The above statement could be amply borne out by a reference to cases which have been observed in idiot asylums. I will, however, mention but three:--An idiot boy has been known to retire alone, when there was a thunderstorm, to ask God to take care of his father, who was a sailor. A former superintendent of our Asylum, the late Mr. Millard, noticed one of the inmates praying in private, and on saying to the boy, "God hears prayer," he quietly observed, "Yes, and answers it, too." A little boy in the Massachussetts Asylum for Idiots was in declining health, and became, during his dying illness, an object of great interest to the matron and attendants. Unbidden, he said his prayers frequently, and putting up his little hand, he muttered, "Me want to go up! me want to go up!" Surely he was thinking of some sort of hereafter, because he added distinctly, "They'll say, here comes one of the boys from the Boston School for Idiots." The approach of death seemed to awaken his spiritual life; out of the decaying body appeared to rise the growing soul, for, after repeating the verse of a hymn, the spirit of this simple child became liberated from its earthly tenement--its material habitat--the connection between matter and mind was severed, and, to use the touching language of his biographer, "this poor little idiot boy bade a long adieu to his sorrowing friends, and doubtless there was then joy in heaven, as the recording angel wrote in the Book of Life the name of George Tobey."[38] In an interesting essay published many years ago, entitled, "A Morning at Essex Hall, Colchester," its author, the Rev. Edwin Sidney, in describing his visit to the Asylum, remarked that, "The conduct of those who go to Church on Sunday is very decorous. One of the most cheering things in connection with these objects of benevolent solicitude, is the capability some of them manifest in receiving and being comforted by religion. There are amongst them instances of high conscientiousness and piety, which might be examples to such as are gifted with unimpaired faculties." If any apology be due for pointing out how the mysterious connection between mind and matter may be illustrated by a study of idiocy, I will observe that the subject is of such absorbing interest that it is well that it should occasionally be removed from the heated arena of biological bias, into the calmer and more judicial atmosphere of the class of readers who may be interested in the important subject I am endeavouring to elucidate. FOOTNOTES: