potato, to prepare other vegetables, to cook a beefsteak or other meat, to make bread and even cake, to lay a table and to properly serve a meal. Some of the advanced classes will cook an entire dinner; one pupil builds the fire, one makes the soup, another cooks the vegetables, another the meat, dessert, etc.; one lays the table, and finally one waits on the table while the rest of the class sit down and enjoy the meal they have prepared. This class work is directly applied in the domestic economy of the school. The pupils who do the best work in the class room are promoted to apply their acquired skill in the various kitchens and dining rooms, to their very great pride and satisfaction. Some of them have developed a good deal of skill in simple cookery. Nearly all have ceased to regard kitchen work as mere drudgery.